Report: Gun crime falls after constitutional carry in Ohio
By J.D. Davidson
The Center Square
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said this week ending restrictions on concealed carry in the state did not lead to a rise in violent crime.
Yost released results from a study from his office and the Center for Justice Research at Bowling Green State University that looked at violent crime in Ohio’s eight major cities after the new constitutional carry law took effect in June 2022.
At the time, Ohio was the 23rd state to allow people to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
“This is not to downplay the very real problem of crime in many neighborhoods in our cities – you don’t need a research team to see that gun violence destroys lives, families and opportunity,” Yost said. “The key takeaway from this study is that we have to keep the pressure on the criminals who shoot people, rather than Ohioans who responsibly exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
In the year following the new law, the report showed crimes involving guns dropped across Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Parma and Canton. It also fell individually in six of the eight cities.
Only Cincinnati and Dayton showed an increase of 5% and 6%, respectively.
Last year, according to Yost, mayors of several of the state’s large cities blamed local crime on the law change, which led to the study.
“I genuinely did not know what the study would find,” Yost said. “I thought it would be useful either way.”
Researchers looked at data from June 2021 to June 2023, focusing on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot detection alerts and how many officers were struck by gunfire.
Gun crime fell the most in Parma by 22%, followed by Akron and Toledo, which had 18% decreases. Columbus gun crimes fell from 10.79 per 1,000 crime incidents to 9.55, while Cleveland’s dropped from 10.16 to 9.58. Canton’s rate fell from 12.67 to 11.98. See more at https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/January-2024/Ch…
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Law-abiding citizens
"Law-abiding citizens" in Maine have been allowed to carry a concealed firearm without any special permit since 2015.
In 2019, Maine was rated the safest state in the nation for crime.
Westerns are not how the West really was.
The "Wild West" is a common misconception for those who are anti-gun possession for the common man. I don't have the answer as to how much "training" or experience a citizen should have to bear arms. (Those deficient in lawful behavior or in mind obviously should be banned from firearm possession.) The simple answer is that a citizen should only use deadly force as a last resort in self-defense or in defense of others, only to stop the threat of death or serious physical harm to themselves or others. I don't understand why progressive politicians and their supporters are scared of American Citizens carrying firearms. The criminal element should be the only ones scared. Maybe there's a connection...
Flawed Study?
The study measures appear flawed. One year of data seems to be useless. Wait five years. The CCW training is too minimal as is. No training will see an increase over five years. The stage for the wild west has been built. ••••Publisher's note: Or an armed society is a polite society.