More Realtors Carry Guns for Safety

25% of men and 12% of women members of The National Association of Realtors (NAR) carry self defense firearms, according to the 2017 safety report. The number of members who carried a firearm totaled 19%.

The organization has published safety reports that show how many member carry weapons since 2015.

In 2014 real estate agent Beverly Carter was kidnapped and murdered. The crime made national news.  The president elect of the National Association of Realtors vowed to make safety a priority. From cnn.com:

Carter was killed in September, "Realtor Safety Month," for the National Association of Realtors.

The group's president elect, Chris Polychron, has promised to make safety a priority when he takes office.

"We're not going to let it die, I can tell you that," he said. "It's sad that it took a tragic death of one of our own to run the red flag up."

An article from 2014 reported this step as being recommended by the National Association of Realtors:

10. Don’t assume that everyone has left the premises at the end of an open house. Check all of the rooms and the backyard prior to locking the doors. Be prepared to defend yourself, if necessary.

The man who murdered Beverly Carter was convicted in January of 2015.

Chris Polychron took office as president of NAR in 2015. The NAR conducted the first survey showing how many of its members carried weapons. In 2015, 12% of members reported they carried a gun. From therealdaily.com:

Interestingly, according to the National Association of REALTORS® 2015 Member Safety Report, 12 percent of agents who responded said that they already carry a gun in the field.

 In 2016, 16% of members reported they carried a gun. Now, in 2017, 19% of members say they carry a gun. The increase in carrying guns for self defense is a national trend. The number of states that respect the Second Amendment has been growing steadily. The number of people with concealed carry permits has surged in the last few years. There is a growing movement for Constitutional Carry, where no permits for carry are required.

According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, there were 12.83 million concealed carry permits in the United States in 2015, 14.53 million concealed carry permits in 2016, and 16.36 concealed carry permits in 2017.  The number of concealed carry permits has grown 27% since 2015. The number of NAR members carrying guns has followed that trend, but has grown twice as fast, increasing 58% since 2015.

About three times as many NAR members carry guns as do people in the general population. The estimate of the general population that carry guns most or all of the time is about 5.4%, with 6.5% of the population having concealed carry permits.

It is likely that some of the NAR members do not need permits to carry concealed firearms. Fourteen states do not require a permit to carry concealed guns in 2017.  That system is commonly called Constitutional carry.  There were seven states that did not require a permit to carry in 2015.

Realtors reflect a population that has similarities to people with concealed carry permits. The tend to be better educated than average, have above average income, and are very responsible people. It is not surprising that they carry defensive guns at a rate greater than the rest of the population.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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