Monday, June 29, 2009

Toter's Permits In Indiana.

In the previous post, others have wondered if the arrestee in question actually had an Indiana "CCW permit" (actually called a "license to carry handgun" in this state.)

I don't know if he did or didn't, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he did, and the reason is the kooky pistol laws in this state. Indiana doesn't require any special licensing or whatnot to buy and own a handgun. However there's damned little you can legally do with that handgun unless you get a "pink card".

A "pink card" is easy to get: Take your non-criminal self to the cop shop and fill out a form and get fingerprinted (or fill it out online and just show up for the prints) and then fork over money. How much money you fork over determines how cool your pink card is: $5 gets you a "target/hunting" card, $30 for "personal protection", and $75 for "lifetime personal protection".

Given that it costs five bucks for a chit that lets you put your cased and unloaded pistol in the trunk and go to the range, and 25 bucks more for permission to go strapped pretty much anywhere, it is perhaps understandable that Indiana has an unusually high percentage of toter's permit holders.

Now, if you had sat through some eight hour course where some retired reserve deppity with an NRA instructor's certificate had told you lies about handguns, like "Load the first two chambers with snakeshot; that'll scare 'em off!" and then signed off on your shooting prowess after you'd successfully put four rounds out of five into the side of a barn, then maybe getting a toter's permit would have been a solemn enough event that you wouldn't inadvertently try to pack your gat into the Windy City, but we don't have that rite of passage here in Hoosierland (we also don't have special First Amendment training courses before being allowed to speak freely or go to church.)

Anyhow, bottom line: If you have an Indiana toter's chit, remember that it is no good in 50% of adjoining states, and it is doubleplus no good in Mordor.

8 comments:

Laughingdog said...

"Load the first two chambers with snakeshot"

That's almost exactly the advise I gave to my parents when I was suggesting that they look at a Taurus Judge. Granted, in their case, it's because the most likely threat they face out where they live is a snake, followed by feral dogs.

dave said...

Of course, the article doesn't distinguish between New York's gun ownership permit and Indiana's carry permit, but what's a little intellectual dishonesty among friends?

It's also amusing that their example of somebody who was stopped by the "enhanced" background checks has a 44-year-old conviction for bookmaking. Sounds like a real hardened criminal to me; I'm glad we're safe from him now!

Tam said...

"Of course, the article doesn't distinguish between New York's gun ownership permit and Indiana's carry permit, but what's a little intellectual dishonesty among friends?"

I wonder if they're making a distinction between "Hunting/Target" and "Personal Protection" permits in IN?

Also, understand that a lot of people in IN get a permit just to, say, throw a loaded gun in the car every now and then. In a state like GA or LA, where no permit is needed for a loaded gun in the car, these people would have no incentive to go get fingerprinted...

Joanna said...

If you shouldn't aim at anything you don't intend to shoot, why load it like you don't intend to?

Tam said...

"If you shouldn't aim at anything you don't intend to shoot, why load it like you don't intend to?"

Indeed. If you don't intend to kill somebody, you shouldn't be pointing guns at them. If you want to scare somebody, give them a DVD of Halloween 12.

Dave_H said...

I happen to know more than a few otherwise well informed Indy gun owners without permits that thought they could lock up their pistols unloaded and away from the ammo and carry them to and from the range.
I had to tell them more than once that it wasn't kosher.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of gun owners not getting some kind of permit for that reason.
At any rate, I bring the subject up whenever I'm talking to a gun newbie about handguns here.

Frank W. James said...

The really 'kool' thing about Indiana's pistol permit system/gun ownership thing is the state supreme court has already ruled it is a PROPERTY RIGHT and if it is unjustly denied, the deniee is entitled to financial compensation just as if they were unreasonably denied entry to their homes or farms.

Neat, huh?

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Joanna said...

If you don't intend to kill somebody, you shouldn't be pointing guns at them.

"Shoot first, throw up later." Best advice I ever got about self-defense. It's interesting how much more black-and-white one's actions get when one has lethal (or even semi-lethal) power available and understands how to use it.