Minnesota CCW: First year of concealed carry passes with the safety on

When Minnesota changed the way it issued handgun permits a year ago, Brian Roeder was among the first to apply.

An outdoorsman since his youth, Roeder admits that over the years he often put a handgun in his bag on hunting trips. These days, with his Hennepin County-issued permit, he nearly always keeps a handgun in his truck or with him when he's riding his Harley Davidson.

Roeder is among the more than 22,000 Minnesotans to receive handgun permits since the law was changed a year ago to make it much easier. That's about twice as many permits as were issued the previous year, but well short of projections that as many as 90,000 permits would be issued in the first three years of the new law.

While the law's opponents say they haven't given up reversing it, at least one sheriff acknowledged his worry of increased gun violence has so far been unfounded. And several sheriffs say they're more concerned about the cost and time involved in issuing the permits.

The old law gave sheriffs and police chiefs broad discretion to deny permits. The new law guarantees a permit to practically any adult who receives the required training, pays an application fee and passes background checks.

Washington County Sheriff Jim Frank was one of the loudest opponents before the law passed, and he still accompanies his signature on each permit with the Latin word "subrecuso" - "under protest."

Frank expected between 7,000 and 9,000 applications, but he's received only 1,100. Frank still worries about more accidental shootings and suicides, even as he acknowledges that his predictions that Minnesota would turn wild were overblown.

At the same time, it appears that the acts of self-defense some backers of the law envisioned haven't happened, either.

There may be others, but the only widely mentioned case of violence involving a permit holder came in Anoka, where a 34-year man got into an argument with his brother and emptied a handgun into the hood of his brother's car.

"Unfortunately, I think people do react to incidents," she said. "We're going to continue to get our issue out there - guns don't make us safe."

Rick Wilder, owner of Metro Gun Club in Blaine, thinks part of the reason things have gone smoothly so far is that the law requires handgun training before a person may apply for a permit.

"Most people are really sensible about it," Wilder said. "Nobody is being a cowboy, walking down the street like the Old West."

Several sheriffs said the cost of the permit process is an issue for their departments.

St. Louis County just issued its 2,000th permit, roughly equal to one for every 100 citizens. Sheriff Ross Litman says it's costing more than expected to do the required paperwork and background checks.

The state puts a $100 limit on the application fee, with $21.50 of that earmarked toward the state's cost of assembling a database of permit holders. Litman estimates he'd need to charge about $140 to break even.

"With each permit that I'm issuing, the taxpayer of St. Louis County is paying," he said.

Hennepin County, for instance, has spent about $300,000 more than it's taken in in the last year, Sheriff Pat McGowan said. Ramsey County is in a similar strait.

McGowan said if the law is reopened in the future, he'll ask that the dollar cap be raised or that the law simply say sheriffs should charge applicants for the actual cost of processing.

Among other changes being sought by various groups are clarification on how business owners must notify people that guns aren't allowed on the premises and permission for local governments to ban guns on their property.

"Council meetings can be very contentious," said Gary Carlson, the League of Minnesota Cities' legislative director. "It is rather frightening to think that someone could bring a handgun into a city council meeting."

"On the flip side of the coin, think of how many more people it's made feel safe," said Roeder, the 43-year-old day trader from Crystal.

His sister, Bonnie Roeder of Osseo, also got a permit last year and said being able to carry a gun into what she considers dangerous areas gives her peace of mind.


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"Now, at least it's legal," he said.

Its always been legal, its just that now the various Minnesota PDs can't so flagrently violate the civil rights of their employers. Of course, they charge a fee to exercise those rights, and they reserve the right to infringe upon them for quite a number of reasons, but things are still better than last year.

I remember when there were a lot of foreigners fresh off planes and driving out of the Miami airport, who were robbed and gunned down, I believe because they had been 'pre-screened' to be weapon-free by the FAA, customs, and the airlines. And the perps knew this.

Now, with some counties in Minnesota with one percent of persons with the permit, I think that will really influence the strategy of would-be criminals. Except in the opposite direction.

I hope the trend continues and people get the permits in droves.

Rebecca Thoman, of the handgun control group Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, said her group will continue to push for repeal of the law. But she acknowledged it will be tougher because there haven't been high-profile problems.

"Unfortunately, I think people do react to incidents," she said. "We're going to continue to get our issue out there - guns don't make us safe."

Translation:
Well there just have been enough graves to dance upon to get the public to give up their rights.

"Unfortunately, I think people do react to incidents," she said. "We're going to continue to get our issue out there - guns don't make us safe."

So is this traitor going to lead an effort to disarm cops also, since "guns don't make us safe"?

What an arrogant and condescing comment.

If Gary "Fritz" Carlson doesn't like his masters (the people) being armed in his presence, perhaps he should relocate to China.

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