Recently in CCW Category

John Lott points out that CCW applications are up nearly 5% this year in the Lone Star State.

Letter to the editor of the Hudson Star-Observer:

An organization rooted in pro-gun and open carry advocacy is already preparing documents to be presented to every Wisconsin county board to affirm the right of Wisconsin's residents to carry openly and to prevent law enforcement agencies from interfering with that right by way of dubious and harassing charges of "disturbing the peace" or similar.

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms petition affirms that the people have the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.

Whereas, it is unlawful for citizens to carry a concealed firearm publicly for security, self defense, hunting, recreation or any other purpose the state must then declare that open carry is not an unlawful means to exercise these rights, and that no one may restrict or infringe the citizens' lawful exercise of their constitutionally protected rights.

Wisconsin is one of two states with no concealed carry laws.

With some commentary

A rather even-handed treatment by the media. (Unless the skeptical wonder if the pro-carry guy's technical problems were not accidental...)

I'm not up on the specifics of Utah concealed carry.

Is Utah's program unfunded by general tax dollars?

Is Utah's CCW permit near the tougher end of the range as far as qualifying and earning it goes?

Manager recounts shooting in West Palm Beach grocery

On Monday afternoon, Grant and [manager Marino] Hernandez argued after he tried to enter the store through the exit.

"I said, 'You know what? Take your business elsewhere,'" Hernandez said.

Grant then drew a handgun. Assistant manager Roberto Espinal, behind a side counter, drew his gun. When Grant turned that way, Hernandez pulled his gun.

It was 5 p.m., and the store was jammed with customers, loading up for dinner on their way home, who hadn't counted on a three-way standoff.

Grant made the first move. He backed out of the store and started firing.

Shoot people? Because he couldn't enter through the exit?

It will be interesting to learn if this guy has a concealed carry permit. If he does, you know this will get held up as an example of an armed citizen "just losing it." The article states that one of the charges against Grant was "carrying a concealed firearm," so I'd guess he didn't have a permit.

Luckily, he was such a lousy shot that the store managers didn't have to take him down to protect themselves or their customers.

Not sure that I'd be willing to take the chance that he wouldn't get lucky, though. I'd probably feel I'd have to end the confrontation immediately.

Robb Allen points a Simple Minded response to the recent Mass Murder stopped by CCW:

Query: Had this good samaritan tackled the shooter, would he be less of a hero? Had he struck the shooter over the head with a beer bottle, would he be less of a hero? There are plenty of other examples, but the point is the same.

in a post titled Gun Anecdote Proves Nothing

And goes on with

The gun doesn't make the hero. The hero makes the hero. The fact that this person was willing to risk his own welfare to help other people sounds decidedly "liberal". Maybe only liberals should have guns?

He closes with

An anonymous person stopped a man from killing people by shooting him with a concealed weapon. It proves nothing more than on this occasion, one good man stopped one bad man from doing harm. I too applaud the anonymous man, but this doesn't prove that all good people should carry guns.

But, um, I guess I'm unfamiliar with the claim that "all good people should carry guns."

Did I miss something? Has the NRA adopted this? Are the gun bloggers demanding that all good people should carry guns?

I left this comment.

Help: I'm trying to find out who's claiming that "all good people should carry guns."

Please point me to the ones making this claim.

Thanks in advance!

Say Uncle points out Another mass shooting stopped by a carry permit holder. A guy in a bar, no less.

In the small town of Winnemucca Nevada a man bent on performing a mass shooting at a bar was stopped by an armed CCW permit holder who happened to be in the right place at the right time. The alleged mass murderer had already killed two victims & had injured two others with gunshot wounds, but while he was reloading he was shot & killed by an armed CCW permit holder who was also at the bar.

Let's see:

1. Killer killing people
2. No law enforcement officials apparently present
3. CCW holder carrying in establishment that serves alcohol
4. CCW stops killer
5. No one killed in cross fire
6. Cops don't have to hesitate while trying to distinguish killer from cowboy

All in all, a storyline with a rather unhappy ending for the antis.

As I've noted, we have disconnected our television. Otherwise, like you, we would be seeing this story over and over and over on every channel.

(I knew I couldn't keep a straight face while typing that...)

C.E. "Bud" Brann takes a look at CCW in Kansas:

Rest assured that as is my usual wont, people on both sides of the issue who read this article in its entirety will find something about which to be angry with me.

Ahab is Talking McCain and the NRA.

I happen to agree 100%.

Via CGSDB:

On 05-12-08 at about 7:25 p.m., Officers were dispatched to McDonald's restaurant, 815 Chetco Avenue in Brookings, Oregon for a report of a fight between multiple subjects. While in-route to the call, officers were notified one of the individuals involved in the fight was waving a gun.

Police officers arrived on the scene less than one minute later and found Kerry Von Pohle (9/18/1948) pointing a revolver towards Kevin Eber (10/7/1989) and Jacob Shelton (9/5/1988). Officers drew their firearms and commanded Von Pohle to put his weapon down. Von Pohle complied with these commands. An investigation revealed Von Pohle had drawn his gun in self-defense.

Kevin Eber had thrown a partially full beer can, striking Von Pohle's car. Von Pohle asked Eber why and Eber became violent, telling Von Pohle he was going to kill him. During that exchange, Shelton attacked Von Pohle, striking him with closed fists and slamming his head into a parked car.

Von Pohle attempted to fend off the attack but realized Eber was closing in on him as well. Von Pohle drew his concealed 9mm revolver (for which he had a weapon permit) and pointed it at both subjects telling them if they came any closer he would shoot. The suspects stopped their advance. Von Pohle also had called 911 to notify police.

Notice the ages of those involved. The old guy had his slammed into a parked car and was punched by a couple of younger guys but still managed to get control of a threatening situation because he was armed and prepared to defend himself.

He didn't even have to shoot anyone, which is a bonus.

Georgians can now take guns into restaurants and on buses

If properly licensed, Georgians can now carry their guns on public transportation and in restaurants and state parks. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the legislation today, though he said he expected the issue to wind up in court .

Currently, about 300,000 Georgians have concealed-carry permits. Under the new law, House Bill 89, they can bring their weapons into a restaurant but cannot drink alcohol. Bars are still off-limits. The law defines restaurants as businesses that "derive less than 50 percent of their total annual gross food and beverage sales from the sale of prepared meals or food."

We're seeing a slow but steady expansion of right to carry. (Or, rather, a slow but stead decline in restrictions against the right to carry...)

This trend, of course, could come to a screeching halt when the new tenant of the Oval Office enters the building.

Via Uncle. Image: 'Appley-Peach' by Matt.

I'm headed down to the 2nd Amendment Blog Bash at the NRA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, today. Looking forward to meeting a bunch of great folks. And even some gun bloggers if I have time.

Hah Hah! Sometimes I crack myself up.

Anyway. I'll be on the road for a while today but I've got a couple things lined up to publish and I'll post a few things here and there as time allows.

I'm not able to stay for the weekend, but it's going to be great to meet so many of the bloggers I read and link to face to face.

A special note in case you've missed it: No guns will be allowed in to the Celebration of American Values banquet Saturday evening. Kentucky honors all concealed carry permits from other states and the NRA has no problems, but the Secret Service (guarding John McCain, who will be speaking) is a bit touchy about such things. Some have a beef with this, though I guess I'm not getting too worked up about it. Of course, I will have left town by then so it affects me not.

If you're going to be in Louisville: See you there!

On Friday I posted a chart from the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) showing the rate of violent crimes in states with right to carry as defined by the NRA versus the rate of violent crime in those without RTC. The difference was dramatic.

Except that there was a problem with their math that I failed to notice when I posted the chart. Phil Lee, commenting over at Pro-Gun Progressive, didn't miss it.

The actual numbers, though still showing RTC states with an advantage over non-RTC states, aren't nearly so dramatic:

As you can see, the gap isn't anywhere close to as large as the earlier post indicated. My apologies for posting misleading information and my thanks to those who caught the mistake and pointed it out.

Lee thought that including DC in with the 50 states made it "apples and oranges," but I disagree and left DC in. For those that are curious, without DC the numbers become RTC: 466.5, US Avg: 471.5, Non-RTC: 481.5.

Secondly, I'd like to also point out something else brought up, this time over at Say Uncle's. The very valid point was made that numbers showing the violent crime rates before and after right to carry laws were passed in each state would be much more meaningful.

This is very true, but I think that is hitting Step #2 before clearing up some common misconceptions about Step #1. Step #1, of course, is that place where streets run red with blood. Start with the larger point that, overall, states with RTC have fewer violent crimes that states without. This defuses the first argument raised against concealed carry and lays the foundation for further debate of more specific points.