Rates of violent gun assaults increased 32 percent when states removed concealed carry licensing that mandated firearm training or proficiency requirements, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. According to a press release from the center, the study analyzed 11 states that moved from requiring purchasers to demonstrate a need for a permit for a concealed weapon–known as shall issue laws, which require safety training–to permitless concealed carry laws. “When states made it easier for potentially untrained gun owners to carry their weapons in public, assaults with guns increased,” said Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School, noting that the “study shows that states can reduce the expected increase in gun assault rates by including training requirements.”
In July of 2022, the United States Supreme Court found in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen that New York’s state law requiring that permittees have a proper cause or special need to obtain a concealed carry weapons permit as unconstitutional. Similar laws in other states are now under review. State laws have loosened in recent years — twenty-seven states currently allow for the permitless carry of a concealed weapon and 17 states issue permits on a shall issue basis. “This study shows that making the concealed carry permitting process more rigorous can have a major impact on public safety,” said Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, Bloomberg Professor of American Health and Distinguished Research Scholar at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Bloomberg School. “This study is unique in that it analyzes specific provisions to concealed carry laws to identify which are most effective in avoiding harmful outcomes from expanding concealed carry licensing.”