CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Since 2000, Kanawha County has issued 13,272 five-year permits to carry concealed pistols, according to Lt. Rick Rose in the sheriff's department. Cabell County has issued perhaps 4,000 in that period. Statewide, the grand total probably is over 100,000.

Presumably, all those West Virginia pistol-packers carry hidden guns because they think it makes them safer. But a new federal study concludes that people with concealed pistols are four times more likely to be shot than unarmed people.

Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study funded by the National Institutes of Health examined 3,485 shootings in Philadelphia between 2003 and 2006. (The fact that 3,485 Philadelphians were shot in three years tells an ugly reality about America.)

Some of the Philadelphia victims were compared to a control group of similar people who weren't shot. Taking many factors into consideration, the researchers concluded that owning or carrying a pistol quadruples a person's chance of becoming a gunshot victim.

A few other researchers challenged this conclusion, saying that people who carry pistols -- licensed or unlicensed -- are usually in more dangerous circumstances, thus more likely to be shot.

The critics might have a point, but a glaring truth remains: America has more pistol-carrying than any other advanced democracy, and it has vastly more pistol murders and maimings. A Philadelphia Inquirer report said:

"In Canada, for example, people own as many shotguns and rifles as Americans but far fewer handguns, and Canada has about 10 percent of the U.S. rate of gun violence."

A gun-control activist was quoted that America "has a far higher per-capita rate of gun violence than any other developed country. ... If guns really made us safer, he said, we should be the safest country on earth."

In the past, we noted that Sweden had 37 gun murders in 2004, Australia had 56, England had 73 -- and the United States had 11,624. Those other nations have genuine gun control, but U.S. politicians are too frightened by the gun lobby to take any solid steps to protect Americans.

America's gun-murder toll is hundreds of times worse than in other nations for a clear reason: Too many Americans carry guns and use them to kill and maim. But this horrible fact won't change as long as most politicos cower before the all-powerful right-to-bear-arms lobby.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Since 2000, Kanawha County has issued 13,272 five-year permits to carry concealed pistols, according to Lt. Rick Rose in the sheriff's department. Cabell County has issued perhaps 4,000 in that period. Statewide, the grand total probably is over 100,000.

Presumably, all those West Virginia pistol-packers carry hidden guns because they think it makes them safer. But a new federal study concludes that people with concealed pistols are four times more likely to be shot than unarmed people.

Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the study funded by the National Institutes of Health examined 3,485 shootings in Philadelphia between 2003 and 2006. (The fact that 3,485 Philadelphians were shot in three years tells an ugly reality about America.)

Some of the Philadelphia victims were compared to a control group of similar people who weren't shot. Taking many factors into consideration, the researchers concluded that owning or carrying a pistol quadruples a person's chance of becoming a gunshot victim.

A few other researchers challenged this conclusion, saying that people who carry pistols -- licensed or unlicensed -- are usually in more dangerous circumstances, thus more likely to be shot.

The critics might have a point, but a glaring truth remains: America has more pistol-carrying than any other advanced democracy, and it has vastly more pistol murders and maimings. A Philadelphia Inquirer report said:

"In Canada, for example, people own as many shotguns and rifles as Americans but far fewer handguns, and Canada has about 10 percent of the U.S. rate of gun violence."

A gun-control activist was quoted that America "has a far higher per-capita rate of gun violence than any other developed country. ... If guns really made us safer, he said, we should be the safest country on earth."

In the past, we noted that Sweden had 37 gun murders in 2004, Australia had 56, England had 73 -- and the United States had 11,624. Those other nations have genuine gun control, but U.S. politicians are too frightened by the gun lobby to take any solid steps to protect Americans.

America's gun-murder toll is hundreds of times worse than in other nations for a clear reason: Too many Americans carry guns and use them to kill and maim. But this horrible fact won't change as long as most politicos cower before the all-powerful right-to-bear-arms lobby.