Posted on 01/14/2002 10:35:13 AM PST by dhuffman@awod.com
Concealed carry not the answer
Thursday, January 10, 2002
On Jan. 1, your Public Forum published a letter titled, "Illinois needs concealed-carry law." I would like to respond to that letter because the last thing Illinois or any other state needs is a concealed-carry law. I realize that some misguided states have enacted conceal-carry laws to satisfy a minority of their citizens. Those states have ignored the right of the rest of their citizens, and visitors to their states, to go about their daily lives without being exposed to the potential danger of bullets fired by people carrying legally concealed firearms. While I have seen no statistics showing that people are being accidentally shot daily by indiscriminate shooting from people carrying legally concealed firearms, I sincerely doubt that accidental shootings will not occur in the future. One has only to review news reports of the many people killed and injured each year by hunters legally carrying and discharging firearms during the hunting seasons to know that an intended target is not always a proper target, and it is not always the only thing shot. Those wanting concealed-carry laws should be assured that, no matter how well intentioned their actions, they can do more harm than good. In addition, if they harm some innocent person they will no doubt be sued for every cent they have, or will ever have. Legal carry proponents contend that crime statistics show a drop in crime in states authorizing legal carry. However, FBI statistics show that crime is down across the country. If concealed carry had even a small effect on crime prevention, I doubt that concealed carry is the answer to further drops in the crime rate. I am a retired U.S. Treasury agent, and I can tell you unequivocally that no law enforcement officer wants to rely on guns in the hands of the general public as a means of enforcing the laws of this country. In addition, no law enforcement officer, uniformed or in plain clothes, while in the performance of his or her duty, would be happy to be confronted with a situation where a civilian either draws a gun, or is found to be carrying one for any reason. Despite the civilian's good intentions, such people would be in substantial peril. Proponents of concealed carry say that there is no record of abuse of the right to carry concealed firearms, that an armed society is a polite society. To this I say, "Just wait. It is just a matter of time." Just because a state has allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons, it has not automatically endowed them with good sense, or complacent tempers. Lastly, if an armed society is a polite society, Afghanistan must be a country of very polite people. Just the type of society we need. Not! Joseph A. De Leon |
Thanks! My general opinion of LEOs just went up a notch.
LOL! Well, unfortunately, I've worked with a few real morons, but I've also worked with quite a fair number who appreciate the concept of individual rights. Many of them are NRA members and can be found at your neighborhood target ranges and gun shows.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke
The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
One of those street-perps in Muskegon, Michigan robbed, then was preparing to rape one of my aged aunts IN HER OWN HOME -
- she laid him out with three shots from the .357 her late husband used to carry as a bailiff.
A firearm *is* the greatest equalizer ...
For background terminology, you may find the following FR thread helpful:
I don't highly value the opinion of some dumbass who could only get a government job.
All I can to this logic is, "Huh?"
This guy had too many hits on those confiscated crack pipes during his career.
~~~Heinrich Himmler
Reminds me of North Ireland, was that a training exercise or a police operation.
Cheers Tony
And if no armored cars are available, just wait outside until evryone has bled to death and is stone cold. (Columbine.)
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin010902.asp
Neat trick in getting around the posse comitatus act, eh? Just turn the local PD into a military unit.
"The test for whether one is living in a police state is that those who are charged with enforcing the law are allowed to break the laws with impunity." -- Jon Roland
It is also fielded as a common military arm, so it would certainly seem to fit the very definition of a 2nd Amd. militia arm for civilians.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/608652/posts
HAZLETON - A state trooper's handgun accidentally discharged during a drug-related search at a South Laurel Street residence Thursday evening.
Cpl. Brian Tobin said troopers and Hazleton police executed the raid at 140 S. Laurel St. at 5:50 p.m. Thursday.
While entering the home, a troopers gun fired. No one was in the room where the gun went off and no one was injured. Tobin did not identify the trooper, the residents, or what was found inside the residence. State police internal affairs will investigate the incident, he said.
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