Media Contact: Georgia Seltzer, (202) 822-8200 x104, gseltzer@vpc.org
Campaign Research Notes – March 6, 2025
In this industry update: As the gun lobby and firearms industry push federal legislation for coast-to-coast concealed carry, the latest update from the Violence Policy Center’s Concealed Carry Killers project continues to show that despite claims that those who carry concealed, loaded handguns in public are “good guys” with guns, in reality the exact opposite is true. And while advocates for lax concealed carry laws paint their efforts in righteous terms of self-defense and personal security, as far back as 2012 the VPC detailed how concealed carry is just one more example of how the gun lobby and firearms industry work together to create new markets to fuel gun sales to benefit their financial and political agendas.
Concealed handgun permit holders are responsible for at least 2,541 deaths not involving self-defense since 2007, according to the Violence Policy Center’s (VPC) ongoing Concealed Carry Killers project, an online resource that provides examples of non-self defense killings involving private citizens with permits to carry concealed handguns in public.
This latest update comes as legislation endorsed by the gun lobby and firearms industry has been introduced in the U.S. House (H.R. 38) and Senate (S. 65) to allow individuals with state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry their weapons in any state that issues carry permits or does not prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms. Both bills have been endorsed by National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), Gun Owners of America (GOA), the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA), and the gun industry trade association the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
Overall, the VPC’s Concealed Carry Killers documents 2,277 fatal, non-self defense incidents since May 2007 in 40 states and the District of Columbia, resulting in the deaths of 2,541 people. Thirty-eight of the incidents were fatal mass shootings as defined by federal law (three or more victims killed), resulting in the deaths of 186 victims. At least 24 law enforcement officers have died at the hands of concealed carry killers since May 2007.
*Concealed Carry Killers does not include the small number of incidents that are eventually determined to involve self-defense or where no verdict is reached at trial. All such incidents are removed from the database’s ongoing totals.
Because there is no comprehensive recordkeeping of deaths involving concealed handgun permit holders and many states in fact bar the release of such information, the examples in Concealed Carry Killers are taken primarily from news reports along with the limited information collected by a few states. Hence, they likely represent a tiny fraction of actual events. (Concealed Carry Killers does not include the small number of incidents that are eventually determined to involve self-defense or where no verdict is reached at trial. All such incidents are removed from the database’s ongoing totals.)
Today, supporters of federal legislation enabling coast-to-coast concealed carry talk of reducing “unnecessary burdens for law-abiding citizens and allow them to carry a concealed firearm in every state that permits it…” Yet for the gun industry the bottom line, as it always is, is the bottom line (i.e., increased sales and higher profits for gunmakers).
The 2012 Violence Policy Center study “Never Walk Alone”– How Concealed Carry Laws Boost Gun Industry Sales explains how faced with a decades-long decline in household gun ownership, the firearms industry worked to exploit NRA-backed legislation such as ”Stand Your Ground” laws (also known as ”Shoot First” laws) to re-sell old customers and entice new ones. As Tanya Metaksa, then-chief lobbyist for the NRA told the Wall Street Journal in 1996, “The gun industry should send me a basket of fruit — our efforts have created a new market.”
In their public promotion of lax concealed weapons laws, the gun lobby and firearms industry rarely mention the financial benefits such measures afford gun sellers. Yet in industry publications they are far more open. “Never Walk Alone” cites the CEO of handgun manufacturer Taurus International in a December 2011 interview with the gun industry publication Shooting Industry:
“The buying trends of most people have shifted quite dramatically over the past four or five years. The products that are selling throughout the year have shifted. For instance, the cycles for sales of hunting products have been shortened dramatically, which requires a tremendous amount of planning and research to make sure you hit it right. However, in home security and concealed carry, it’s a year-round business…The economy is certainly something we have been lucky to escape, especially in the areas of home security and concealed carry.”
Six months earlier, in a Shooting Industry column devoted to marketing guns to women cited by “Never Walk Alone,” the author exhorted:
“Scaled-down guns are the hot ticket for 2011, and many of the new guns introduced earlier in the year are beginning to appear on dealers’ shelves. Almost every major manufacturer has a firearm that is reduced in size or designed for concealed carry, which is great news for women looking for pocket-sized self-defense guns….”
The VPC study’s conclusion is as accurate today as it was in 2012:
“While pro-gun advocates will inevitably voice their support of these bills in terms of self-defense and individual rights, truly the greatest beneficiary of national concealed carry stands to be the gun industry.”
The Campaign for Gun Industry Accountability is an ongoing project of the Violence Policy Center.