Sheriff Carter's Take on Gun Control

First of all, I want to thank the Sanford Herald for hosting "Take 5".  It's a great platform for folks to speak out about popular (and sometimes unpopular) topics.

Here is a link to latest Take 5 we did in response to the school shooting in Newtown and my opinion of gun ownership.

http://www.sanfordherald.com/news/x1791816812/TAKE-5-Sheriff-speaks-about-Newtown-shootings-gun-ownership

While I have your attention, let me say this...

For the record, I fully support the Second Amendment of our Constitution.  Law abiding gun owners are not the problem.  

I would pose the question to those who want more gun control, "What’s next?".  I am not an advocate for additional gun control laws.

I am in favor of mandatory prison sentences for individuals who commit crimes with firearms and I am an advocate for a mental health reform.  

North Carolina has been conducting instant background checks on people who purchase firearms for a number of years and denies applicants daily for various reasons. 

I also want to share some interesting links issued by our leading law enforcement community;
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/violent-crime/violent-crime

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8
(2012 stats will not probably be available until mid 2013)

In fact, homicide, assault, rape, and robbery are dramatically lower in areas of the United States where the public is allowed easy access to carrying concealed firearms in public.

Sources: Florida Department of State, Concealed Weapons/ Firearms License Statistical Report and "Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns," by John R. Lott, Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School and David B. Mustard, graduate student, Department of Economics, Journal of Legal Studies, January 1997.

Every 13 seconds, an American gun owner uses a firearm in defense against a criminal. 

Every day, 550 rapes, 1,100 murders, and 5,200 other violent crimes are prevented just by showing a handgun. In less than 0.9% of the time is the gun ever actually ever fired.

Of the 250,000,000 annual self-defense cases using guns, more than 7.7% are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse.

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In 1976, the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a law generally prohibiting residents from possessing handguns and requiring that all firearms in private homes be (1) kept unloaded and (2) rendered temporally inoperable via disassembly or installation of a trigger lock. The law became operative on Sept. 24, 1976. 

 * On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, struck down this law as unconstitutional.

* During the years in which the D.C. handgun ban and trigger lock law was in effect, the Washington, D.C. murder rate averaged 73% higher than it was at the outset of the law, while the U.S. murder rate averaged 11% lower.


Again, I am not an advocate for additional gun control laws.  Let’s enforce the laws that are already in place by our State and Federal government.