Perceived effects of concealed handgun ownership by private citizens among law enforcement officers in Texas |
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Authors: | R Alan Thompson |
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Institution: | (1) College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, USA |
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Abstract: | On January 1, 1996, a new law took effect in Texas granting certain state citizens the privilege to carry a concealed handgun
on their person for the first time since 1871. As a result of this dramatic shift in state law, Texas is now among the growing
number of states across the nation who have adopted similar statutory provisions in one form or another. While at least one
empiricals study of citizen’s attitudes toward concealed handgun ownership was conducted prior to the law’s effective date,
no similar efforts were undertakens to assess the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes of the state’s law enforcement officers
about this important social policy. The present study was therefore undertaken in response to the lack of serious attention
which the issue of concealed handgun ownership among private citizens has received as it directly relates to the law enforcement
profession. Subjects for this study (N=327) were drawn from four Texas law enforcement agencies representing various organizational
sizes and missions. While the responses of officers who participated in the study indicate optimism about the law’s potential
to deter various types of crime, they also reflect a certain degree of concerns about concealed handgun ownership among private
citizens especially as this policy directly relates to perceive inadequacies in statemandated requirements and issues affecting
officer safety. |
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Keywords: | |
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