Assemblyman Steve Knight's measure to allow law abiding citizens to obtain concealed weapons permits was voted down Tuesday in the Assembly Committee on Public Safety.Assembly Bill 357 would have ensured law abiding citizens are treated fairly when applying for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. There are 58 counties and even more local law enforcement agencies throughout California that each have separate interpretations of who they believe can lawfully carry a concealed weapon.
What did Knight expect? This is the Peoples Democratic Republic of California, aka Commiefornia, that we are talking about. The legislature there has made it clear they don't want armed citizens, they want disarmed slaves. That many criminals go armed is beside the point to them.
We have the same problem in New York State; all of the Peoples Democratic Republic states with oppressive gun laws have the problem. Even when the law says the people have the right to keep and bear arms, legislators pay lip service to the law while giving law enforcement agencies the right to treat applicants subjectively. It happens the county I live in in New York State is much more reasonable than some; but even here the judge who has the final say on concealed carry permits does not want to issue them unless the applicant has had a hunting & target permit for several years and can be shown to go to the range to practice regularly. It's gently subjective, but it's still subjective.
Much as I hate to say it, I think we need some kind of a national standard to set up "must-issue" as the rule across the country. Just as states like Florida had to do away with the limited driver's license for agricultural purposes in the 1970s because 14 year olds from Florida were showing up in states like New York and driving automobiles on the highways (the Florida license was intended to let farm kids drive for short distances on county roads in trucks in connection with moving produce or feed around, not to let them go out to the school dance on Saturday night), so the current "shall issue" states with more casual requirements might have to meet the stricter standards of safety training and FBI background checks to compel the current "may issue" states to change over to a uniform national "shall issue" standard that will then let anyone with a CCW carry in all fifty states. And won't places like Massachusetts, Hawaii, New York and California scream about having to implement that!
Much as I hate to say it, I think we need some kind of a national standard to set up "must-issue" as the rule across the country. Just as states like Florida had to do away with the limited driver's license for agricultural purposes in the 1970s because 14 year olds from Florida were showing up in states like New York and driving automobiles on the highways (the Florida license was intended to let farm kids drive for short distances on county roads in trucks in connection with moving produce or feed around, not to let them go out to the school dance on Saturday night), so the current "shall issue" states with more casual requirements might have to meet the stricter standards of safety training and FBI background checks to compel the current "may issue" states to change over to a uniform national "shall issue" standard that will then let anyone with a CCW carry in all fifty states. And won't places like Massachusetts, Hawaii, New York and California scream about having to implement that!
I think reasonable across-the-board training in the various states will happen next. I know a lot of people will balk, but it will make for a stronger case for the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
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