Posted on 06/30/2021 3:36:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
Would carrying a gun make you feel safer?
Robert Nash and Brandon Koch thought so. But the state of New York denied them gun permits, saying they hadn't demonstrated a "special need."
Why did they have to prove such a "need"? The Supreme Court ruled more than 10 years ago that all Americans have a right to keep and bear arms, no matter where they live.
"Many other courts have thumbed their nose at that Supreme Court ruling," Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation tells me. He's excited that the Supreme Court will soon rule on Nash and Koch's lawsuit over New York's law.
I understand Nash and Koch's frustration. I once tried to get a carry permit in New York.
First, I had to read 60 pages of instructions about irrelevant things like "metal knuckle knives" and "kung fu stars," fill out a confusing 17-page form, get it notarized and then go in person to police headquarters.
There they fingerprinted me, demanded reasons why I should be allowed to have a gun and charged me $430.
I heard nothing from them for half a year. Then they wrote me saying that my application was "denied."
I called to ask if I could appeal. They said I could try again if I could prove that "special need" to carry a gun. After years of confronting crooks on TV, I actually do have a special need for self-protection. I showed the cops threats on my life.
Not good enough, said the NYC permit department. They turned me down again.
Apparently, my mistake was not bribing the cops. Later it was revealed that the police in the permit department were giving out permits for money.
Scams like that thrive whenever politicians impose too many restrictions on people's freedom. In parts of California, people got gun permits if they donated to a sheriff's campaign.
It's one more reason why Gottlieb is excited about this new Supreme Court case. Court watchers predict his side will win, especially because there are now more originalist judges on the court.
That means it's likely that soon, almost all Americans will be legally able to carry guns.
Some people say that will be terrible.
"Women are less safe!" says professor Lisa Moore of the University of Texas on TV. "Every vulnerable population, LGBT people, students of color, has more to fear!"
But then why are 58% of new gun owners Blacks, and 40% women?
"An awful lot of women bought a firearm to protect themselves and feel a whole lot safer!" says Gottlieb. "Eight hundred thousand times a year, a person uses a firearm to protect themselves. If you call 911, the police usually get there after the crime is over.
Over the last decades, most states liberalized their gun laws. More allow concealed carry. Gun control advocates predicted that would lead to an epidemic of shootings.
The opposite happened. As concealed carry was legalized, violent crime went down. Especially telling, crime dropped in each state right after the law was changed.
Gottlieb says that's because "an armed society is a polite society."
As a reporter who attended only liberal schools and worked in liberal newsrooms, I'd been taught that more guns means more violence. Even after interviewing violent criminals in prison and hearing many say that what they feared most was "not the police" but that the person being robbed "might be armed," I still believed that more guns meant more crime.
Only when I started researching gun crime and studying the data did it become clear that most of my anti-gun assumptions were wrong.
More guns really does mean less crime.
My NY carry permit was - like 99.9% (!) of those issued in the county - marked “sporting use only”, functionally denying the purpose for carrying a handgun. Later, the issuing judge left the bench over accusations of cocaine trafficking.
*CHORTLE*
As if.
Was the permit just to own a gun? Or was the permit for concealed carry? Because the Heller decision did say that the state can't completely ban a law abiding citizen from owning a gun but it also said that the right was not absolute and reasonable regulation was permitted.
The majority of legal gun carriers are very responsible citizens and most know the dangers involved with a firearm.
Guns are not toys to be played with even though most of us enjoy safely shooting for the sport of it.
I've been carrying since the early 70s, and still treat the gun with the respect it deserves. I never carry it casually and always know where it is and how to get it into a usable position.
I am thrilled that more women are carrying.
Yeah, that struck me too.
Democrat involvement in permitting / licensing of any sort is about running a illicit payoff ring.
I am not interested in having a concealed carry permit. I really don’t want my name on another list. But, I do look forward to September 1, 2021 when the Texas Constitutional Carry law goes into effect.
The idea that I have the right to carry, if I feel I need to is what Texas has always been about.
“Leave us alone to live our lives in peace and we will get along fine, if that is not satisfactory, we’ll deal with it.”
It has always been legal for a Texas citizen to carry a hand gun in the glove box of an auto. But it was not suppose to be in plain sight in the vehicle.
My bet is, after September 1, 2021, there won’t be many people who carry a hand gun, than there was before.
There will continue to be places that do not allow hand guns in their place of business.
It’s a Bill of RIGHTS, not a bill of needs!
...I feel sorry for the folks who live in New York State, where I was born and raised....now live in Central Texas.... the last time I bought a handgun, I filled out the Form 4473, gave the dealer my TX drivers license and my TX License to Carry, he did the national background check, came back okay, give him my money, and walked out the door with my new gun. Took maybe 15 minutes from start to finish....the differences between The Peoples’ Democratic State of New York and The Lone Star State could not be more stark....GOD BLESS TEXAS...!!
Yes, Indeed. God Bless Texas.
On September 1 Texas Constitutional Carry will be the law. I doubt I will carry, don’t see the need where I live. But it is a good feeling that if I decide I do need to, it is legal.
I live deep in flyover country. Almost everyone hunts, it was always OK to carry when hunting. And was always legal to have a hand gun in the glove box of autos (extension of residence).
If a permit is required, it ain’t a right. Butt, as pedo joe reminded us, no amendment is absolute. Like the 13th or the 19th joe? We already have seen the 1st, and 4th don’t seem to mean much any more.
Declare hunting criminals (as in "Death Wish") a sport and you're good to go!
It’s a Bill of RIGHTS, not a bill of needs!
Amen my FRiend.
Why did you have to show your Texas ccw to buy a hand gun. I never have to show my Colorado chp when I buy a gun. Hopefully July is last month I have to ccw left handed because of surgery and I can go back to my 26.
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