Research: How often do licensed USA gun carriers commit violent crime?
Data reviewed: Texas Department of Public Safety, conviction rates for handgun licence holders 2025 and active licence count at 31 December 2025; US Census Bureau 2025 population estimates; Florida Division of Licensing summary report to 31 October 2026; Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension 2025 permit to carry report; RAND Corporation, Gun Policy in America (updated 29 January 2026).
A common claim in the gun debate is that letting more people carry firearms puts dangerous people on the street. Official records from the United States suggest licence holders themselves are among the least likely people to commit violent crime. In Texas, the Department of Public Safety recorded 34,499 convictions in 2025 for violent offences such as murder, robbery, assault and sexual assault among people aged 21 and over. Just 258 of them involved someone who held a handgun licence when the offence was committed. With 1,416,121 active licences, that works out to about 18 convictions per 100,000 licence holders, against about 161 per 100,000 for other Texans aged 21 and over, roughly nine times higher. COLFO is looking at international research and trends to grow its reference library, so licensed firearm owners can use our site to find reliable information from around the world.
