A Journalist Sees Reason on Concealed Weapons

Michael Barone sees reason on the issue of concealed weapons in the United States in this article.  He makes an observation that I myself have made before: more guns has not lead to more crime:

"To the contrary, violent crime rates have declined drastically during the last quarter-century. I don’t think you can prove that concealed-weapons laws caused that result, but they have probably contributed to it, because would-be criminals are less likely to assault people they believe might be armed. In any case the argument that concealed-weapons laws would lead to more violent crime has been about as thoroughly refuted as an argument can be."

This is why those lamenting the recent 9th Circuit decision on the San Diego Sheriffs policy on CCW permit issuance are actually very much behind the times.  California should, and hopefully,  will join the rest of the nation with regards to concealed carry laws.

What if California Went Shall Issue?

Ever wonder what would happen in California if the state started issuing LTC permits on a shall-issue basis? Iowa may have provided a glimpse of the future during 2011.

“The majority of people I’ve talked to said they’d just always wanted one,” said Pals, the Cerro Gordo County sheriff. “And now they can in Iowa and they are following through with it. The training that’s required is a lot easier now.”

There is undoubtedly a huge backlog of gun owners in California that would apply for a permit if the process was not discretionary.  If only 2% of Californians got a permit California would expect to increase from approximately 32,000 permits held today to somewhere around 600,000 permits.

Given the state of current court cases, there is a possibility that such a scenario may eventually come to pass in the next few years.  To help it along, donate to the Calguns Foundation.