No Quarters blogs about the blind guy in North Dakota with a CCW permit (not the blind guy in Knoxville with a CCW permit, although we have one, too.) Note that when I say "blind" here, I don't mean "can't read so well without his glasses"; I mean dog-and-cane blind.
Interestingly, Mr. McWilliams was drawn into the brouhaha created when ND considered dropping the marksmanship test from their CCW requirements. I'm sure he was justifiably proud of having passed the shooting portion of the test (although, if it's anything like Tennessee's, if you can stand flat-footed, shoot at the ground, and hit it, you'll pass) but it would probably surprise him to know that many states don't have a marksmanship test, many don't have a written test, and some have no permit requirements at all (ie "Vermont/Alaska-style carry".) All his fears of some non-marksmanship-test-passing yahoo putting a stray bullet through his house are pretty much groundless: Witness the state to our south, Georgia, which is brim-lippin' full of folks who needed nothing but $50 and a clean record to get a toter's permit. No written test. No cheesy video to watch. No arbitrary shooting test. Just some cash, a pulse, and proof that you've made it at least twenty-one years without getting seriously cross-threaded with society. And you know what the secret is? That method works.
For all the hand-wringing about various requirements, states like Georgia and Indiana prove every day that the fact that one has made it 21, 31, or 51 years without showing up on a police blotter is ample proof that one is very unlikely to decide to shoot up the mall tomorrow (and that if one is likely to decide to shoot up the mall, one is unlikely to wait and get a toter's permit before doing so.) Heck, studies in multiple states, such as South Carolina and Texas, have proven that CCW permit-holders have a lower crime rate than other normally-trusted demograhics, such as oh, say, sworn and bonded Law Enforcement Officers. Consider that the next time someone asks you to wring your hands...
Come on, with no video, how can we watch Mullet-guy get wasted over and over again by old geezers?
ReplyDeleteWhatcha gonna do with that gun old man? *Pulls screwdriver* *dies*
I realize you're from the South, and thus biased, bot don't forget to include Washington state, though home to such luminaries as "Baghdad Jim" McDermott and Patty "Osama Mama" Murray, also only requires 21 years of clean living and $50 (or is it $60 now?) to get a CCW permit.
ReplyDeleteIn some counties (Yakima that I know of) if you apply in the morning, you can pick your permit up before COB.
My questions are this: If Carey McWilliams was able to pass the driving and written portions of a driver's test, should he be given a license to drive? I would have no problem with a blind person driving on a track, if they could pull it off, as I have no problem with Carey shooting at the range. Put him on the road behind the wheel, or behind a handgun in public and he creates a risk to others. Sure, he can defend himself with his handgun, but I am absolutely certain that he cannot be aware of his backstop. I also imagine it is difficult for Carey to be sure that he is not pointing the muzzle of his pistol at something he is not willing to destroy. So is it OK to shorten the four rules in his case from BANK to _A_K, and let him carry?
ReplyDeleteIMHO, we need a National Standard for concealed carry, and a National Carry Card. It should cover every Acre of our Great Nation, and the USPSA should manage the system, as well as the administer the written and marksmanship tests.
If you could pass the three gun course, you could carry all three, all day long if you wanted to.
lower rate than law enforcement officers? Where, on earth, could I find that information? I have been preparing letters to yell at my legislators for the INSANE requirements here in Texas, and that would be good information to add to it.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I miss Washington... so inexpensive, as opposed to nearly $300 (with training) here in Texas. What idiot thinks that stuff up? Isn't Texas supposed to have guns all over? Why does that lie get spread so much, why tease me like that? It isn't fair.
Truth be told, Texas is only "pro-gun" when compared to, say, Michigan or Pennsylvania. It's pretty much on par with Tennessee or South Carolina, and when compared to Georgia, Washington, or Indiana, it looks like North Carolina or New Mexico.
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