Reply #38: Additionally, the problem with the VPC's "study" is that its thesis in incoherent [View All]

[Euromutt]

If the VPC's point were to prove only that some CCW killers are responsible for homicides, be it through malice (murder) or negligence (manslaughter), then most of the incidents listed would be valid examples.

However, the VPC has not been content to leave it at that. From the VPC's press release when "CCW Killers" was launched (http://www.vpc.org/press/0911ccw.htm):

Kristen Rand, legislative director for the Violence Policy Center, states, "This new web site makes clear that contrary to the false promises of the gun lobby the simple and deadly fact is that state concealed handgun systems are arming cop-killers, mass shooters, and other murderers."

The thesis, then, is not merely that some CCW permit holders commit homicides, but that these killings were made possible by their being issued CCW permits; and, by extension, that these killings would have been prevented by not issuing CCW permits. That contention sets the bar significantly higher for including incidents in the list. For example, it is hard to see how Tony Villegas (Florida) would have been prevented from strangling Melissa Britt to death by not having a CCW permit. One must also discard all homicides that occurred in locations where state or local law did not require a CCW permit to possess a concealed firearm (e.g. in the shooter's home); all homicides that occurred in locations where the shooter's permit did not allow him to carry a firearm (e.g. Aubrey BERRY, whose Georgia Firearm License did not allow him to carry in California, where the killing occurred); and all homicides committed with non-concealable firearms (i.e. rifles and shotguns).

The problem is that Rand and Sugarmann want to have it both ways: they want to argue that CCW permits facilitate homicides that, absent those permits, would have been preventable, but they don't want to discard any instances of CCW permit holders being involved in a homicide.