Another school shooting

[Hippikos]

Not true. Philadelphia County is a case in point...despite the lobbying of the mayor, the state shall-issue law preempts any county statute.

In the state of Pennsylvania, a "shall issue" law was passed in 1989, but the city of Philadelphia was exempted from it. Comparing figures with Pittsburgh show that murder rates are generally higher in Philadelphia than in Pittsburgh, but the passage of a law giving citizens the right to get permits to carry concealed weapons did not have the positive effect posited by John Lott. In fact, the Pittsburgh murder rate was declining prior to the passage of the law, then increased slightly. In Philadelphia, the murder rate had been increasing, then it leveled off despite the fact that the new law did not apply in that city. The violent crime statistics for the same two counties show the same pattern.