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Tribune poll: Just 15 percent of Chicagoans feel safer with concealed carry law
Monday, Aug 18, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller * From the latest Chicago Tribune poll…  Also, as you might imagine, Mayor Rahm Emanuel receives some very low marks on the crime issue. Go read the whole thing. * Related…
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- RonOglesby - Now in TX - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:07 am:
makes sense in some respect. There has always (or really the last couple of decades) been an anti-gun lean in Chicago. 55% feel less safe, but really, they dont know that it isnt the licensed CCW folks that are shooting up the south and west sides daily.
- BehindTheScenes - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:10 am:
Which 22 states recognize the Illinois law?
- William j Kelly - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:13 am:
Awhile back McCarthy was quoted as saying Rahm’s reelection was his number one priority, I wonder how he will feel about that when the time comes for Rahm to throw him under the bus.
- RonOglesby - Now in TX - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:13 am:
@Behind
besides some neighboring states:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.
Click on Illinois then resident permit: http://www.usacarry.com/concealed_carry_permit_reciprocity_maps.html
its not a perfect site, but figuring out reciprocity is a nightmare.
- Grandson of Man - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:17 am:
I’m not sure whether I feel more or less safe now that CCW is in effect.
I think that in Chicago, I need to see how this plays out more over time in order to form an opinion.
Though I support the ownership of firearms and have long considered purchasing one, I wonder why are we gun-crazy in America? Why do we own so many firearms here?
- Formerly Known As... - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:24 am:
When public officials repeatedly declare that something is dangerous, it eventually sinks in to the public psyche.
It takes time for the facts to debunk the politics.
Unless the media is covering up all the permit-related killings Rahm and others were “warning” about.
- the Patriot - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:26 am:
The other harsh reality is that 7 people were killed and 29 more shot over the weekend. Not sure how safe anyone should really feel.
I doubt many of the folks in the dangerous areas are getting CCW. They are generally poorer folks.
By the time you take the class, apply, and purchase a gun you need to spend over $1,000. Most people who need protection the most cannot afford CCW anyway.
On the other hand, you don’t need CCW for your home. FOID card and a cheap shotgun. Less than $300 to secure your home.
- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:30 am:
Kind of early to determine whether CC is having a change in public safety.
One problem in our society is that we ‘feel’ about issues rather than collect the facts and made an informed determination. Those who hate weapons will naturally feel less safe, the rest, time will tell.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:34 am:
The key word is “legal”.
Before Illinois finally caught up with the rest of the US and crafted CCW laws and regulations, there were plenty of CCWs among Chicagoans every day.
What it did was give CCW toting Chicagoans a means of doing so legally and sanction their CCW.
It is kind of silly to think passing a law would make Chicagoans feel safer. Is the new law printed on Kevlar and passed out to everyone?
- From the burbs - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:35 am:
Though I’m from the suburbs, I’ve not seen any issues with CC in Chicago. If anything given the number of CC holders vs illegal carries to the number of shooting/murders, the CC have done nothing wrong, committed no shooting or murders or robberies - nothing illegal. I would imagine that in the troubled areas few, if any, people have or will get CC. The civilized areas are more likely to now be better self-protected and proactive when it comes to crime, this would be just another tool for these communities since they are most likely to call the police, talk, watch, “snitch”, be a family, go to church …
- William j Kelly - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:41 am:
But don’t feel too bad for McCarthy he has coasted on Rahm psychobabble in Chicago, where as in any other city he would have been expected to get results.
- William j Kelly - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:54 am:
Does anyone remember when McCarty blamed crime on the pilgrims? It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerously wrong.
- Mason born - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 9:55 am:
Lets not forget McDonald was only decided in 2010. Handgun osnership in Chicago is a fairly new development let alone ccw. The fact that 15% feel this way and 30% are ambivalent is actually fairly good. What I am curious is what the same poll repeated annualy over the next 5 years will show. Any recent polling done on same question SStatewide?
- Scott Booth - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:01 am:
I don’t care what the public thinks. I feel much better knowing that my friends,family and myself are protected if a situation arises.
- From the 'Dale to HP - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:04 am:
When you see this sign in nearly every store one goes into, it should not be that surprising that people feel less safe: http://survivalandprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/IL-No-Guns-Allowed-Sign.jpg
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:19 am:
Check the wording of the question: why would anyone feel safer that someone they don’t know is carrying a gun?
When you become aware of a stranger carrying a gun, do you breathe a sigh of relief or are you on alert?
- Todd - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:26 am:
Word –
a stranger doesn’t bother me. I figure if they are carrying, they comply woth the law.
I ask most people this simple question, if you trust your doctor to take care of you, and you bumped into him at a store and noticed he was carrying, would it chamge your opion of him as your doctor?
BTW prediction, a concelaed carry post that doesn’t crack 100 posts
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:36 am:
–a stranger doesn’t bother me. I figure if they are carrying, they comply woth the law.–
But why would that make you feel safer? Just human instinct, aren’t you more alert to that person’s presence than someone you know doesn’t have a gun?
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 10:48 am:
Upon further review, Todd, your statement makes no sense and I don’t think you believe it.
Isn’t the mantra that good guys need to carry guns to protect themselves from bad guys with guns? There are bad guys with guns, right? How do you know if a stranger is a good guy or bad guy?
You can’t possibly believe that just because someone carries a gun their intentions are benign. If that were true, there would never be any gun crime and your whole political argument for conceal-carry falls to pieces.
And I don’t get the doctor analogy at all.
- John A Logan - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:04 am:
I don’t get the doctor analogy either. The poll results are not surprising. In fact I am a little surprised the number is as high as 15%. However I think over time that number will rise once the law is allowed to show that it has not fulfilled some people’s dire predictions.
- walker - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:05 am:
Todd: You ask a good question. If I saw my doctor carrying publicly, it would change my opinion of him. I would wonder what had happened to him to make him either more afraid, or wanting to be a public peace keeper. It might change my opinion of his judgment overall.
- Ghost - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:08 am:
Question is flawed, it assumes you an actually Conceal carry.
Do you feel safer knowing you can conceal carry except in large public gatherings, many buisnesses, when going to psorting events, school events etc etc.
Who would feel safer with a conceal carry law that bans you from carrying in the places where you tend to find the violent people who are not constrained by the law.
- Wumpus - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:18 am:
Would not change my opinion as I don’t frequent these high shooting areas. My opinion is not as valid as many others. At worst, I could say I could take out a few overly aggressive canadien geese.
- Rod - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:22 am:
During the time of the Chicago hand gun ban, some Chicagoans who were not criminals purchased hand guns. Moreover, because of the requirements of the city gun registration law some buyers of long guns never registered them either. But overall gun ownership was probably low among non-criminals during that time and remains so I would suspect.
I would not expect the Concealed Carry law to have any impact on people’s perception of safety unless they might themselves have such a permit.
The Chicago Sun Times on August 13, had an article on the number of carry permits issued in Illinois.
About 25% are from Cook County, no data was given by the city within the County. Overall given the population of Cook County the article correctly informs its readers as follows: “By sheer volume, that’s Cook County, with 17,477 permit holders — but that’s only 0.33 percent of all residents (in the county), which puts it at 96th out of 102 counties in Illinois.”
I would also suggest that within the City the percentage of permit holders is even lower than the overall Cook County average. Because rural citizens of Illinois are far more likely to own a gun the highest rate of permit holders in Illinois is Mason County with a permit rate of 14.2%. Havana is the County’s largest city and has only about 3,300 people.
- Tequila Mockingbird - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:31 am:
Its always about “feelings”. Unfortunately. it is seldom about facts.
I really don’t care how many Chicagoans FEEL less safe about legal CCW.
- Precinct Captain - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 11:32 am:
Issues with CC? In south suburban Crestwood a CCer fired shots that caused a police officer to halt the pursuit of a robbery suspect because the “good guy” decided to try to be a hero and the cop had to take cover.
- BehindTheScenes - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 12:08 pm:
@ Ron O
I went to Nebraska the weekend before last. Nebraska, by the way, has both concealed and open carry. Checked each state’s laws out on line and found that Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska recognize the CCW permit of any state whose requirements meet or exceed their own. One of the states cites Illinois as an example of that. Missouri has an interesting law regarding “peaceable journey” which allows any non-felon, 21 years or older, to transport a loaded firearm in the passenger compartment of an automobile while traveling in Missouri - no CCW permit required.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 12:13 pm:
–Its always about “feelings”. Unfortunately. it is seldom about facts.–
Are you, in fact, safer because other people carry guns?
It goes to the nature of the question asked: why would anyone think — or feel — that they’re safer because other people carry guns?
The whole rational — and emotional — argument for CC is that you are safer because you are carrying a gun.
- Arizona Bob - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 12:16 pm:
The people most postively affected by the CCW are contractors, delivery and sales people who venture into dangerous neighborhoods. Of course, these folks have been packing for years. They always say “better to be judged by twelve jurors than carried away by six pallbearers.”
My guess is that the people who NEEDED CCW, a small percentage of people overall, were lightly represented in the poll.
For those who ARE safer now becasue of the weapons, they’re life savers.
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 12:53 pm:
I think some of you are completely missing the boat here. I don’t know that you could get many Chicagoans to say they feel safe right now. Concealed carry wouldn’t make me feel any safer in that city.
Besides, I’ve never bought into the argument that CC has anything to do with personal safety. I’m all for CC. Don’t have a problem with it. But the personal safety angle never seemed to be a real winning argument.
- E town - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 1:40 pm:
I agree with Demoralized about the safety angle Most people particularly men just want to exercise what they feel is their personal to carry a firearm whenever they want.
Poll results aren’t a surprise and don’t really think they would be all that different in most parts of the country. Most people feel less safe when they know someone walking down their street or next to them on a train or bus is carrying a loaded 9 mm
- FormerParatrooper - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 2:45 pm:
I think 30% of the respondents actually thought about the question they were asked. The rest answered according to their own prejudice.
- Todd - Monday, Aug 18, 14 @ 5:01 pm:
Word –
I have no problem if I come across someone and notice they are carrying. be it because their shirt blew open, they raised their hand for a box of cereal at the store and their jacket raised or I see a imprint in their pants pocket.
Doesn’t matter to me. becuase my bet is they are complying with the law.
And people carry for the same reason that you have insurance for health care or your car — just in case. and for those who live in Roseland or Englewood that is a big thing for those who get a FCCL.
I don’t expect to get into a wreck, but I have insurance for it. same reson I carry a gun. I don’t expect to get carjacked, robbed or assualted at the ATM, but I am ready for it.
So your question/comment presents a false premis.
We are 6 months + into carry. about 70,000 licensees. and I have only heard of 3 arrests. 1 for a landlord (who didn’t need a carry permit for where he was), 1 for a carrying while arrested for a DUI and 1 for the march in Chicago.
At the same time, I am aware of 2 shootings by FCCLs both legit, and no non-shooting incidents, both legit.
The blood in the streets thing hasn’t come true. the number of CCLs in Cook exceed the number of guns CPD claims to take off the street every year. yet CCLs are not responsible for the crime that is taking place.
Walker gets my idea of a question. The anti-gunners think that carrying a gun turns one into a raging madman. doesn’t happen that way. it doesn’t affect 99.5% of the people with licensees. But getting at this feeling of “less” safe so what happens if someone you know, you look up to for advise on a professional level, some one you trust you run into at the store notice they are carrying — now what? does you opinion of them go out the window? does their prfessional advise become less useful? Did they all of a sudden become a raving madman — because they choose to exercise their right?
My opinion of my doc would not change, unless I saw him with a .380.
- Ellen - Tuesday, Aug 19, 14 @ 6:49 am:
Chicago deserves every bit of the crime and shootings they get. They created that mess and wanted it. Welcome to the “murder capital” of the country. When you try to outlaw guns only the outlaws will have them.