Concealed Carry: Halloween Safety

Concealed Carry has an article on "Halloween Safety for Gun Owners," but which really includes tips useful to most everyone. The article begins, though, with some statistics about Halloween:

The biggest Halloween risks aren’t masked killers. They’re cars, alcohol, crowds, and empty houses.

• Property crime. Travelers reported 24 percent more property crime claims on Halloween than on an average day. According to the same Travelers data, as summarized by EMC Security, about 60 percent of those claims involved theft from the home, including break-ins. A dark house is an easy target for a burglar.
• Kids hit by cars. A study in JAMA Pediatrics looked at more than 40 years of U.S. crash data. It found pedestrian deaths were 43 percent higher on Halloween than on comparison nights. For kids ages 4 to 8, the risk was about 10 times higher.
• Drunk drivers. From 2019 through 2024, NHTSA counted 176 people killed in crashes involving a drunk driver on Halloween night (6 p.m. to 6 a.m.). Thirty-one of them were pedestrians.
• Violence at crowded, late-night parties. This one gets the headlines, and the pattern is consistent enough to plan around. More on that below.

The author continues by relating some notable Halloween shootings from recent years, commenting: 

    Look at what these have in common. Big crowds of strangers. Alcohol. Hours well past midnight. Someone who’d already made trouble that night. None of them happened at a front door handing out candy.

    The lesson isn’t that you need to be ready to win a gunfight in a costume (though it sounds like a good idea). It’s that you can skip most of this risk by choosing where you are at 1 a.m. If a party has outgrown the host’s guest list, or someone gets thrown out and storms off, that’s your cue to leave. Remember too that in many states it’s illegal to carry while drinking or in places that serve alcohol. A crowded, boozy party is exactly where your gun is least useful and your judgment matters most. 

And that is really the crux of trying to stay safe from violent crime: lifestyle and life choices generally matter more than carrying a handgun or pepper spray, or training at the local boxing gym or dojo. That is why John Farnam's primary rules of self-defense do not have anything to do with fighting, weapons, or even situational awareness:

 • Don't go to stupid places: Avoid high-crime areas, dangerous neighborhoods, or locations where trouble is likely.
• Don't associate with stupid people: Stay away from individuals who engage in illegal, reckless, or volatile behavior.
• Don't be out at stupid times: Minimize or eliminate being in vulnerable environments during late-night or high-risk hours.
• Don't do stupid things: Avoid participating in risky activities, arguments, or escalations that invite danger. 

But back to our Halloween safety article: the author includes tips for those spending the night at home (whether or not you are handing out candy), and for those taking their kids out trick-or-treating.  So be sure to read the whole thing.