One-third of Americans live in the 22 progressive states that have
reformed laws to allow good citizens to readily protect themselves
outside their homes.[26,27] In those states crime rates are lower for
every category of crime indexed by the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.[11]
Homicide, assault, and overall violent crime are each 40% lower, armed
robbery is 50% lower, rape is 30% lower, and property crimes are 10%
lower.[11] The reasonable reform of concealed weapon laws resulted in
none of the mayhem prophesied by the anti-self-defense lobby. In fact,
the data suggest that, providing they are in the hands of good citizens,
more guns "on the street" offer a considerable benefit to society -
saving lives, a deterrent to crime, and an adjunct to the concept of
community policing.