Concealed Carry Ordinance

Well, the uninformed are at it again. If you want to get people riled up, mention firearms in general and concealed carry specifically. I can't think of many issues which cause the debate and furor that those do. I've heard it all before from the anti-gun folks and it's started again with a requested change in legislation by Chief Urban to city council. As usual, the loudest complaints come from people who don't have a clue about the real world. Well, people, wake up and take a look.

Consider this. More people die from doctors' mistakes than from gunshots. More children drown in bathtubs than from gunshots. Cities which have the greatest restrictions on concealed carry have the largest crime rates including rape, murder, break-ins, theft, holdups, drugs, gang shootings, drive-by shootings. Don't believe it? Look up the statistics for Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Detroit. Guns are terrible, that's why shootings at schools make the news. What doesn't make the news, probably because of political bias, are incidents such as the shooting at the Appalachian Law School in Virginia in January 2002 which left three dead. That part made national news, but nothing was mentioned that the attack was brought to an end by two students who who ran to their cars, got their pistols which were in them, and confronted the shooter who immediately stopped the attack by throwing his gun down. The difference between that incident and the tragedy at Columbine High School is obvious, nobody at Columbine High School had a gun with which to confront the shooter. Yep. The gun ban there was effective in preventing any defense of the school by law abiding citizens. Unfortunately, the two murderers didn't see fit to obey the ban. What was the result of the gun ban at Fort Hood? Nobody had a gun except a Muslim who murdered unarmed soldiers.

The moral here is simple. Gun bans just don't work. They make victims of us all. If you don't want to carry a gun, don't. But don't deride those who legally carry concealed weapons to protect themselves, and consequently you, from criminals who don't give a hoot about laws which restrict the carrying of defensive weapons.

Well, back to the legislation in city council to permit the carrying of concealed weapons in the park. A couple of things. The state law is specific that guns are not allowed in government buildings. Buildings, not property outside the buildings. As state law takes precedence over local law, the ordinance had to be brought up to date. It's that simple.

Chief Urban was correct to request the change to the city ordinance. In the long run there won't be any noticeable change in concealed carrying in the parks and cemeteries. They are concealed. Concealed, get it? And that's the whole idea. The weirdos who may want to make an attack in the park will have second thoughts about it because they have no idea who is armed and who isn't. Criminals aren't stupid and readily admit that the risk of their injury or death is higher in areas where citizens are armed. Don't believe it? Look it up. I mean you look it up if you really care.

One final thought. You don't hear about it in the press but about a million and a half times a year some type of criminal activity, murder, theft, rape, you name it, is stopped because a citizen with a gun was there to challenge the perpetrator.