Just a couple of points.

While concealed carry is legal in all states, that does not accurately cover the difficulty in getting permits. In many states, the requirements are so dramatic that it is effectively impossible to become certified. For instance, in California you may only be licensed to concealed carry if you can show a reason to need to carry AND get permission from your local sheriff or city police. In addition, one of the cornerstones of CCW is reciprocity, the allowing of other states CCW permits to be recognized in your state. California is one of the 'may carry' states that doesn't allow any other state or country's CCW holders to carry in California. You must be a resident. Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island are similar. In fact, in Hawaii and a couple of the others, offices that grant permission have been specifically told by superiors to not issue for any reason.

Secondly, other than suicides, CCW holders are far less likely to commit any sort of crime versus a non-CCW holder. With suicides, having a gun of any type handy is going to make them easier. It should be a win win for hardcore anti-gun people anyway, since they have one less 'gun nut' to worry in their sleep about.

In any case, I am a proud CCW permit holder. I carry every day and have never had need to use it. But if need arose, I would have it available. I don't like all of the whack job laws that I have to put up with in Texas, but at least that one I agree with fully.

Hi I'm from Canada and you guys are fucking nuts!

You haven't thought this through.

If the whole point of your carrying a weapon around is that you don't want to use it, then why are you hiding it in the first place?

Who do you think the prototypical bad guy is gonna go after: some guy strapping 5 pounds of metal death to his hip or some guy who doesn't look like he's armed in the first place?

Guns are like nukes: if you never want to use them, make sure everyone knows you have them.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/bail-set-pokemon-shootout-suspect-las-vegas-40938442

From the article:
"Police say Campos demanded items before dawn Monday from several people playing the popular smartphone game that sends players to physical locations to "catch" virtual Pokemon characters.

"One game player who police say had a concealed weapon permit drew his own gun and exchanged fire with Campos. Both were wounded with what police said were not life-threatening injuries."

Having a big gun on display makes yourself a great target if you're ever in a situation that might need it, so you could argue that concealing it is the most sensible option if we agree that someone should carry one in the first place.

There are probably some really skilled and intelligent ex-policemen, ex-army and other exceptional people that would make the world a safer place if we trusted to carry a gun around.

@Mordhaus how trustworthy is the system that decides who gets one? At any point do good connections, family friends or money help decide who gets one? I've met/known of some people who claim to have concealed carry, but I don't know what state they were from or if the law is different between them. They had some pretty prejudiced ideas and rigid attitudes that made me wonder if they were really the most trustworthy people.

I'm quite pro gun rights generally, but to me it seems insane that "self defense" is the #1 stated reason for owning a gun in the US now.

Jim Jeffries' bit on self defense covers my concerns in a pretty funny but honest way. In your home, keeping your guns in an accessible place where they could easily be used in a self-defense situation makes them not safe. Much more likely to have accidents, or have a criminal end up with them and using them on you. Securely storing them away from ammo to prevent those issues precludes using them for self defense. Catch-22.

For concealed carry, that's a bit different. With the right kind of setup, I suppose that I must admit that the risks of accidents could be low, the chances of needing to use the weapon low, but some real potential for situations where some people would be better off having a weapon than not.

...There are some *major* caveats to that, though. For example, if I was black, I'd never concealed carry because that seems like a recipe for disaster. Is that fair, or reasonable? Fuck no. But it is reality.

I think personally as a white country-bumpkin dude, if I was going to carry semi-frequently, I'd go with the old redneck standby of a shotgun or hunting rifle on a rack in the back window of my pickup. Lock it to the rack with a combination lock, and keep ammo separately in a glove compartment or something with another combination lock. If I actually needed it, it would be there.


One thing I do agree with @Mordhaus 100% on is that suicides should NOT be considered, or at the very least should be specifically denoted as suicides, when showing numbers for "gun violence" or "gun crimes".

When I got mine, I had to get 2 passport photos, submit a fingerprint, take a day long class, take a written test, and pass a range test with my preferred CCW handgun. There are a bunch of other restrictions which I'll list below; not all states have these but Texas is one of the easiest states to get licensed in, so this should give you an idea for a baseline. When it comes to 'may issue' states like the ones I listed earlier, they have the same hoops to jump through generally, but the main one is you have to prove good cause to a police entity to carry. In many cases, those entities are either 'suggested' or blatantly told "Do not give out any permits". I suppose power or money could get around that, but you would still have to pass the other requirements.

Texas CCW pre-reqs:

A person is eligible for a license to carry a concealed handgun if the person:

is a legal resident of this state for the six month period preceding the date of application,

is at least 21 years of age (military 18 - 21 years of age now eligible - 2005 Texas CHL Law change),

has not been convicted of a felony,

is not currently charged with the commission of a felony, Class A or Class B misdemeanor, or equivalent offense, or an offense under Sec. 42.01 of the penal Code (Disorderly Conduct) or equivalent offense,

is not a fugitive from justice for a felony, Class A or Class B misdemeanor, or equivalent offense,

is not a chemically dependant person (a person with two convictions within the ten year period preceding the date of application for offenses (Class B or greater) involving the use of alcohol or a controlled substance is ineligible as a chemically dependant person. Other evidence of chemical dependency may also make an individual ineligible for a CHL),

is not incapable of exercizing sound judgement with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun,

has not, in the five years preceding the application, been convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor, or equivalent offense, or an offense under Section 42.01 of the Penal Code (Disorderly Conduct) or equivalent offense,

is fully qualified under applicable federal and state law to purchase a handgun,

has not been finally determined to be delinquent in making child support administered or collected by the attorney general,
has not been finally determined to be delinquent in the payment of a tax or other money collected by the comptroller, state treasurer, tax collector of a policital subdivision, Alcohol Beverage Commission or any other agency or subdivision,

is not currently restricted under a court protective order subject to a restraining order affecting a spousal relationship,

has not, in the 10 years preceding the date of application, been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct violating a penal law in the grade of felony,

has not made any material misrepresentation, or failed to disclose any material fact, in an application submitted pursuant to Section 411.174 or in a request for application submitted pursuant to Section 411.175.

P.S. if you screw up on any of the above 'after' you get your ccw, it gets suspended until you go before a board for review. My instructor said when I took the class, almost every single review case is denied.

One other thing, just so people don't think I am an NRA gun nut supporter, I personally wouldn't care if they made anyone who wanted to even own a gun go through the above steps to be allowed to do it. The Texas ones anyway, the may carry states allow the government or police to just say "screw you" and that isn't fair gun control.

In this part of the world stating "self defence" as a reason for wanting a firearm will disqualify you.

I would certainly consider suicide by firearm as "gun violence", and I would also say that good firearm regulations should make it hard for suicidal people to easily and quickly get their hands on a weapon.

The 1996 Australian gun buyback, which halved the number of gun-owning households here, is credited with a drop in the firearm suicide rates of almost 80%, with no significant effect on non-firearm death rates (source, via snopes). Although this was an unanticipated benefit of the buyback, I think most of us consider it a good outcome.

To me, that seems like a very rational stance on concealed carry.

A clear, logical list of rules that must be followed, which are (it sounds) fairly and universally applied (at least in Texas).

I'm enough of a "gun nut" (even though I don't actually own any guns or currently reside in the US) that I wouldn't want to see ALL of those rules applied to ownership of rifles and shotguns that are used for hunting or pest control / other utility on a farm.

Taking a class, test, and range test are good requirements. Not having felony convictions is another goodrequirement. But beyond that, for hunting/farm owners, it seems like many more requirements could just be misapplied to deny ownership to whoever the state deems "undesirable".

I tend to think that the NRA stance that any control or limits whatsoever are unconstitutional is very counterproductive for legitimate owners of hunting / farm firearms, as well as CCW people like yourself.

Very good points.

I agree that good firearm regulations should make it harder for suicidal people to get a weapon. Also, I agree that the unanticipated drop in firearm suicides is definite good outcome in Australia.

...But I'm still hesitant to use suicide rates as any sort of primary motivation for new gun control in the US. Statistically tracked, sure. But to me there is a very big difference between using a gun for violent crime against others, and a suicidal person using a gun to off themselves. A difference that needs to be clearly delineated in any statistics shown to promote (or disparage) any sort of gun control legislation.

The gun industry is extremely manipulative. I'm not a big fan of the rift in American politics which is based on ignorance and manipulation just like the gun industry... but if the economic policies continue on, at least we have the 1% to focus our guns at and patch up the "divide" a little bit

Guns don't kill people, people do. Sure, but if you remove the guns it means a lot fewer people will die until the societal problems are addressed.
Then you can bring the guns back in.