From dictionary.com:
And from KeepAndBearArms.com, the site linked by BlakeTyner:
Seems similar to me. I wasn’t trying to insult you guys, I was trying to describe what I would think would be a normal person’s state in a situation where they’re alone at night on a dark street. Like “walking to your car in a dark parking lot”.
I know I’d be nervous.
Sure you can, but you usually have to pay for it.
Some states are a little more stingy with it than others though.
You can also get real property ownership information as well, many times its available on the web through the County Tax Assessor. You’d be amazed how much personally identifying information is publicly available. It’s kind of scary.
I wish every state would make this information easily accessible. Good job finding that, Blake.
No, it’s cool mangeorge, we were just on different pages.
As far as the hypothetical, when I bumped into jim, we’d both probably both go from green to yellow, be startled, determine there’s no threat, then move along–back to green.
I guess what I’m saying is that misunderstandings resulting in CHL carriers seem not to happen. Per my statistic above, out of a little over 300,000 active CHLs in 2007, only 2 of them were convicted of capital murder.
So while I’m not really willing to say that all those people with guns make society “safer” (they might, they might not…crime’s been on a downward trend for a while) I hope we can agree that it doesn’t seem to make things more dangerous, either.
No prob. They also have demographic information broken down a bunch of ways. In Dallas, for example, nearly 1 in 10 people has a CHL (I actually didn’t figure it’d be that high.)
In Houston, that number jumps to nearly 1 in 5 having a CHL.
And you’re right…though the drivers’ license information isn’t available here, property information certainly is. I’ve looked mine up a few times.
That’s interesting. I wonder what percentage of gun related crime is committed by each group.
I think I’ll take a look at your PDF.
In theory, most of that info shouldn’t be readily available anywhere. There’s something called the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. 2721-2725), passed in 1994.
It prohibits States from disclosing personal information that drivers provide to get their licenses, stuff like the photograph, social security number, driver identification number, name, address, telephone number, and medical or disability information. Information on accidents, driving violations, and driver’s status is not protected, however. States must disclose personal information for certain purposes, and may disclose it for a long list of fourteen other purposes. All those exceptions tend to gut the Act, of course.
Bah! they didn’t break it down that way.
A lot, percentage wise, of “icky” convictions are for CHL holders though.
::heads off to check Black’s for a definition…::
I’m going to nitpick again, but what about self-defense?
Could you elaborate on the question…I’m not sure I know what you’re asking.
AGG SEXUAL ASSAULT CHILD 1,334 16 1.1994%
IMPROPER PHOTO/VISUAL RECORDING AROUSE/GRA 16 2 12.5000%
This one I don’t get:
UNL CARRY HANDGUN LIC HOLDER 15 9 60.0000%
A holder carrying wher he/she isn’t supposed to?
Yeah, basically. That or intentionally failing to conceal. This is a bit out of date (the church/hospital thing isn’t in effect anymore, for one thing) but here is that part of the penal code.
It’s weird tho…how can anyone but a license holder be charged/convicted of that crime? My guess is that maybe the 15 were cases that got put in the wrong category…illegible paperwork, maybe?
I can see the problem.
I know it’s not a conviction, but are self-defense or justified killings listed anywhere?
And who decides if shootings are justified? I’ve heard it’s cops, but I doubt it. I’d have to guess the DA.
Well, there were also a couple of Criminally Negligent Homicides and 15 Deadly Conducts:
This is your reckless idiots right here.
I do have to say that the numbers look a lot better than I would have expected and correlate with the position that CHL holders tend to be more law abiding.
I remember now, it’s the cop’s discression whether or not to arrest. I think. 
Yeah, a lot of it resides on the police officer’s discretion. If the DA wants to try for a prosecution, he can still run it by the grand jury, but if they think it was a good shoot, then the shooter is no-billed and there’s no record of it.
Finding self defense shooting statistics anywhere is difficult, because a lot of times it’s self-reported, a lot of places don’t tally the statistic at all, etc. I’ve seen estimates that range from the thousands to a million or more per year in the U.S., but nothing reliable.
I do know that in some statistical breakdowns of “homicide,” that justifiable homicide is included. Off the top of my head (a lot of my students do gun control papers every semester) the statistic that seems to be most common is about 30,000 gun deaths per year in the U.S. Once you exclude suicide, justifiable homicide, and justified police shootings, IIRC, the number is about 11,000.
This is apropos of nothing, really, but if you haven’t seen it, here is a NY Times breakdown of daily gun deaths. If nothing else, it orients everyone vis-a-vis perspective.
I mentally gauge passing lines when I drive. It’s also fun. Keeps me awake.
And I maintain that a 1 ton car to N ton tractor trailer (say, with a open top box that stuff keeps flying out of) is plenty dangerous in and of itself. Guns add relatively little to the danger issue.
That’s not what I was referring to. I found it alarming that someone carrying a concealed weapon, when someone approached closer than 30 feet, was mentally figuring out whether he could squeeze off a round cleanly, without hitting something else unintentionally.
You’re not serious, are you? Apparently, you’ve missed the whole phenomenon of road-rage induced shootings. It was in all the papers.
Trust me when I say that, when compared to a 18 wheeler with an open top and things flying out of it, I am not so concerned about guns. (Usually gravel. Sometimes cardboard. Sometimes… heavier things.) Happens on a weekly basis. Or the occasional bit of fun when a retread decides to let go and someone lurches a bit and a huge black strip of something goes flying with a sound like a cannon. Or the guy who decides to merge into places that cars are in already.
Road-rage induced shooting not such a big deal, relatively speaking. Happens sometimes, often a cop doing it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/nyregion/23rage.html
but, you know, if you get in your lane properly, it’s generally cool. That’s part of being aware when driving, using your car to communicate your intention to merge… and not being a rude sumbitch who drives down the breakdown lane to try to get in.
Any way you look at it, road rage induced shooting… well, generally, less of a big deal than road rage in the first place. And, again, being aware can keep you out of it.