AP Misquotes NRA on Concealed Carry

Gun Watch ^ | 12 February, 2017 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

  map by gun-nuttery.com

The Associated Press has long been known  for its anti-Second Amendment attitude.  John Lott exposed there bias in The Bias Against Guns, published in 2003. They have gotten a little better in the last decade, because numerous errors have been exposed.  AP committed another error about gun laws  on February 10th, 2017.

In a story about Constitutional or "permitless" carry moving through the New Hampshire legislative process, the AP wrote that the NRA said that concealed carry is legal in 11 states.  From AP via nbcboston.com:

The National Rifle Association says concealed carry is legal in 11 states, including Maine and Vermont.

The problem is that AP left out an important qualifier.  That is "permitless".  AP does not say where they obtained the information from the NRA. I suspect it was from the nraila.org article on the New Hampshire bill.  Here is the relevant paragraph from the NRA-ILA article:

New Hampshire is the only northern New England state that does not allow permitless carry. Permitless concealed carry is legal in 11 states nationwide, including both Maine and Vermont. Similar legislation has passed the state legislature twice before, but the former governor vetoed it both times.

All 50 states have legal concealed carry of some sort. Most states, 31, are shall issue, meaning that concealed carry permits must be issued if applicants meet objective criteria.

11 states are "permitless" or Constitutional carry, where no permit is required to carry openly or concealed.  Ten of the eleven also have provisions for a permit if people wish the permit for reasons of reciprocity across state lines, or as an alternative to the NICS check when purchasing firearms.

Only 8 states still have the archaic "may issue" system in place, where some authority has the power to issue or not issue permits, essentially by whim. Several states abuse this authority, and are virtual no-issue states, such as Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland.  No states categorically deny all concealed carry permits.

The AP story would have us believe that only 11 states have legal concealed carry.

The Associated Press used to be considered a reliable source of news.  When it comes to guns, they often get simple facts wrong.  It will be interesting to see if they correct this error.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

[marktwain]

The AP has long been hostile to the Second Amendment. The AP was formed in 1846. "Progressivism" did not really start until about 1900. When did AP start being hostile to the Second Amendment, the concept of an armed population? 1866? 1900? 1960?

[riverrunner]

A common tactic for the old media is lying and misquoting.

[NorthMountain]

The Associated Press used to be considered a reliable source of news.

And then people figured out that AP had been lying to them all along ... crAP is Fake News.

[The_Media_never_lie]

A common tactic for the old media is lying and misquoting.

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Mis reporting has been recently labeled fake news, right? Intent does not matter, since the damage is done either way.

[Yo-Yo]

“0” states listed as no issue, yet most of the “May Issue” states are for all practical purposes no issue states.

[marktwain]

In effect, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland issue almost no permits. The number in Hawaii has been in single digits whenever I have found it, usually 1 or 2 for the whole state.

New Jersey and Maryland are at least a couple hundred each, mostly to retired police and judges.

New York State has tens of thousands of permits.

California has over 70,000 permits.

Rhode Island has over 3,500 permits

Delaware likely has thousands of permits active. I have not been able to get a number, but there are thousands of permit applications a year, and I am not reading of wholesale denials.

Massachusetts has over 400,000 permits issued.

Those are the eight “may issue” states, so you can see that the application of the law varies widely.

[Yo-Yo]

Those are the eight “may issue” states, so you can see that the application of the law varies widely.

It also varies widely within a state. California, for example, have some counties where the local police treat applications as "must issue", and others like Los Angeles that issue no (or extremely few) permits.

New York State is similar, where you can relatively easily get a permit upstate, but in NYC, fuhgeddaboudit.

[SoFloFreeper]

#FakeNews

[MarineBrat]

Yes, California is essentially a county by county decision towards issue. Fortunately I live in a shal-issue County.

[JimRed]

“May issue” in many cases means “no issue”. New Jersey is a prime example. You have to prove a need to carry to be licensed, and unless you are “connected” the proof is never sufficient.

[JimRed]

The Associated Press used to be considered a reliable source of news. 

When?

[marktwain]

When?

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By Whom? is as good a question.

Probably by most from 1900 to 1990.