Ohio Sees Drop in Gun Violence After Adopting Constitutional Carry

A study by the Center for Justice Research (CJR) shows violent crime in Ohio decreased after the state adopted constitutional carry.

Constitutional carry recognizes the Second Amendment as a carry permit, allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense without first acquiring a permit from their state government.

There are 27 constitutional carry states and those are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed constitutional carry legislation on March 14, 2022.

RELATED: AWR Hawkins Explains the Value of Concealed Carry Permits

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The study by the CJR, released earlier this year, shows that gun violence dropped in six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the adoption of constitutional carry.

NBC 4 noted that the state saw a decrease in violent crime in Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Columbus, Parma, and Toledo.

On January 3, 2023, the Truth About Guns reported that Maine adopted constitutional carry in 2025 and “property crime rates are now lower than at any time since 1985, when the FBI data begins.”

Violent crime in Maine has also fallen since constitutional carry took effect.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.