Murder rates across the country have fallen as the number of concealed carry permits have gone up since President Barack Obama took office in 2008.
According to a report by the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), concealed handgun permits have increased from 4.6 million in 2007 to more than 12.8 million this year.
During the same time period, the murder rate has fallen about 25 percent, from 5.6 killings per 100,000 people to 4.2.
The research, which was led by CPRC President John R. Lott and research director John E. Whitely, reports that the number of permits that are being issued is going up faster each year.
In 2014, more than 1.7 million permits were issued to gun owners, which reflects a more than 15 percent increase increas from the previous year. They also report that this is the largest increase in one year ever.
According to the report, 5.2 percent of adults in America have a concealed carry permit. The number of women with concealed carry permits has gone up 270 percent and 156 percent among men.
While the rules vary in each state, every jurisdiction in the United States allows for permitted concealed handguns, Lott and Whitely say in their report.
"It puts the lie to the myth promulgated by anti-gun individuals that somehow more law-abiding citizens carrying guns will lead to more crime. In fact, quite the opposite is the case," Larry Keene, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation,
told The Washington Times.
"More law-abiding citizens own firearms for self-protection, and crime continues to decline," Keene added.
The Violence Policy Center, a gun control advocate group, says that "Concealed carry killers are a threat to public safety. The evidence is clear that all too often, private citizens use their concealed handguns to take lives, not to save them."
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