Assignment #6

CRAAP Eval.

Currency: This particular academic article was published November 2, 2004, which makes it recent but not as current as other articles. Within the article it uses information and data from the 1990's which dates its sources. Even though the info isn't extremely current it still gave good ideas pertaining to my argument of who has a permit to conceal a handgun and why they do.

Relevance: The article was focused on reason why people get a conceal carry permit in Louisiana and who is more likely to get one. The info and ideas presented within the article brought up questions in my mind and helped me narrow down my topic even more. Though now I need to find another source that is similar but that focuses on a different state or part of the country.

Authority: The fact that this is an academic article gives it a sense that the information included must be truthful and accurate. There are also a bunch of sources listed at the bottom of the article which indicates that there was a good amount of research done before writing the article, which gives the authors even more credibility. Speaking of the authors, both Stephen and John are professors at the college level and teach something that has to do with criminal justice. They also have collaborated together to write multiple different articles on the topic of criminal justice.

Accuracy: The article is accurate for its time frame but might be slightly out of date. That doesn't mean that the information wasn't accurate at one point. The information that the two professors give is relevant to the topic they are discussing, there weren't any grammatical errors that I noticed and the evidence that they use to support their argument is from the Louisiana State police or other state officials, making it credible information. The way that they present their ideas doesn't have much of a bias side. The only thing that I could see as biased would be the fact that they continually say that people don't get carry permits because of the crime rate in their area. They keep bringing up the point that there are other reasons for getting a carry permit.

Purpose: The intent of the authors is to inform the reader and to teach them of other reasons why people get carry permits. The authors address all angles of the argument and make it clear that they aren't trying to force you to agree on any one particular idea. The way that they wrote the article makes it seem as though they want you to agree with them but it isn't pushy.

Summary: The main topic of the article is basically the reasons why people in Louisiana get conceal carry permits. First they bring up the idea that people get them because of fear of victimization. They don't want to be singled out for any particular reason so they get a permit to conceal a handgun in case they need it for personal protection. The authors of the article bring up the point that this might not be the only reason for people to get one. There are the ideas that depending on your economic status, race and/or geographic location you could be more or less likely to have a conceal carry permit. They suggest that these other ideas are a better way to judge whether or not someone is more likely to get a conceal carry permit.

Response: While I was reading the article I was able ask myself questions like: do these same ideas relate to other states or the US as a whole? and, what other things could determine why someone gets a conceal carry permit? These thoughts/ questions that came up helped my to finally narrow down my topic to, what determines why people get conceal carry permits in the south vs. the north and who is most likely to have one?

Another thing that made me want to focus more on this specific topic is the stats that were in the tables included in the article. The one particular table that caught my eye compared the race, age and gender of people who had a licence to carry a concealed handgun in 1998 in Louisiana. The fact that %29.6 of people who have a licence to carry are in the age range of 50-59 and only %5.3 are ages 20-29! I found this to be backwards of what I was thinking. I want to know if this these numbers are similar in other areas of the country and maybe even find out why these numbers are so different than what I was thinking.

 

 

 

Costanza, Stephen E., and John C. Kilburn Jr. "Circling The Welcome Wagons: Area, Income, Race, And Legal Handgun Concealment." Criminal Justice Review (Georgia State University) 29.2 (2004): 289-303. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 15 Feb. 2013.