To Carry Or Not To Carry...

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...that is the question, and it should be something we all decide for ourselves.

To continue with our "all guns, all the time" theme, we will now discuss the concealed carry laws in America.

Some people (we'll call them "The Confused") believe that American citizens should have no right to carry a gun in public. These fascists... er... people have different reasons for believing such a thing, but it all comes down to the same thing: taking away the rights of American citizens.

Others (we'll call them "The Sane and Rational") know that when only bad people have guns, we are all in trouble. The Sane and Rational also know that letting the government (or anyone else) take away our inherent rights is the surest path to tyranny.

Anyway, one of the things that The Confused often say is that it would be very frightening if "everyone" was "running around" with guns. The instinctive way to respond to something this patently ridiculous would be to simply laugh... but let us go another way.

First, the fact that permits are available does not mean that everyone will choose to carry a gun. Based on figures from various states, usually only about 1% to 4% of a state's population will choose to obtain a permit. Here's more:

The Wild West!?

Next, it is far past the time that we should be worrying about good people having guns. The fact is that the bad guys will continue to do their thing, regardless of any little feel-good laws the liberals manage to enact. Even though The Confused worry about accidents and wrongful shootings, etc., the facts do not back up this hysteria.

Can Citizens Use Guns Competently?

Easy math: Bad guys with guns is the constant (X), good guys with guns is the variable (Y=with - Z=without). So: when Y, then X is dead, and when Z, then Z is dead. Now, why would anyone want anything but Y?

Make no mistake about it: X IS the constant... and until the liberals come up with ways to take away the guns from the bad guys, then ANY attempt to disarm the good guys is WRONG, WRONG, and WRONG.

Onward... There are three kinds of permit states: no-issue, may-issue, shall-issue.

In "no-issue," you can't get a license.

In "may-issue", they'll give you one if they want to.

In "shall-issue", you meet the requirements, you get a permit to carry a gun.

The crime rate over the last couple of years has dropped the fastest in shall-issue states. It has dropped the slowest in the no-issue states; and in may-issue states, it has dropped somewhere in-between.

When the state goes from may to shall the crime rate goes down faster.

People that carry guns are the deterrent to crime.

Here are the three catagories of carry laws and the states that fall under each.

SHALL-ISSUE:

Alaska (unrestricted), Arizona, Arkansas, Alabama, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont (unrestricted), Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Alaska is both a "shall-issue" and an "unrestricted" state. Alaska does not require a permit for any law-abiding individual to carry a handgun, either openly or concealed, within the state's borders. However, the state continues to issue permits to any of its residents who meet the state's issuance criteria, which can be helpful for Alaskans traveling to other states.

In Vermont, no permit is required to carry a firearm. Residents and nonresidents alike may carry a firearm open or concealed without permission from the state.

The status of Alabama, Connecticut and Iowa is in some dispute among gun rights activists. The laws of all three states, strictly speaking, would place them in the "may-issue" category, as permit issue is to some degree discretionary. However, the policies of these states are effectively shall-issue. Also: as of 2006 all Alabama county sheriffs issue permits to almost all qualified applicants, making it shall-issue in practice.


MAY-ISSUE:

California, New York, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

In the United States of America, for a may-issue gun law, authorities (usually the local police) have broad discretion as whether to issue a concealed carry permit to a given individual. Some may-issue states are, for all practical purposes, no-issue. Other may-issue states have policies that vary radically from one political subdivision to another.

States such as California and New York give wide latitude to the county authorities in issuing permits.

In New York City, a concealed weapons permit is theoretically possible to get but in reality it takes a large degree of money, political influence, and/or celebrity to get one. Examples of current and past New York City permit holders would be Howard Stern, Ronald Lauder, Edgar Bronfman Sr., Donald Trump, William F. Buckley Jr., Joan Rivers, and Arthur Sulzberger.


NO-ISSUE:

As of March 2006 in the United States, only Illinois, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. (where handguns are illegal) are no-issue jurisdictions.


As you can see, there are only a few states where Americans' rights are being seriously abused and taken away. That is the good news.

The bad news, though, is that the hysterical left will continue to use feelings and scare tactics to sway good people who do not know any better. Face it, guns are scary to people who have no knowledge or experience with them. Plus, the left has managed to use its accomplices in hollywood and the media to perpetuate all the lame old stereotypes and lies.

That is where we come in. It is our firm duty to educate others on the TRUTH of it... and try to break through the fears and feelings that are used as the stock and trade of our socialist/fascist leaning opponents.

An unarmed and sheepish citizenry is EXACTLY what the predators want... and it is also the first major step to tyranny.

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