Another View: Right-to-carry laws screen the gun owners

[dipsomaniac]

Brad Seifers is a soft-ware engineer who lives in Sunnyvale. He is responding to the Oct. 15 editorial, "House focuses on gun bill; jobs can wait awhile." That editorial stated that a proposed bill "would deregulate concealed carry laws across the nation. So long as an applicant meets minimum standards - isn't a felon and hasn't been adjudged mentally ill - he or she could get a permit, good anywhere in the country. First, it's true that Utah, Nevada, Florida, and many other states do allow nonresidents to acquire concealed carry (CCW) permits, but the process requires far more from the applicant than being a mentally stable, law abiding citizen (although those are important qualifications). Besides being subject to a federal criminal background check, all applicants must also pass a course that explains the legal issues surrounding the use of a weapon in self-defense. Additionally, they must pass a shooting test. Finally, they are admonished that "shooting someone in self-defense is the second worst possible outcome to your day"; the only justification for using your weapon is a deadly fear of losing your life, or to protect someone else's life. As for being concerned about a rise in crime if this is law is passed, the reality is that CCW permit holders are the most law abiding, stable, responsible citizens in the country. The number of CCW revocations is minuscule (tenths of a percent), and is rarely due to improper use of a weapon. In fact, states and counties that have implemented "shall issue" CCW laws (where all qualified applicant must be a CCW) have almost universally seen their crime rates drop, and none of them has seen its rate rise. Currently, 40 of the 50 states are "shall issue," and in all of them there were warnings beforehand that there would be "blood in the streets." In every case, the nay-sayers were proved wrong.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/30/401...creen-the.html

[Dreaded Claymore]

Nice. Very, very nice. This is far and away better than my responses to newspapers.

Are you the fellow who wrote this?

[dipsomaniac]

I didn't write this piece but I felt it was thoughtfully written.

[huntercf]

It always perplexes me that anti's are so against shall issue when the data shows that people are safer when states go shall issue, I remember back in the 90's when Florida relaxed their laws and they saw a 47% decrease in crime the first year, yet the sheeple still listen to naysayers like DF and ignore what really happens.

[kemikalembalance]

well said. now to get them to hear it

[swilson]

It always perplexes me that anti's are so against shall issue when the data shows that people are safer when states go shall issue, I remember back in the 90's when Florida relaxed their laws and they saw a 47% decrease in crime the first year, yet the sheeple still listen to naysayers like DF and ignore what really happens.

It's because they don't understand guns and are afraid of them, like how children are afriad of the dark. They don't want to understand the facts, instead wanting some unrealistic utopia where nobody has guns, and quite frankly don't trust you or me with them because they think we are uneducated violent fools and criminals waiting to happen. They especially don't want anybody with a state-issued license to carry their gun around in public because then it brings their nightmare into their daily routine.

Besides, they're being proven wrong and hate it.