Reader Dev sent me this story:
I have one nit to pick:
DuPriest says he is satisfied with Arkansas’ concealed carry law. Other states have open carry laws meaning anyone can carry a weapon in plain sight. But DuPriest says by carrying concealed, he doesn’t lose his tactical advantage to the bad guy.
“Arkansas is a very liberal state in terms of comparing us to other states. Our laws and statutes are very much in favor of the individual and the right to protect and defend themselves,” says DuPriest.
BS. There are many states that don’t bother with permits, or allow permitless carry if open carrying, and many that don’t require any safety training or tests for their permits. While something may SOUND better or worse, there is no evidence that issuing permits or requiring training has ANYTHING to do with public safety.
That being said, its a good story, also while I’m a Yankee the company Shoothouse USA is known to me, as they’re the sponsors or The Road Gunner Podcast which is a really good podcast.
Thanks Dev!
Got in to an argument with some friends the other day about training requirements. Their side could generally be summed up as “I’ve seen too many stupid people to trust everyone with a gun at all times” which I guess is as good as anything if you’re coming at it from that direction, but when I pointed out AZ, WY, AK, VT, it just doesn’t hold water.
I’ve seen many stupid drivers too, and almost everyone is tested and licensed to drive (at some point at least, and a revocation doesn’t mean they forget how, they’re just not allowed to anymore). Some people are going to be stupid no matter what, and it’s not because they don’t know better, they just don’t care.
Training is great, but it can only cure ignorance, not stupidity.
Also training is WORTHLESS without drive to excel. Think of any mandatory class you had no interest in when you were in school. Be it High School, or College General Ed requirements. If you took the class simply because you HAD to, you’ll forget EVERYTHING about the class inside of a year.
Meanwhile if you have ZERO requirement to do something, but are genuinely interested in it, or have a strong desire to excel in it, you’re going to train and learn anyway, and probably the training you’ll get will be better than the mandated stuff anyway. For example if I had a desire to be a champion skeet shooter, I’m not going to learn much from the Massachusetts mandatory NRA basic pistol class. But if I took an intro to Skeet or Trap, NOW we’re talking.
That’s exactly it. It’s why drivers licenses is my standard rebuttal to the ‘required training will eliminate gun accidents’ argument. If that were the case, there would hardly be any car accidents relative to what there is now.
Yet, there is no end to drivers not paying attention, speeding, intoxication, etc, to the point that it’s not even news when someone gets in an accident.
Don’t forget Montana! In Montana there are only a few locations in the state that require a permit for carry. I never looked at a map, but from what I can tell the vast majority of Montana is permitless carry.
And again, no issues from them.
I guess since I lived in town (and was technically an out of stater) I never took advantage of that, until I got my CO permit.
Of course he’s satisfied with it. If people could open carry without a permit, he’d lose revenue.
They had a committee meeting about open carry last year, but it was rescheduled at the last minute; on the day it was rescheduled to, we had record-setting snowfall across the state and most people couldn’t make it.
So the only people talking about it were a bunch of “non-political” LEOs, who all just happened to be against it. It was killed in committee.
🙂 Thanks for turning it into a post – I was worried it would get lost in you e-mail sea.
Nope, I get a TON of mail, but it all gets read. I will say I do get stories that don’t sing to me, or I don’t think will make a great post, but I read them all. Maybe not the same day, but I do read them.
And Embeddable video makes it EASY! 😀
I’m not fond of requiring a license to carry, but Arkansas doesn’t make it difficult to get one, and we are tied with Michigan for the most number of states that recognize our licenses–forty. The goal, of course, is that anyone who can own a gun can carry a gun without asking permission, and we’re getting there.