Crime Statistics: CHL v. General Population

[anygunanywhere]

I do believe that owning a gun is big responsibility. That entails the bearer of guns to be well trained and well versed as if he is LEO. Armed Citizen are in fact civilian Officers or least to say empowered to behave as such. This is how I understand the set of Laws and Penal Code of State of Taxes that do relate to CHL.

[dihappy]

Awesome info! I love it :)

[SlowDave]

Great stuff. Found one small error though. The total TX population >21 is incorrect in the "Conviction %" tab by 30,000 (16,082,456 instead of the correct 16,032,456). The number is correct in the "per 100,000" tab (at least compared to the "population" tab). Thought you should know, and I checked the rest of the pop #'s and they're all good.

I'm an anal data reviewing kind of guy; hope this doesn't come across in any way of throwing stones. It's great work!

[Armybrat]

Speaking of statistics from the DPS site, there's a lot of interesting demographic info about CHL holders & instructors - Gender, race, county, zip code...etc.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... aphics.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like Harris County has had more than its share of problems.....maybe that crooked D.A. who lost his job last year?

[seamusTX]

Armybrat is referring to these two reports:

• Licenses suspended by county, FY 2008: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... pended.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
• Licenses revoked by county, FY 2008: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administra ... evoked.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harris County had about 18% of the suspensions and 25% of the revocations.

These number are percentages of the total number of suspensions or revocations for the state.

Harris has about 1/5 of the population of Texas, so these numbers are not too much out of line. Being an urban county with a large number of police agencies, a resident of Harris County is much more likely to have a LEO encounter than someone in a rural county, and much less likely to get a break from police or prosecutors.

Mr. Rosenthal did not like CHL and he liked unlicensed car carry even less.

- Jim

[WeyaH]

Monkey404error said:

First off, I think y'all might have been trolled earlier.

And second, you'll never see this information anywhere near the Brady website, because it actually portrays CHL holders as law abiding citizens, which goes against their creedo of "all guns are bad, and no one should have them." The only way this will be shown on the Brady website, is if it has been twisted beyond anything resembling the facts that they really are.

I'm a newbie, and this is my first post, but I have read other forums that have done EXACTLY that...they twist the facts. Instead of conviction rates, they use ARREST rates. Certainly Mr. Cotton can explain why it makes a difference better than I, but I expect most of the membership here understands.

I've tried guiding them back to reality at times, but it simply makes my brain hurt, trying to deal with that level of ignorance.

[dBex]

Thanks for those figures it really makes things easier to explain as well as understand. It's sad that there are still people out there who believe that because you carry a gun that you are up to no good.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Now that DPS has published the figures for 2007, I need to see if I can talk Allison into updating the chart. Allison . . . Allison . . . are you listening Allison?

Chas.

[nitrogen]

I'm a newbie, and this is my first post, but I have read other forums that have done EXACTLY that...they twist the facts. Instead of conviction rates, they use ARREST rates. Certainly Mr. Cotton can explain why it makes a difference better than I, but I expect most of the membership here understands.

I've tried guiding them back to reality at times, but it simply makes my brain hurt, trying to deal with that level of ignorance.

I'll try my hand at it:
Early in the history of CHL here in Texas, officers weren't always sure what was legal, and probably arrested when in doubt.

Also, just read this forum, The High Road, and any other gun forum for stories about people arrested for gun-related things that are not crimes! People are still getting arrested for car carry, and people get arrested for open-carry where it is legal in other states.

Finally, if someone brings this up, remind them that you are innocent until proven guilty. Being arrested does not mean you are guilty of a crime. That is why we have trials.
I was arrested for Failure to appear on a child molestation charge when I was 19, due to a case of mistaken identity. (That's a story for later.)
That doesn't mean I'm a child molestor, or that I failed to appear. (Technically, I was never arrested as it was never entered into the computers, but I was told I was under arrest and read my rights, so I count it!)

Plenty of LEO's and departments don't know the law as well as they should, and others attempt to harass people doing things they don't like, but are within the law by arresting them, then releasing them. This happened plenty to people during the civil rights movement, and other similar movements.

Another point that won't win you any points with the antis, but something to think about:

Where's the harm to society by carrying a gun in your car, or on your person, or openly? I'm sure its far less harmful than using drugs, which more and more people are against being illegal...

[ELB]

I think some additional interesting statistics might be CHL holders compared with other populations such as legislators, teachers, university officials, members and would-be members of a certain president's cabinet, Brady Bunchers...

[lrb111]

I had occasion once to list the requirements for application for CHL to a "negative"" business owner. Then asked how many of his employees might be able to qualify under those requirements.
Of course, I feel most would, with just a couple that would not I felt that proved the point.
He has since applied for his own CHL.

[karl]

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/cri_mu ... er-100-000

This may not be news to some of you but I thought these figures are interesting. Some more on gun violence by clicking "Crime Statistics".

[handog]

Outstanding research. "the track record of CHLs' is much better than that of law enforcement." I wish I had this in my ammo box when I was in a holding sell for printing and the Round Rock PD was talking down to me. Thanks Allison

[Zero_G]

the track record of CHLs' is much better than that of law enforcement.

It's interesting this thread re-surfaced as I was recently wondering about this very issue. I don't see LEO data on the attached spreadsheet, so I'm wondering what the numbers are that back this up. I don't say this to disparage any LEOs, but rather my line of thinking is that LEOs can carry openly pretty much anywhere they like, on- and off-duty, and people don't think twice about them having a gun. Private citizens who are carrying are viewed with fear and suspicion. It would be nice to get the data out that a CHL holder is as safe or even safer than a LEO when it comes to the threat of a crime. (Not that I'd expect Joe Public to enthusiastically buy off on it)

Keith

[seamusTX]

As far as I know, no one compiles data on crimes committed by profession.

LEOs commit plenty of crimes, but they tend to be in the areas of official misconduct or domestic abuse. Anyone who is interested can easily come up with a list of LEO offenses that are currently in the news, like this: http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=32878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Every profession has a degree of crime that is related to the privileges and risks of that profession. I could probably alienate everybody by coming up with another list.

- Jim