Phil Lee wrote:
The claim about CHL holders of Texas having a higher arrest rate than average Texans is false. Take a look at the article below.
The VPC cherry-picked the data and cited "weapons-related" arrests, rather than all arrests.
http://www.vpc.org/fact_sht/texaskey.htm
# In 1996 Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 22 percent higher than that of the general population of Texas aged 21 years and older.
# In the first six months of 1997 the weapon-related offense arrest rate among Texas concealed handgun license holders was more than twice as high as that of the general population of Texas aged 21 years and older.
As I wrote earlier, I believe it's a "correct" statement, but misleading because it ignores the circumstances and confusion surrounding the first two years of the Texas CHL law, before an extensive bill was enacted in 1997 (effective 9/1/97) to clarify the remaining issues. It also has an obvious fallacy: people legally carrying weapons are more likely to get arrested for weapons violations, because they aren't worried about getting caught and can more easily get tripped up by a misunderstanding of the law (either by the CHL holder or law enforcement).
The confusion appears to have been primarily on the part of law enforcement, given the high rate of dismissals and the woefully low conviction rate. I have lost the original data, but dug up the summary information this afternoon:
The numbers relevant to this discussion (for 1996 - 1998):
Arrests Convictions Dismissals Felony UCW 70 8 35 Misdemeanor UCW 112 25 41 UCW by CHL hldr 191 36 62 Dischrg Firearm 16 4 4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Totals 389 73 142
That table may look bad if your email agent doesn't use a non-proportional font.
(UCW is "Unlawfully Carrying Weapon", a reference to several sections i Chapter 46 of the Texas Penal Code)
Convictions were reported for only 19% of the arrests, while charges were dismissed in 36% of the arrests. 45% of the arrests had no reported disposition at all.
The conviction rate is especially bad for felony UCW, probably because the confusion in law enforcement until the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Cod was updated (carrying a handgun into a restaurant that served alcoholic beverages was a felony, and is still so for non-CHL holders).
I don't have arrest or conviction data for non-CHL holders during this period, so I can't make a direct comparison.
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