• David Hemenway and James G Hicks.
• Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
• J Public Health Policy. 2015 Aug 1; 36 (3): 324-34.

AbstractIn almost all states in the United States, to carry a concealed handgun legally requires a permit from the police. Many states have changed from may-issue laws (where the local police chief has discretion about to whom to issue a license) to shall-issue laws (where the police chief must issue a permit if the applicant passes a computerized federal background check). Studies conflict on the effect on crime. None considered the situation in may-issue states when police used discretion and refused to issue a permit. We provide suggestive evidence from a December 2013 survey of police chiefs in Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns. Of the 121 responding police chiefs, a large majority favored retaining police discretion. Chiefs issued few discretionary denials - median 2 per year, citing providing false information, a history of assault (often domestic violence), a history of drug or alcohol abuse, or of mental-health issues as the most common reasons for denial.

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