Concealed carry permits rose 215 percent between 2007 and 2015, and the murder rate dropped 14 percent during that same time period.

In other words, more guns being carried for self-defense correlated with fewer murders.

On May 22, Breitbart News reported that the demand for concealed carry permits witnessed its greatest surge ever between May 2016 and May 2017. Fox News referenced Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) data showing there were 14.5 million permit holders in May 2016 and approximately 15.7 million in May 2017.

Now the NRA is tweeting data which shows that the bigger picture is not just the one-year surge but a 215 percent jump in concealed carry permits between 2007 and 2015.

It is interesting to note that the murder rate dropped by 14 percent while concealed carry permits surged. And “the overall violent crime rate” dropped by 21 percent. This is not what the left tells us will happen if concealed carry expands.

In fact, national reciprocity for concealed carry has been introduced in Congress, and Gabby Giffords, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, and many other gun control proponents have come out against national recognition of concealed carry for law-abiding citizens. They all suggest national reciprocity would undermine gun control and make Americans less safe.

Here is the problem with their claims — concealed carry surged by 215 percent between 2007 and 2015 and the murder rate fell and the violent crime rate fell with it.

On December 4, 2013, Breitbart News reported a Congressional Research Study (CRS) which showed a similar correlation between gun ownership and plummeting murder numbers. Gun ownership climbed from 192 million firearms in 1994 to 310 million firearms in 2009, CRS found that murder rates fell sharply during the same time period. According to the report, the “firearm-related murder and non-negligent homicide” rate was 6.6 per 100,000 Americans in 1993 but fell to 3.6 per 100,000 in 2000. By 2011, the murder rate was 3.2 per 100,000.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.