Posted on 05/17/2013 8:34:44 PM PDT by marktwain
Carry permits for concealed weapons are soaring all across the country. Part of the reason for this is uncertainty about the future. No one knows what is going to happen with tax rates, inflation, Obamacare, and the stock market.
This uncertainty has translated into uncertainty about public safety, both from ordinary criminals and from the possibility of a breakdown of public order.
A comment writer in Lane County, Oregon expresses the motives for and results of obtaining a concealed carry permit well:
After many years of no guns in the home (grandchildren, after all), we made the decision to resume owning and carrying firearms last fall. BEST DECISION EVER!
It had been over 20 years since we had a gun in the house. So we took some courses (several, actually), carefully selected handguns and a home-defense shotgun that fit and suit us, and have discovered a peace of mind, confidence and security beyond anything I expected. I had expected we'd be anxious or worried about safety. The opposite has happened! I don't worry nearly as much about my wife going out, the house feels much more like a refuge, and I recommend it.
Only caveat: GET TRAINED! Don't settle for "knowing" what to do or even how to do it. GET TRAINED! Practice, and get some individual coaching. Practice some more. Develop solid safety habits. There are several excellent trainers in the area--find one whose personality suits you and keep going back. Or, attend a variety of classes. Personally, I like the different styles and emphasis each instructor has had. "You can't learn less!" And then, keep practicing.
Best decision we've made since deciding to get married! (Having kids was a pretty good decision, too!)
Lane County Oregon has been experiencing a surge of concealed carry permit applications. Over 8 percent of registered voters now have concealed carry permits, and the surge is accelerating.
Several other commentators echoed the response above.
Gains in the number of concealed carry permit holders are spread across the country, with increases in applications and permit numbers a common story across the states.
Even Illinois, the last holdout to forbid the carry of arms for defense by anyone not an agent of the state, is under Court order from the Seventh Circuit to pass a law to allow residents to legally carry weapons for self defense. If the Illinois legislature fails to do so, the laws forbidding the carrying of arms in Illinois will become null and void on June 10th, 2013.
There have been some setbacks in deep blue states such as New York and Maryland, or even in Colorado, where combined heavy lobbying by the Obama administration and heavy spending by Michael Bloomberg (Billionaire Mayor of New York) resulted in a flawed and unenforceable patchwork of emotional legislation directed against armed citizens.
Many more states are simplifying and making easier the ability to carry arms for self defense.
Texas is on the verge of reducing the hours of training required from 10 to 4. Arkansas has made carrying weapons simpler and safer through definitional changes in their law. North Carolina is strongly moving toward easier carry in restaurants and on college campus grounds. Missouri is moving to reduce the age required to obtain a concealed carry permit from 21 to 19. Louisiana passed a constitutional amendment to creating one of the strongest protections of the right to keep and bear arms in the nation.
This short listing is by no means exhaustive or complete. Legal challenges are already being filed against the hastily prepared laws passed under extreme pressure and sometimes bizarre circumstances in New York, Maryland, and Colorado.
The last comprehensive survey of states indicated that more than 8 million concealed carry permits were active across the nation. The data from that report was gathered more than a year ago. It would be reasonable to expect the number of people with concealed carry permits to be over 10 million at this time. To put that number in context, there are about 800,000 full time law enforcement personnel in the United States.
Surveys of criminals have verified that they fear armed citizens as much as police. Increasing the number of armed responders on the street make it likely that the multi-decade decrease in violent crime will continue.
©2013 by Dean Weingarten Permission to share granted as long as this notice is included.
Obviously, this is a strong signal that faith in the federal government is at an all-time high.
They build confidence day by day around here- we can’t send Marines to rescue an embassy but they are useful for holding umbrellas.
The low information, liberal types are going to be in heap big trouble.
In a perfect world, I’d never require training to own and carry firearms, but I really wish and recomend every gun owning citizen get some training, both practical and legal.
My ccw class was 8 of the best hours I ever spent. I do a 4 hour refresher every two years.
When the end comes, which I believe it will in the reasonably near future- I don’t want to be counted among the ignorant sheep.
I would prefer to expire while whittling on the porch, but such is not our lot, I fear.
I’d love to be wrong about all this.
As the left wins moreof the culture wars, we will need more guns to be safe.
I could agree with gun-control if the emphasis was not on restrictions, but on states mandating training requirements, assuming of course the training requirements were geared toward a practical approach to real world challenges, and not as an excuse to lessen the number of people “qualified” to carry a weapon. Alas, we do not live in such an ideal world. I highly recommend people voluntarily taking some sort of training class, even if it’s as modest as a simple safety course. I was fortunate enough to have military training in both rifles and pistols, and there is a dramatic difference in my competence now as opposed to the time I owned firearms before enlisting.
I will never succumb to a CCL. It actually TELLS the gov’t that you do in fact have firearms. I am very comfortable in my ability to handle weapons and the defense I’ll present when needed. My son and grandson are equally proficient.
In answer to the question in the title; “’Cause you never know when you might come across somethin’ that might need killin”.
The low information, liberal types are going to be in heap big trouble.
“After many years of no guns in the home (grandchildren, after all), we made the decision to resume owning and carrying firearms last fall. BEST DECISION EVER!”
Happy for this couple getting back to Sam Colt’s ‘equality,’ but did they manage to pass on an appreciation for responsible American gun ownership?
KYPD
The main reason for the increase in gun sales and CC permits is personal security. Becoming the victim of a crime is no longer a result of being in the wrong place in town late a night. Home invasions, broad-daylight muggings and car hyjackings are now an everyday occurance.
“I will never succumb to a CCL”
The same thought crossed my mind:
What is soaring is the number of citizens willing to put their name on a list informing the local government that they own and probably carry firearms.
Anyone else have thoughts on that?
Dr. Pritchett said:
““I will never succumb to a CCL”
The same thought crossed my mind:
What is soaring is the number of citizens willing to put their name on a list informing the local government that they own and probably carry firearms.
Anyone else have thoughts on that?”
Yes, I do.
I can understand those that think by getting a CHL, you are “giving your name to the government”. But, then the question comes: “Did you fill out a Background Check Form when you purchased your gun?” If you did, then ‘the government’ already HAS your name, and that you own that gun!
I have a CHL. I bought my firearm in a shop where I had filled out that form. I attended an NRA class for my CHL. That’s three lists on which I might be listed.
It’s a possible connection, but the next time I purchased a firearm, after obtaining my CHL, all of my background business was done in minutes.
Hmmm, to count the number of lists ‘da govermint done got on me’ would be, for example”
1. veteran.
2. disabled veteran.
3. retired newspaper columnist
4. ordained Universal Life Church priest, registered at courthouse
5. Libertarian
6. CHL
7. NRA
and the list goes on ...
Exercising your 2A right to own a firearm for self defense/preservation, is something I agree with, in the home. Not having “the ticket in the wallet”, outside the home, is something subjective, and only to be decided by you, the reader. I wish you well with your decision.
I’m a guy that “Mr. Murphy” just waits for, to do something, anything, ‘not quite right or by the books’, to snag me.
I find that there is another paradox to carrying that is not often addressed...
I find that I am MUCH MORE AWARE of my environment and MUCH LESS likely to even allow myself to get into situations where I might have to defend myself. So, unlike the grampa in the article who has the added confidence to go out on the mean streets, I am in fact less likely to stop in places where my skills might be tested. We are very content to spend our. time entertaining ourselves at home now!
(And I am very well trained as far as carrying goes).
Thanks the reply. I’m on the lists, too, but it just nags at me sometimes...
good point. i regret submitting the application and being fingerprinted. oh well. baton rouge is a dangerous place
The way I see it, if State’s actually came to point of needing a militia against an overbearing Fed, the CCH list is your perfect start at forming up the militia. Trained, experienced, gun-owning, willing, (”regulated”) citizens.
With this ever-increasing CCW holders, I think it is time we/NRA/GOA et al, start pressuring our Federal pols to enact a law that says if you are a CCW license holder and want to buy a gun, you don’t have to go through another background check or fill out a 4473 since you have already passed the state and federal checks as well as being fingerprinted and photographed. Many states do this now, so it is time to take it to the federal level.
Having guns shipped directly to you ought to be another angle, since the C&Rs already do this on an “obsolete/antique” level.
If nothing else, it would flush out the phony pro-gun posers.
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