‘Concealing the Facts'

Thank you for your editorial correcting some of the mistakes in the New York Times recent attack on Florida's concealed carry law [Editorial, "Concealing the Facts," February 2, 2007]. Yet, there were still other errors in the New York Times piece.

First, these supposed felons who obtained permits were not convicted of "felonies." Florida judges have the power to take a plea, impose probation without entering a conviction and once the person completes that, "withhold conviction."

These individuals are eligible for a permit because they were not convicted of anything. If the cases are as horrible or the evidence as clear as you claim, why are the judges withholding convictions?

But what is the bottom line? During over 19 years from October 1, 1987 to December 31, 2006, Florida issued 1,206,616 permits but revoked just 158 for any type of firearms violation. Almost all of those were for non-threatening incidents such as accidentally carrying a gun into a restricted area such as an airport. Over the last year, only one out of 410,000 permit holders lost a permit for a firearms related violation.

JOHN LOTT
Dean's visiting professor
Department of Economics
State University of New York at Binghamton
Binghamton, N.Y.