When Louisiana enacted constitutional carry, the media there did like it does pretty much anywhere else where they loosen restrictions on guns. They freaked out and started screaming about how the streets would run red with blood.
Like we haven't heard that one before.
However, it seems that while there was a lot of talk about how awful it would be, particularly in the party city of New Orleans where high crime, alcohol, and a lack of permitting requirements were supposed to converge into an orgy of violence and carnage.
How did that turn out?
Well...let's just say I'm actually shocked they ran this story.
New Orleans police have seized fewer guns and made fewer illegal gun possession arrests this year compared to last, leading experts to question the impact of Louisiana’s permitless carry law.
According to the NOPD’s most recent crime report, illegal gun possession arrests have dropped by 42% and officers have confiscated 1,788 firearms in criminal investigations, a 21% decrease.
Criminologist Ashraf Esmail, Ph.D., from Dillard University, says the decrease is partly due to a new state law allowing residents to carry concealed firearms without a permit or prior training.
“Police are now limited to stop anyone suspected of a gun because permitting concealment is no longer necessary,” Ashraf Esmail, Ph.D. said.
Esmail says he's concerned about a potential uptick in violence as the city prepares for large events like an upcoming Taylor Swift concert--I guess Swifties are incredibly violent or something. I dunno--but this is what it is.
But is it just a lack of arrests or an actual drop in violence? The stats above suggest it's just fewer people being arrested, not that crime is actually down.
Except, it kind of is.
However, University Medical Center emergency room doctor Annelies De Wulf says as of now, crime is on a decline just like gun seizures.
“I think that mirrors what we see in terms of gun violence and homicide numbers also precipitously dropping,” De Wulf said.
The NOPD reports violent crime is down 24%, meaning less shootings and homicides compared to this time last year
Now, there are times that a 24 percent drop in violent crime might not mean much, but that's only when the absolute numbers are so ridiculously low that just a couple fewer crimes make a massive statistical difference.
But this is New Orleans. This is a city big enough that a a few dozen fewer crimes won't even be noticed.
No, this is a significant drop in violent crime.
That said, it doesn't mean that constitutional carry is responsible for this. Correlation isn't causation, after all.
However, causation should lead to correlation. If laws like constitutional carry were going to result in violence like opponents claimed it would--and they never said it might lead to violent crime. They said it most definitely would--then where is it? I mean, I get concern regarding an uptick leading to special events, but let's be real here, there's a potential uptick no matter what laws are on the books. People from out of town with disposable income? Yeah, the crooks are more likely to be out and about looking for targets than they might otherwise be.
I'm actually shocked that they ran this story at all. The fact that it undermines the anti-gun argument usually means it doesn't get mentioned at all.
But it did and we can all see the facts for ourselves.