Posted on 06/23/2013 7:36:50 AM PDT by SLB
Pizza store owner Laura Goodman raised a .38-caliber revolver with both hands as she stood beneath the canopy of a twisted mulberry tree June 8 behind the Valley Creek Fire Department in Elizabethtown.
Goodman, one of six students in a concealed carry permit class, was about 7 yards away from her target, a gray silhouette of a man with his right hand on his hip. The paper target hung from a wooden board riddled with bullet holes.
“Whenever you all are ready,” the instructor said.
Teeth gritted, she fired. The first of 20 shots struck the target’s lower torso.
Goodman and her husband, Jeff, co-own Royal Pizza in Hodgenville. The Elizabethtown residents have owned the restaurant for 18 years, and during that time, the shop has been broken into several times, they said.
Once, a suspect robbed the neighboring business and attempted to break into Royal Pizza while fleeing, Goodman said.
The restaurant owner decided to obtain a concealed carry permit to protect not only the store but also her family. She and her husband have six children in their Elizabethtown home.
“It makes you feel violated, angry,” Goodman said about the break-ins. “Someone’s been in there. They’ve been through your things.”
“I believe in the right to bear arms,” she said. “I believe in the right to protect yourself.”
In Kentucky, permits to carry a concealed deadly weapon are issued by the state police. To obtain a license, applicants must pass a firearms safety course before applying.
According to KSP, 29,788 residents applied for concealed-carry licenses in last year.
That is a 14.1 percent increase over the number of applications received in 2011 and 80.5 percent increase over the number received five years ago.
Hardin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Josh Lindblom has been teaching a concealed carry class as a private instructor for two years, and during that time, he estimates he’s had some 600 students.
To find a certified concealed carry permit instructor, applicants can contact the local sheriff’s office.
According to Lindblom, he noticed a peak in interest following the July 2012 shooting in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. An bigger influx came in November, he said.
“I got a call the day after the election about 25 people wanting to take the class,” Lindblom said. “It snowballed and didn’t slow down until the end of April.”
Typically, Lindblom said he teaches a class twice a month, but in the five months following the 2012 presidential election, he offered a class every week because of the number of residents seeking permits.
In the wake of the election, people appeared to be in a rush to receive a license while federal legislators and President Barack Obama debated a tightening of the country’s weapon laws, he said.
The Rev. Steve Hill, pastor at New Horizons Baptist Church in Glendale, said he took Lindblom’s class in April. The pastor said he wanted to obtain a permit in the interest of protecting his congregation if something should occur.
When he asked if others were interested, Hill said about 15 to 20 more New Horizons members decided to take the class too.
In the wake of high profile shootings, the pastor said he heard people expressing a desire to act in self-defense if they found themselves in a dangerous situation.
“They feel they’d be helpless if something like that happened,” Hill said.
Elizabethtown resident Natalie Hettinger, who teaches elementary school in Jefferson County, was one of six students in the June 8 class even though she described herself as “not a big gun toter.” She decided to obtain a permit because her roommate is a police officer, which means at times there are weapons in her home and vehicle.
Violating concealed carry laws is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a $500 fine and 12 months in jail.
Hettinger said recent violence in the area also caused her to seek a license, citing the dead body of an unidentified woman found on Interstate 65 in Hardin County and the shooting of Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis.
Of the students who take his class, Lindblom said some are expert marksmen with military backgrounds, others have never fired a weapon. Some express a desire to exercise their Second Amendment rights and others simply want to protect themselves.
“Some people say it’s their right to do it, so they want to do it,” Lindblom said. “One guy even told me he wanted to protect the flock. He wanted to make sure no one hurts his congregation.”
The eight-hour course covers topics such as shooting fundamentals, legalities and when the use of deadly weapons is justified. Students are issued a half-inch thick booklet detailing the commonwealth’s concealed carry laws.
Lindblom said the crux of the class is safety.
“Take into consideration it is a deadly weapon,” he told his class June 8. “Always.”
Before the students left the classroom that afternoon to complete the shooting portion of the course, Lindblom delivered a short lecture he described as his favorite part of the class.
He shared several real-life incidents involving shooters. He mentioned the shooting in Aurora, Colo., a 2009 standoff in Cecilia in which state troopers shot a suspect and a 1991 massacre at a Luby’s cafeteria in Killeen, Texas.
During the Luby’s shooting, one of the witnesses reached for her .38-caliber revolver only to realize she had left it in her vehicle, Lindblom told the class. That witness, Suzanne Hupp, went on to become a congresswoman who spoke publicly about the shooting.
“She thinks of all the opportunities she could have had to stop the guy,” he said.
It’s not a “right” if you have to beg the government for permission to do it.
Teeth gritted??? Seriesly?
Question for all shooting FReepers: Have you EVER gritted your teeth while aiming a firearm? ANY firearm? (For veterans, I include in "firearm" any heavy weapons: machineguns, artillery, ICBM ...)
I guess that this is in Kentucky, although it isn’t readily apparent.
“The first of 20 shots struck the target’s lower torso.”
“Good shot grouping, but why all in the groin area?”, asks the instructor.
“I kept thinking of my ex-husband”, she replied.
I took a concealed carry course and my fingerprints were rejected. They tried twice. My Policemen son-in-laws tell me that I would make a great criminal since I basically have no prints. Anyone know anything about another way to capture prints other than with ink? Surely there are prints down deep somewhere.....
It might be possible to get a passable set by using different kinds of light. However, he might get the permission of an appropriate judge to submit a retinal scan instead. Basically that judge would direct that agency to accept it.
I should add that probably the easiest thing would be to get a cc permit from a state that does not require fingerprints, and has reciprocity with his state.
I carry whenever I think I need to anyway.
ATTENTION: Bucks County, Pennsylvania residents.
It is a breeze getting your CC permit at the Sheriff’s office in the Doylestown Courthouse. If you go in the main entrance (from Court Street), take the elevator down to the 1st floor (yes, “down” to the 1st floor) and the Sheriff’s office is right there. You just need your drivers license with Bucks Co. address, or a utility bill, or some way of proving you are a Bucks County resident. Also, take two names, addresses, and phone numbers of a couple of friends (non-family members). There’s a 1-page form to complete where you say you’re not a drug addict, a drunk, a criminal, or a nut. There’s also a space to list your two friends. (The friends are not contacted or anything - - you could probably make up a couple of names, but why screw around?) Takes less than 2 minutes to complete the form.
Remember - - you do not have to take any safety courses, or have a hunting license, or anything like that. You do not have to give any reason for applying for the CC permit. You don’t even have to own a gun. They do the computer “background check”, take your picture, and issue you the laminated permit for your wallet on the spot. You can be in and out of there in 20 minutes with your CC permit in hand. Total cost is $20, cash only. Permit good for 5 years, then renew.
I urge all Bucks County residents to go get their CC permits. I’ve been getting mine there for 25 years and it’s always been a pleasant experience. The people at the Sheriff’s office are courteous and professional.
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