Good article from NCPA. Worth reading, probably could pass on to the MMM,
but who would read it to them???

CONCEALED CARRY LAWS MAKE SOCIETY SAFER

When the law allowing licensed Texans to carry concealed weapons
was passed in 1995, there was a large protest. Many groups still
advocate repealing the law. For instance, the Violence Policy
Center, a research organization opposed to concealed carry,
released reports in 1998 and 1999 highlighting the number of
Texas licensees that were arrested since the law went into
effect.

However, according to a study by engineering statistician
William Sturdevant:

o Licensees were 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for
violent offenses than the general public — 127 per
100,000 versus 730 per 100,000 (See Figure 1
http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba324/ba324fig1.gif ).

o The general public is 1.4 times more likely to be
arrested for murder than licensees and no licensees have
been arrested for negligent manslaughter.

o Only 6 of 200,000 licensees have been arrested for murder
since the law was introduced and only 2 of those were
found guilty.

Not only are the licensees less criminal-prone, carrying guns
save lives and prevents crimes. For example, a study by the
University of Chicago’s John Lott found that had right-to-carry
laws prevailed throughout the nation, there would have been
1,600 fewer murders, 4,200 fewer rapes and 60,000 fewer severe
assaults.

In the early 1990s Texas’s serious crime rate was 38 percent
above the national average. Since then serious crime has dropped
50 percent faster than the nation as a whole. In light of Lott’s
research, it is likely that Texas’s concealed carry law has
contributed to the declining crime rates.

Source: H. Sterling Burnett, “Texas Concealed Handgun Carriers:
Law-abiding Public Benefactors,” NCPA Brief Analysis No. 324,
June 2, 2000, National Center for Policy Analysis.

For text http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba324/ba324.html

For more on Guns & Self Defense

http://www.ncpa.org/pi/crime/crime51.html