It Doesn't Bleed, But Will It Lead?: Richmond Newspaper Finds Drop in Gun Crimes After Va. Allowed Guns in Bars

August 15th, 2011 12:57 PM

Here's a story I don't expect the media to trumpet, partly because it cuts against the MSM's preferred narrative on gun laws.

"Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses," Mark Bowes of the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted in an August 14 story:

 

The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper's request.

And overall, the crimes that occurred during the law's first year were relatively minor, and few of the incidents appeared to involve gun owners with concealed-carry permits, the analysis found.

A total of 145 reported crimes with guns occurred in Virginia bars and restaurants in fiscal 2010-11, or eight fewer than the 153 incidents in fiscal 2009-10. State police track all murders, non-negligent manslaughters, aggravated assaults, forcible sex crimes and robberies in more than two dozen categories, including "bars/nightclubs" and "restaurants."

So far it appears no major metropolitan newspapers have picked up the story with the exception of the York Times's Diner's Journal blog today linked to Bowes's story in a "What We're Reading" roundup:

Richmond Times Dispatch: Gun crime in bars and restaurants has declined since Virginia passed a law allowing people to carry concealed weapons in bars and restaurants. — Sam Sifton