An increasing number of states are allowing people to carry concealed weapons. And states which have passed such laws have seen a decline in murders and assaults.

• Thirty-one states now allow citizens to carry concealed weapons -- up from just nine in 1986.

• While 10 million violent crimes are committed in the U.S. every year, potential victims use handguns about 1.9 million times in self-defense, estimates Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck.

• University of Chicago researchers John Lott and David Mustard have found that concealed handgun laws reduced murder by 8.5 percent and severe assault by 7 percent from 1977 to 1992.

• Had "right-to-carry" laws been in effect throughout the country, there would have been 1,600 fewer murders and 60,000 fewer assaults every year.

Vermont, which has long had the least restrictive laws, also has among the lowest violent crime numbers in the country.

• In 1980, when murders and robberies had soared to 10 and 251 per 100,000 people, respectively, Vermont's murder rate was only 22 percent of the national average and its robbery rate was just 15 percent.

• In 1996, Vermont's murder rate was just 25 percent of the national average, and its robbery rate was 8 percent of the national average.

Although Dade County, Florida, has 21,000 carry-permit holders, there have been no reported incidents of a permit holder injuring an innocent person in the six years since records have been kept. Data from Virginia paint a similar picture.

Opponents of concealed-carry laws argue accidents will happen. But there are only about 30 mistaken civilian shootings in the U.S. every year, and police commit three times as many mistaken killings as civilians.

In fact, the death rate from firearms has dropped in the last 20 years, even as gun ownership has more than doubled.