Study: Concealed Carry Permit Holders are Safer Drivers

It has been reported that concealed carriers generally commit fewer crimes, especially violent crimes, than the average population. Now, a new study says those who carry concealed also tend to drive less recklessly than other drivers.

This story from foxnews.com says new data from the Crime Prevention Research Center collected in Michigan shows that drivers without concealed carry permits were 12.2 times more likely to violate the law.

Drivers without permits were 2.4 times more likely to drive drunk, 34.1 times more likely to drive under the influence of a controlled substance, and 10.6 times more likely to drive recklessly, the story says.

There are about 7.2 million licensed drivers in the state, and 588,000 of them are licensed to carry concealed.

From the story:

“As part of its report, the CPRC challenged findings released earlier this year by The Trace, a gun control news website founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman.”

“The Trace reported that based on data from the Gun Violence Archive, which catalogs reports of gun violence in the U.S., there were 1,319 road incidents in the U.S. between 2014 and 2016 involving firearms and that states with large numbers of concealed-carry permit holders — such as Florida and Texas — had a higher number of such incidents.” “’Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace didn’t actually look at the behavior of permit holders and they didn’t look at all the convictions for reckless or dangerous driving,’ CPRC’s John Lott told Fox News. ‘Looking at news articles on road rage incidents may only tell you what the media is interested at during any point in time. By contrast, we have data on how permit and non-permit holders actually drive.’”