“[Americans] believe that an armed society is a polite society.” -Mr. Leonard Harris of the Libertarian Party. If the people are armed with these safety measures, they are more respectful and less standoffish because they have little reason to fear or hate those they come in contact with. That is why concealed weapons are so important. Concealed weapons are vital for self-defense, to deter criminal activity, and to exercise our Second Amendment rights as citizens of the United States of America.
Allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons lessens crime because criminals do not want to go where they will run into more opposition. They do not want to face even a few guys that could potentially stop them from their schemes. And they do not want to be injured or killed while trying to attain their designs. If there are less gun-free zones for them to target, then crime rates will certainly plummet.
After Colorado became a shall-issue Right-to-Carry state in 2003, Colorado State University (CSU) chose to comply with the law and allow concealed carry on campus… the school’s crime rate has steadily declined ever since…
Meanwhile, the University of Colorado (CU), which banned guns, has experienced a dramatic increase in crime. In contrast to CSU’s 61 percent drop in the last five years, CU crime is up 37 percent. (Burnett)
This proves that concealed weapons deter criminal activity. However obvious it may be, some people still do not believe that crime would decrease when more people that are responsible possess concealed weapons.
Many people support the anti gun argument that more guns is synonymous with more crime and higher rates.
Anti gun proponents say that, “From 1992 to 1998… the violent crime rate in the strict and no-issue states fell 30% while the violent crime rate for the 11 states that had liberal CCW [(Carrying Concealed Weapons)] laws (where law enforcement must issue CCW licenses to almost all applicants) during this entire period dropped only 15%. Nationally, the violent crime rate fell 25%” (Handgun).
First of all, there have been more than eleven states with liberal CCW laws since 1989 and in 1992 the number was up to seventeen. By the end of 1998, there were thirty-one states with liberal CCW laws so it is unclear which eleven states the author was referring to.
Secondly, if one puts that aside, they’ll find that many of the strict/no-issue states already had almost five times more crime than some of the shall-issue states before 1992 and in 1998 still had more than three times more violent crime per person (Effgen). Although some dismiss the facts regarding crime, there is another rationale for maintaining concealed weaponry.
Another important reason to have concealed weapons is for us to exercise our second amendment rights.
The second amendment of the US Constitution ensures that citizens keep all other Constitutional rights. Upon this natural right to self preservation, rests our government’s guarantee that it will not infringe upon life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because if they do, the people of this nation will fight back, if necessary, with deadly force.
It is much more difficult to take away rights from a people that have the means to defend themselves. A quote often attributed to Adolf Hitler explains, “To conquer a nation, one must first disarm its citizens” (Waffles). Although Hitler may not have expressed this principle in those exact words, it remains true that this scheme would be effective in taking over any sovereign nation, which makes the ability to carry concealed weapons all the more vital.
Finally, the most immediate and consequential result of legal, concealed weapons is to defend oneself in the case of an unexpected attack. A gun is, in a sense, an equalizer among mankind, ensuring that even some of the most physically weak, can defend themselves from the strongest. In America, “[g]uns are used some two million times a year to stop violent crimes in the general population” (Huntwork).
In conclusion, concealed weapons are vital to Americans’ self defense, to lessen crime rates, and to exercise our second amendment rights and defend all other rights granted by the Constitution.
