Posted on 03/01/2002 4:28:35 PM PST by MissTargets
Concealed weapons laws taking hold, broadening across U.S.
BY JOHN A. DVORAK
Knight Ridder Newspapers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - KRT NEWSFEATURES
(KRT) - The first shot rang out in Florida 15 years ago, and the advocates of guns for personal defense never let up.
From state to state the movement spread, a campaign to overturn laws against carrying concealed weapons and to give residents an opportunity to pack guns hidden in holsters or purses.
The latest to go concealed: New Mexico.
"The pendulum is swinging the other way now," said Lenexa, Kan., antique gun dealer Jim Supica, a member of the National Rifle Association's board of directors.
One factor fueling the push: changed feelings brought about by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"I think there is more of a sense of personal vulnerability, a seriousness of the issue of personal defense," Supica said.
Besides Kansas and Missouri, where concealed-weapons bills are pending, just four states - Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin - ban concealed weapons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. As recently as 1995, nearly twice that many did, the group said.
In the 1980s, 40 or more states prohibited concealed weapons, the National Rifle Association said. In 1987 Florida decided to loosen up, to allow law-abiding citizens to obtain permits to carry concealed guns.
Who could have predicted the victories of the pro-gun movement since?
"I've been surprised," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "The NRA and other advocates have been very successful in promoting this kind of change."
Polls indicate they're in the minority, but they're vocal, well-funded, passionate and willing to make guns a primary voting issue, Vernick said.
Of those opposed to concealed guns, he said, "They don't have the political influence."
The opponents are battling back where they can - and achieving some victories.
One of two bills to widen Colorado's law on concealed guns was defeated recently in a legislative committee. A bid to loosen training requirements for gun owners in Utah was turned back.
But the opponents are scrambling.
"Basically, what you see is the NRA chipping away," said Nancy Hwa, spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.
--- Several years ago Elizabeth Kinch of Derby, Kan., helped form Safe State, a group opposed to concealed guns.
She said the NRA benefits from persistence, with a relatively few committed crusaders overcoming the wishes of the public.
"I would like to believe that we can continue to move ahead toward a more progressive, civilized society," Kinch said. "You look at European communities, and they don't have this proliferation of weapons. It's just the United States that does."
The 1999 bloodbath at Columbine High School in Colorado prompted an outpouring of gun criticism. But if the pro-gun push entered a lull, it's over.
The nightmare scenarios that anti-gun activists warned about - Dodge City-style shootouts between those legally carrying guns - haven't happened in states that approved concealed weapons.
While researchers cannot agree that carrying guns prevents crime, they cannot agree that it's bad, either.
Meanwhile, the NRA says its membership is increasing, to 4.3 million people at last check.
Gun supporters are well known for their willingness to draft letters or make phone calls to their state legislators. Such contacts easily can evolve into what lawmakers consider a landslide of public opinion.
Outside of mid-America, two new laws took effect last year: New Mexico approved the carrying of concealed guns, although courts are holding up the measure, and Michigan opened up its law to make permits easier to obtain. ---
Hopefully, Ohio can get off this list, soon.
Then why doesn't the b!tch move to Europe where she can be among "civilized" people, instead of trying to overthrow the Bill of Rights here in America?
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Meanwhile, the NRA says its membership is increasing, to 4.3 million people at last check.
The few, the proud, the NRA.
So how many people in the Brady Kampf, hmmmm?
Don't ya just love it,the people only have the illusion of freedom,the courts rule!
That's us!
If only 33 states have shall issue concealed weapons laws, What happened to the other states? Are they all upset because in the other states a sheriff can hand out licenses to his political cronies?
Liar. Texas citizens, as an example, voted on a non-binding referendum for concealed weapons in 1994. The legislature promptly produced a bill which then-Governor Ann Richards (blecch!) refused to sign. Some guy named George W. Bush won the governor's race and signed the bill on May 26, 1995. If the public is so adamantly against concealed weapons, then why did Texans vote overwhelmingly to regain the right?
That question captures the essence of the "I'm going to stay here and make it better" response to the question of why one who doesn't agree with the basic ineluctable tenets of a govermental structure continues to live under that structure. Our need for self-determination is manifest in our Second Amendment. If one does not want freedom ensured in this way, there are many other govenmental structures which are consonant their views. Leave ours alone.
Ditto for the People's Republic of Nebraska. Unfortunately none of our representatives have the guts to standup to the liberal cheese re-distrubitionists and pass any CCW. Those opposed to CCW are truly advocates for criminals and those who would prey on the law-abiding.
Hat-Trick (Dude, I'm getting a Kimber!)
I remember how - when CCW was being debated here in North Carolina - all the scenarios of shootouts by permitholders over who was first in supermarket checkout lines, etc., were trotted out by the state's tiny antigun lobby that is almost entirely in two college towns, with the liberal "mainstream" press sycophantically repeating it.
And I remember how - after the first several years of CCW in this state - both this state's tiny antigun lobby and the very-liberal Greensboro News & Record conceded that zero such incidents ever happened after the enactment of the permit system.
GUN REVIEWS free from ad-money bias - with emphasis on woman-friendliness of tested guns!
They don't? They don't write letters to their pols? They're not well funded? Their marchs on Washington don't influence people? The propaganda they send in the mail doesn't influence people? BWAHAAAHAAAHAAA!
Yes, the Amateur Trapshooting Assoc., does hold the world championship trapshoot.
Soon to leave, for a worse anti-gun state, Illinois.
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