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Annotated Bibliography

Is Concealed Carry a Step in the Right Direction or Will it Lead to More Tragedies?

Jordan Dai

Professor Malcolm Campbell

Eng 1103

October 10, 2012

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Annotated Bibliography Fennel, Reginald. "Concealed Carry Weapon Permits: A Second Amendment Right or a Recipe for Disaster on Our Nations Campuses?" JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH 58.2 (2010): 99-100. Web. Oct. 2012. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07448480903340338>. This academic source talks about how proposed concealed carry laws could affect the lives of students on college campuses everywhere. Dr. Fennell wrote this article for the Journal of American College Health discussing if college students have the right to concealed carry on campus, is it going to be beneficial to the students and faculty around them or will it result in acts of domestic terrorism and nation tragedies such as the shootings at Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois University. He talks about a study done by Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System that students 9-12 reported that nationwide, 18% of students had carried a weapon of some type to school and that 5.2% of those weapons were guns. He goes on to tell the readers that Utah is the only state that allows concealed carry permit holders to carry a weapon on campus. Next he talks about how many people fear that if passed, this law to carry weapons on campus would put weapons in untold number of students on any college campus and that in an outburst of fear or anger; they may use that weapon against an innocent person or persons on campus. He then makes the argument that college students are not mature enough for the responsibility of carrying a weapon and would resort to using it to solve an argument. He then changes his focus and starts to question how many students or faculty would actually carry weapons on campus with a permit. Near the end of his article, he says that there is little to fear

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from people carrying weapons on campus and that if there were to be another Virginia Tech type shooting that someone that was trained in gun control and use might be helpful in saving lives. This article discusses many viewpoints of the concealed carry law and specifically focuses on how it may affect the lives of students and faculty in a college setting. I would say that while this article doesnt have the deepest backing of facts and information, it does bring a different angle to the concealed carry law rather than just pro or con. The fact it comes from the Journal of American College Health only backs that this is a reliable source. I believe the intended source of this information was those wondering about the effects of concealed carry on college campus. It has shed light on a side of the topic that none of my other sources has so far. As far as use to me, I believe this has really changed my thinking about the whole concealed carry because it now has a tie to me and all the people in my day to day interactions. It gives me another question to investigate when researching and arguing the fact of Concealed Carry. I will use this argument for use in my pro and con arguments.

Hock, Michael. "Guns as a Crime Deterrent: Does the Issuance of Concealed Carry Permits Reduce Crime?"Hinckley Journal of Politics (2009): 59-68. Print. This is a rather lengthy article with lots of information and facts about past and current laws regarding concealed carry. Hock starts out with a few of the bigger public shootings in

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America, a shooting in Utah and the Virginia Tech tragedy. His first section is about the history of gun control in the United States, focusing in on the Second Amendment. After reviewing the Second Amendment he goes on to say that prior to the 20 th century there was little argument about the wording and relevance of the 2nd Amendment. Next, he addresses the changes that started to happen regarding gun control. He talks about the Gun Control Act of 1968 and then about the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986. After discussing both of the these, he talks briefly about the Brady Act, which meant that you had to wait 5 days between buying and obtaining a firearm and prohibited sale of firearms to an individual charged with a crime that could be imprisoned for more than a year, along with other things such as people on drugs, those with mental disabilities or deemed insane, or those that renounce citizenship to the United States. After his sections on gun control in the past, he begins to talk about Concealed Carry permits. He breaks down the rest of the paper to the arguments for and against the concealed carry policy. He first addresses the argument of the lack of training, saying that people lack the basic necessary training to carry a loaded weapon, which is the con side. For the pro side, Gary Kleck, a criminologist, states that every year, citizens draw a firearm on potential criminals 2 million times a year, and that 98 percent result in the criminal running away. Next they argue that arming citizens will cause criminals to behave more violently. The con side of the argument says that if it is meant to deter crime, then the weapon should be visible. The pro side says that with the weapon concealed, the criminal has no idea if the victim has a weapon or not. Furthermore Hock shares the arguments that guns only escalate the situation and the argument that there will be more accidental deaths due to more guns on the streets. The next big argument that gets raised is over the fact that Police do not prevent crime. What the pro

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side is arguing is that the police dont protect the citizens anymore, simply there is to too much crime for the police to actually deter crime from happening and that they are more or less a response unit. The last part of Hocks article talks about the requirements for obtaining a concealed weapon. He states that each state has different requirements. Some states have enacted the shall issue and may issue stance on issuing. Shall issue means that as long as a citizen meets the basic requirements, the state will grant the citizen their concealed carry. May issue means that the state may issue you your permit after you have been reviewed and is not always a sure thing. This source is one of my better sources I have found so far. It brings into view both sides of some of the major topics concerning concealed carry. The author has brought together tons of sources and very respectable people and documents to help support each side of the argument. I believe that Hock remained unbiased in his writing due to the fact that he never took a side, rather presented information and argument for both the pro and con sides to the argument. This article was written for those researching and obtaining information on concealed carry. This will be one of my main sources of my paper because it hits on many of the main topics that the pro and con arguments are based on. Also, it has turned me onto different sources that I could look further into that Hock quoted and used as information throughout the article. I am still unsure which side of the fence I am on as far as if I am for or against concealed carry, but I believe this article gave me more of an insight into the topic.

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Donohue, John, J. "The Impact of Concealed-Carry Laws." SelectedWorks of John Donohue. N.p., n.d. 287-322. Print. This source is a chapter that was written by John Donohue from one of his pieces of work. The chapter focuses on providing information on what has happened since the implication of concealed carry in the United States. Donohue compiled tons and tons of information from all kinds of sources that give the reader a picture of what has happened in almost ever faucet of crime in regards to the new concealed carry laws. He talks about the works of Lott and Mustard who are both criminologists that have published endless amount of works on all sorts of subjects in the field of criminology. This chapter talks about how all the information that they had gathered explained how 10 randomly chosen states that have concealed carry have had their crime rates drop in the time period that was sampled. It also talks about how violent crimes are lower but also raises the argument that the concealed carry laws have only forced criminals to move to states that do not have the concealed carry laws. It continuously talks about the theory of more guns, less crime which has been debated by all sorts of researchers. In this chapter, it doesnt make a clear cut opinion saying that it is either for or against concealed carry, rather it gives the reader enormous amounts of data on the crime rates for the states that currently have concealed carry laws and how the crime rates have changed since implication. It has saved me the time of having to locate all the data for myself that I can then use to support one side or another.

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Can I use this source? Yes, but it will only be to provide the pro and con sides of the argument with statistical data to help strengthen each argument. Other than that this source has very little sway ability on the argument either way.

ProCon.org. "Should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun?" concealedguns.ProCon.org. ProCon.org, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2011. This source is published by an independent, nonpartisan public company that compiles data and provides a pro and con argument to a variety of different topics. It first starts out with giving the reader a basic Did you know? section in which it gives you the basic background you might need to know before going into the argument. Then it gets to the Pro and Con arguments part. In this part, there is a T chart that gives you the Pros on the left side of the table, and the Cons to the right with links to where the information was found and where additional information could be found. The pro side consists of a variety of points. It talks about how criminals are less likely to attack if they think they may be harmed. The next point talks about how the 2nd amendment gives citizens the right to carry a weapon. It continues to say that having a weapon for self-defense may give citizens a feeling of safety if going out late at night. It then states that a majority of adults that do carry a concealed weapon do not misuse them. It states that the general public is 13 times more likely to be arrested than those with concealed carry. It then makes the point that someone with a concealed weapon may deter or aid in ending a public shooting. It also makes the argument that if criminals can carry weapons the general public should have the right to arm themselves against said criminals. The con side

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of the argument starts out by saying that concealed handguns are not an effective form of selfdefense. It states that someone with a gun is 4.5 times more likely to be shot than someone without. It then makes the point that the right to carry a concealed weapon is not a right granted by the US Consstitution. The next point made is that carrying a weapon only increases the chances of an altercation to become inappropriately more violent, especially under the use of intoxicants or stress. It ends the argument saying that those with concealed carry are generally undertrained for the use of that weapon and therefore are more of a risk to themselves and the public around them. It ends the webpage with up to date information on the most recent rulings and law passages regarding concealed carry and links to a few news reports also regarding concealed carry. This source is put together to help those wondering about concealed carry make an informed and correct choice on the matter. It gives up to the date information and provides arguments for both the pro and con sides. It is unbiased in nature and allows the researcher to look deeper into each claim as it has an abundant number of links to more information. It puts all sorts of viewpoints into play and doesnt lean one way or another when presenting the information. As far as relevance to my paper, I believe this site, while it may not be peer reviewed like my others, provides me with information that I can use to present different sides of the argument to my readers. It gives both pro and cons for concealed carry, each side backed up by its own set of information. I believe that this will be one of my main sources for this paper because it allows me to click links to more information on each point presented and also has

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imbedded videos regarding concealed carry from CNN, CBS NEWS, a US senator, and a County Sheriff from Los Angeles.