Posted on 01/15/2011 5:47:44 AM PST by marktwain
Now, his hope to make open carry legal in Arkansas is coming under fire. Janie Lewis is actively involved in the Sebastian County Democratic Party. She travels frequently and holds a concealed carry permit for her own safety.
“Yes, I feel safer with it,” Lewis told 5NEWS.
However, Lewis doesn't see the need for open carry.
"If you had open gun carry it might be like, ‘Okay I've got a gun you've got a gun. I can see your gun, maybe I'll just shoot my gun,’" Lewis speculated.
State Representative Denny Altes filed HB 1051 nearly a month before the Tucson tragedy. Arizona does have an open carry law. Meanwhile, Arkansas and Oklahoma both are conceal carry states, but are only a handful of states that do not permit open carry with at least some restrictions according to the website www.opencarry.org. About a dozen states require an open carry license, but there are several who do not.
Proposed HB 1051 would not require an Arkansas resident to have a permit to carry a handgun. Gun owners would be required to have them holstered on their person.
Lee Watson is a longtime conceal carry instructor. He says he's neutral when it comes to the proposed open carry law. However, he says it if passes there will be an adjustment period for both law enforcement and the public. Watson issued this statement to 5NEWS:
“I'm an attorney, worked as a deputy prosecuting attorney for about 3 years, worked as a deputy public defender for 5 years, have been an Arkansas State Police certified concealed carry instructor (#95-109) since 1995, the first year of Arkansas's licensing of concealed carry of handguns, and have been involved in shooting sports for more than 25 years.
If Arkansas' statutes are amended to allow unlicensed open carry of handguns in Arkansas i expect it will take some time for all of us to adjust to seeing people carrying handguns in public. I've spoken with people from other states in which open carry has been allowed for many years. They've told me that open carry is commonplace enough that people think little of it, or at least no more than if a police detective took off their jacket in a restaurant and revealed a holstered handgun.
Arkansans are as responsible as the people in the dozen or more other states that allow open carry. There's been no extraordinary problem with it in those states and I don't think there would be in Arkansas, though there would be an initial adjustment to it. I think everyone, including law enforcement personnel, would come to think no more of open carry than the people in the states that have allowed it for years. Law enforcement organizations would educate and train their officers appropriately as they do in the states that already allow open carry.
I do not think it would have much effect on the numbers of people seeking concealed carry licenses most of the students who go through my class want a license so that they can travel within the 35 other states that respect Arkansas' license. The majority of them tell me that they have no intention of regularly carrying their handgun on their body, but will regularly keep it in their cars. Frankly, most people I know who occasionally or regularly carry a concealed handgun have told me that they want the advantage of surprise over any bad guy and would not carry openly even if they had the option. On the other hand, I don't think many would be robbers would attempt to rob a business if they looked around and saw several patrons sporting holstered handguns.”
A message left for State Representative Denny Altes for comment has not been returned.
At the opencarr.org site, which is referenced, I counted 23 states that do not require a license to open carry. Only seven states ban open carry outright.
“opencarr.org should be: opencarry.org”
I live in Texas (God Bless Texas) and probably would not open carry even if it should become legal in this state. But, that’s just me. However, one problem it would solve is “printing” which is a violation of our state’s Concealed Carry Law, even if it occurs inadvertantly.
The REAL reason for open carry is so that some Anti-Gun cop cannot arrest you for ‘flashing’ if he detects you are carrying a gun.
The gentleman interviewed in the article had a great common-sense point of view. The anti-gunners try to twist statistics but they have not yet succeeded in "proving" that an armed citizenry, carrying either openly or concealed, has resulted in shootouts over parking places, minor insults, or other such trivialities, nor in any other "streets running with blood" scenarios.
I support open carry laws and Constitutional carry laws on principle. Oh, and if the very thoughts make those so liberal that they get nervous over the idea of an inanimate object, and decide to stay out of Texas or any other state I happen to be in, so much the better.
Yeah, that happens all the time in states where open carry is not prohibited.
Does this statement apply to cops, etc?
“If you had open gun carry it might be like, ‘Okay I’ve got a gun you’ve got a gun. I can see your gun, maybe I’ll just shoot my gun,’” Lewis speculated.
And that is the reason why Janie Lewis’ CCW permit should be revoked, too.
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kfsm-lawmaker-wants-arkansans-to-ca-01142011,0,1379793.story
The reporter is: Jared Broyles
The source is kspr.com
And law enforcement in Pima County had ample opportunities to prosecute Loughner for drug possession and death threats - and chose not to. That might have prevented Loughner from legally obtaining the Glock - so that tells us that the continued harping of the left on gun control laws, while steadfastly ignoring the failure of the legal system to prosecute Loughner - means they could care less about addressing the particular events of this situation that could have been handled differently. Instead, their agenda is to deny guns to the law abiding, plain and simple. And always has been.
“Okay I’ve got a gun you’ve got a gun. I can see your gun, maybe I’ll just shoot my gun,” said Janie Lewis.
Hilarity. It’s almost hard to sneeringly laugh at her, because there are so many ways of doing so.
Janie’s got a gun.
“I’ll show you my gun, if you show me yours!”
“Fancy that! I’ve got a gun, too! Let’s have a shoot out!”
“Okay I’ve got a car you’ve got a car. I can see your car, maybe I’ll just ram my car into your car!”
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