Gun owners with concealed carry permits are less likely to drive recklessly than other drivers, according to an analysis released Monday.
The Crime Prevention Research Center, a gun advocacy research group, said that data from Michigan shows that drivers without concealed carry permits were 12.2 times more likely to violate the law.
The nonprofit found that compared to permit holders, drivers without permits were 2.4 times more likely to drive drunk, 34.1 times more likely to drive under the influence of a controlled substance, and 10.6 times more likely to drive recklessly.
Michigan had nearly 7.2 million licensed drivers in 2016, and of those 588,000 were licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
The CPRC said its analysis also found that last year Michigan non-permit holders were more likely to drive recklessly than Texas permit holders.
As part of its report, the CPRC challenged findings released earlier this year by The Trace, a gun control news website founded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman.
The Trace reported that based on data from the Gun Violence Archive, which catalogs reports of gun violence in the U.S., there were 1,319 road incidents in the U.S. between 2014 and 2016 involving firearms and that states with large numbers of concealed-carry permit holders — such as Florida and Texas — had a higher number of such incidents.
The website said it found that the road rage incidents led to the deaths of 136 people and the wounding of 354 others.
“More guns in more cars may simply equate to more road rage incidents in which a gun was brandished, or fired, research suggests,” The Trace report noted.
But CPRC faulted that analysis, saying that – at least in the case of Florida and Texas – there was no attempt to link the road rage incidents to concealed handgun permit holders.
"Michael Bloomberg’s The Trace didn’t actually look at the behavior of permit holders and they didn’t look at all the convictions for reckless or dangerous driving,” CPRC’s John Lott told Fox News. “Looking at news articles on road rage incidents may only tell you what the media is interested at during any point in time. By contrast, we have data on how permit and non-permit holders actually drive.”