The Impact of Constitutional Carry Legislation Among Urban Settings in Kentucky and Oklahoma, 2010-2022 (ICPSR 39083)
Version Date: Jun 11, 2026 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Nicholas Corsaro, University of Cincinnati;
Robin S. Engel, University of Cincinnati;
Ryan T. Motz, University of Cincinnati;
John P. Wright, University of Cincinnati;
Murat Ozer, University of Cincinnati
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39083.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
Recently there has been an influx of changes in gun legislation in the United States. There is now a growing trend in states adopting "constitutional carry" laws, which allow citizens of legal age who have not been legislatively denied the right, to legally and publicly possess and carry a concealed firearm without a permit. As of April 2019, fifteen states have passed constitutional carry (i.e., permit-less) firearm legislation. Two additional states, Kentucky and Oklahoma, will become the 16th and 17th states to allow constitutional carry before the end of 2019, and additional states (e.g., Alabama) are currently considering adopting constitutional carry in the future. Though arguments for (e.g., deterrent effects) and against (e.g., increased exposure to firearms in public) the relaxation of concealed carry laws often cite the potential impact of such laws on public safety, a review of available research provides limited insight on the effects of constitutional carry legislation on crime, violence, and other outcomes. There is also little known about the impact of constitutional carry on changes in police-citizen encounters, officer safety, and changes in police training.
The proposed study seeks to fill this void in empirical knowledge through a multi-phase analytical approach using data gathered from three cities within two states that recently passed constitutional carry laws. Specifically, this study seeks to examine the impact of constitutional carry legislation on 1) firearm and offense counts in Lexington (KY), Oklahoma City (OK), and Tulsa (OK); 2) arrest reports related to firearm arrests; and (3) officer perceptions of safety, training, and police-citizen encounters. Each data source aligns with a specific analytic approach, including interrupted time series analysis and frequency/bivariate analyses
This study will contribute to the body of research using a strong multi-methodological approach, address a gap in rigorous empirical scholarship regarding the impact of gun legislation and crime and public/police safety.
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Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
City
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
Researchers sought to examine three key questions with this study: the impact of laws allowing citizens to carry firearms without a permit on firearms violence and reported violent crime in high crime urban areas in states that have recently passed constitutional carry legislation; the context and outcomes of police-citizen encounters change when police come into contact with unlicensed, armed citizens, and the impact of constitutional carry legislation on these encounters; and which police training is necessary following the passage of constitutional carry legislation.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Researchers administered electronic surveys to police departments in Lexington, KY; Oklahoma City, OK; and Tulsa, OK. Survey links were distributed by supervisors within each agency. Researchers also employed an interrupted time series design which compared crime and arrest outcomes before the passage of constitutional carry legislation to said outcomes after the passage of said legislation in the same three cities. This analysis used administrative data provided by the police departments. Lastly, the researchers conducted focus group interviews in the two Oklahoma police departments to address low response rates to the surveys and provide additional context to the data.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Citizens of Oklahoma and Kentucky
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
Administrative data provided by police departments
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HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2026-06-11
Version History View help for Version History
2026-06-11 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.