BELLEVUE, WA – Data posted at the Gun Violence Archive website shows 2023 produced fewer homicides, suicides, and gun-related injuries than in 2022, which indicates expansion of permitless carry laws, allowing more people to carry firearms for personal protection, did not result in more bloodshed as anti-gunners predicted.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms noted that GVA data traditionally drives the narrative from the gun prohibition lobby and its allies in the establishment media. The GVA is typically the first, if not only source quoted in news reports when the subject is related to violent crime.
“So far this year,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “there has been an odd silence from anti-gunners who were drowning us with ‘Chicken Little’ predictions of mass mayhem now that we’ve got more states with permitless carry. But the data from their favorite source doesn’t support those claims.”
According to the GVA data, 2023 produced fewer homicides (18,906) than in 2022 (20,396) and fewer suicides last year (24,090) than the year before (27,038). The overall numbers reflect the reductions: 42,996 people died as a result of so-called “gun violence” in 2023, down from the 47,434 victims listed by the GVA for 2022.
“Lo-and-behold,” Gottlieb observed, “the numbers don’t support the narrative. You can bet if they did, the gun ban crowd would be crowing, but instead it appears they may be eating crow. Just last week, a study by the Ohio Attorney General’s office shows how gun-related crime actually declined in six cities during the year following enactment of a permitless carry law in the Buckeye State.
“Tens of millions of honest citizens, exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms, have not been running amok, whether they live in permitless carry states or where a carry license is still required,” Gottlieb added. “If the data shows us anything at all, it proves anti-gunners have been wrong about licensed concealed carry and constitutional carry. Maybe we should ask what else are they wrong about?”