New York Times Editorial Board: 'The Concealed-Carry Fantasy

The idea that law-abiding concealed carry permit holders could potentially stop mass shooters is nothing more than a “myth,” the New York Times editorial board proclaimed on Monday.

Citing a study from the anti-gun Violence Policy Center, the editorial board claimed “at least 763” concealed carry permit holders “have been killed in 579 shootings that did not involve self-defense” since 2007.

More from the opinion column:

The death toll includes 29 mass killings of three or more people by concealed carry shooters who took 139 lives; 17 police officers shot to death, and — in the ultimate contradiction of concealed carry as a personal safety factor — 223 suicides. Compared with the 579 non-self-defense, concealed-carry shootings, there were only 21 cases in which self-defense was determined to be a factor.

The tally by the Violence Policy Center, a gun safety group, is necessarily incomplete because the gun lobby has been so successful in persuading gullible state and national legislators that concealed carry is essential to public safety, thus blocking the extensive data collection that should be mandatory for an obvious and severe public health problem. For that reason, the center has been forced to rely largely on news accounts and limited data in 38 states and the District of Columbia.

The New York Times editorial board wrapped up by claiming “concealed carry does not transform ordinary citizens into superheroes” and “vigilantism” by gun owners is what really “endangers communities.”

As previously reported by TheBlaze, law-abiding gun owners have played a role in stopping several mass shootings in the past 20 years -- and the list we compiled in 2013 is certainly not a comprehensive list. Pro-gun advocates also argue data on gun owners defending themselves with firearms are incomplete.

The headline of the op-ed, "The Concealed-Carry Fantasy," was a top U.S. trending topic on Twitter Monday. Several users supported the paper's conclusions, while many others called it a misleading premise.

"The Concealed-carry fantasy" isn't a fantasy. How many armed citizens do you hear that are attacked and lose?

— Frank Wible (@FrankWibble215) October 26, 2015

This doesn’t even try. https://t.co/JTRul4FjHg

— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) October 26, 2015

sorry NYT but most times a CCW holder defends himself with a gun it isn't fired or statistically recorded anywhere https://t.co/XVSyexnDZW

— The Duck (@jokeocracy) October 26, 2015

Dr. John Lott Jr., president of the pro-gun Crime Prevention Research Center, told TheBlaze that the New York Times editorial board is merely repeating refuted claims made my anti-gun advocates "over and over again."

He also provided a link to one of his columns, titled, "Let’s not be so quick to believe gun-control rhetoric."

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