this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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Yeah, as a life-long Californian I've seen only a dozen or so guns in my entire life not in the hands or belts of police officers.
Still, we know they are out there. People in rough areas of town are going to have a very different experience.
Concealed is concealed. If we're seeing them, they're doing concealment wrong.
We can look at the rate of licensing to get an idea of scale and prevalence.
In 15 states, more than 1 in 10 adults have permits. Pennsylvania, ~1 in 6. Colorado, ~1 in 5. Indiana, over 22% of adults are licensed concealed carriers.
Nationwide, 7.8% of adults are licensed. Outside CA and NY, 9.3% of adults are currently licensed.
Licensing numbers peaked in 2022, but 29 states (Covering 47% of the population) have recently abandoned licensing requirements. The reduced number of licenses don't indicate falling carry rates.
To me, the most interesting statistic from that link is almost overlooked: We all know that cops are under-prosecuted and under-convicted for their crimes. ACAB. Despite their cop-privilege, police are still convicted of gun crimes at 12 times the rate of licensed concealed carriers.
I'd like to just point out that this alone is a huge difference. Police in Europe generally do not carry firearms. It's even unusual to see them with weapons at an airport.
I could be subject to police brutality from a random traffic stop technically, but I wouldn't have any chance of a gun being pulled on me.
Not in Europe generally. It is true for the UK, but not so much anywhere else. But even in European countries with armed police deescalation is still the pereferred method and they only rarely draw their guns or fire them, especially compared to the US where the police have been trained with overly aggressive lethal violence responses.