Below is a cross listing between the "type of carry" allowed in a particular state
and their 2001 Firearms Murder rate. 2001 population weighted average was 4.2
firearm murders per 100,000 population. While the original claim was with "open
carry", I don't see any obvious correlation between the murder rate and the type of
CCW issue allowed.

Murder rate data from: http://www.morganquitno.com/CR03samp1.pdf

Type of Issue data from: http://www.atr.org/maps/05.html

Open Carry States?: http://www.packing.org/news/article.jsp/3143 (there are far more
listed here than the 25 referred to in the quote)

Anyone know who this Andrew Ford guy is/was? Couldn't find any reference to him
other than this one on a HK website:
http://www.hkweaponsystems.com/cgi-b...pl?andrew_ford

While I agree politically with Gunner on this issue, quoting bad statistics doesn't
further the cause any, just gives the opponents some extra ammunition to "shoot
back." If someone knows the actual "open carry states", let me know. Right now the
claim certainly looks like it doesn't hold water.

Mike Eberlein (damn, another urban legend I wanted to believe in that isn't true)


State Type of 2001 Firearms
Issue Murder Rate(*)
Alabama Shall Issue 6.8
Alaska Shall Issue 3.4
Arizona Shall Issue 5.6
Arkansas Shall Issue 4.4
California May Issue 4.7
Colorado May Issue 2.2
Connecticut Shall Issue 2.4
Delaware May Issue 1.8
Dist of C No Issue Not Available
Florida Shall Issue Not Available
Georgia Shall Issue 6.1
Hawaii May Issue 0.6
Idaho Shall Issue 1.4
Illinois (**) No Issue 7.1
Indiana Shall Issue 5.8
Iowa May Issue 0.7
Kansas Shall Issue 8.4
Kentucky Shall Issue 4.0
Louisiana Shall Issue 9.5
Maine Shall Issue 0.5
Maryland May Issue 7.6
Massachusetts May Issue 1.5
Michigan Shall Issue 6.5
Minnesota May Issue 1.4
Mississippi Shall Issue 8.8
Missouri Shall Issue 5.0
Montana Shall Issue 2.5
Nebraska No Issue 0.7
Nevada Shall Issue 5.1
New Hampshire Shall Issue 1.0
New Jersey May Issue 2.1
New Mexico Shall Issue 3.4
New York May Issue 7.9
N. Carolina Shall Issue 4.1
North Dakota Shall Issue 0.9
Ohio No Issue 3.3
Oklahoma Shall Issue 3.0
Oregon Shall Issue 1.1
Pennsylvania Shall Issue 4.4
Rhode Island May Issue 1.8
South Carolina Shall Issue 8.1
South Dakota Shall Issue 1.0
Tennessee Shall Issue 4.9
Texas Shall Issue 3.9
Utah Shall Issue 1.9
Vermont Shall Issue 1.2
Virginia Shall Issue 3.7
Washington Shall Issue 1.7
West Virginia Shall Issue 2.1
Wisconsin No Issue 2.4
Wyoming Shall Issue 1.0
(*) - Murder Rate per 100,000 population
(**) - City of Chicago rate shown for Illinois

Gunner wrote:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=35862
"25 States allow anyone to buy a gun, strap it on,
and walk down the street with no permit of any kind:
some say it's crazy. However, 4 out of 5 US murders
are committed in the other half of the country: so who is crazy?" -- Andrew Ford