[GGReporter]

As a first generation American, Manuel Gomez is "thankful" for his Second Amendment right to bear arms. At 25 years old, Gomez lives in York City and has carried a handgun since he got a license to carry a firearm when he turned 21. And like many gun owners, Gomez said he's concerned that President Barack Obama's administration might try to restrict the rights of Americans to bear arms.

More...

[Cyrano]

The article is valuable because it shows the cycles for CCW permits in states that require periodic renewals. From what I can see, in York County the trend is still up from the time before Obama's election.

I believe what the sheriff's information is showing us is that the knee-jerk/panic applications for CCW permits caused by the rise of the Obamination is not tapering off, as the sheriff alleges. I believe it's leveling off, at a higher level than applications were before Obama appeared on the scene. Personally, I don't have a problem with that. As far as I'm concerned, the more people who carry concealed, the lower the crime rate goes and the safer the general population of the country is.

Just don't let the Obamists try to spin this to say, "See? The Messiah has been in office for a year, and your gun rights are untouched. You gun owners never had anything to fear." This is a time when extra vigilance must be exercised, because people become complacent when a 'new status quo' is reached. That's the time a savvy politican will strike. So keep on urging your firends and neighbors to arm themselves and get those carry permits. Obama is not out of office and he is not yet a spent force. Until the Supreme Court confirms that the Second Amendment applies to all states and all cities, and until Obama is ousted from office, we cannot relax our guard.

[SightNSqueeze]

Quote:       Originally Posted by GGReporter

As a first generation American, Manuel Gomez is "thankful" for his Second Amendment right to bear arms. At 25 years old, Gomez lives in York City and has carried a handgun since he got a license to carry a firearm when he turned 21. And like many gun owners, Gomez said he's concerned that President Barack Obama's administration might try to restrict the rights of Americans to bear arms. More...

I signed on and left a comment on the above new article. The discussion forum there was getting rather ponderous and dull with readers sniping at eachother and getting off of the issue at hand. This was my response. I'm sure I'll be told to mind my own business since I'm not from York County, PA. However, too late, my say was posted.

Quote:      

Much of the discussion here amounts to the same antiquated arguments discussed over a decade ago in other parts of the country. Some 40+ states now have mandatory "shall issue" CCW laws in effect and in those states, violent crime has plunged while accidents have declined or at least, not increased; that according to the U.S. Justice Department's own Bureau of Justice Statistics. As a prior law enforcement officer in the state of South Carolina, I can say that enlightened law enforcement officers stood with constitutionally minded citizens against the "old aristocracy" among the Democrats in the state General Assembly and forced the issue to a successful conclusion. It took almost three years of intense citizen interaction, but restoration of a constitutional right was worth the wait. Pennsylvania, New York, the [formally] industrial Midwest and, much of New England continues to hold out. Why? Are individual rights secondary to other issues? Do people there even stay politically connected and politically active between elections, or just during the primaries and on Election Day? Shall Issue CCW is proven to work wherever it is allowed. Make it happen.

[Cyrano]

SnS, you have to understand that there are two New Englands, and two New Yorks.

Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine have reasonable concealed carry laws. Heck, Vermont doesn't have any CCW regulations! Any adult can carry concealed there. Even in Connecticut, which if memory serves ranks third in oppressive gun laws behind Massachusetts and New Jersey, provided you have a clean record and are willing to jump through the required training hoops and background checks that you have to pay for, you can get a CCW.

It's Massachusetts and Rhode Island that make it as difficult as possible for citizens to obtain a carry permit, or even a permit to have a pistol in the home and to take it back and forth to the range.

Bottom line: northern New England has sane gun laws. Southern New England does not.

Same deal in New York State. You have Upstate New York, which most people define as all of New York State except for New York City and the counties that adjoin NYC (Long Island and Westchester County, and by some reckonings, Rockland County); and then you have New York City and its adjoining counties.

In New York, judges, not the police agencies, are the issuing authorities. Upstate, many counties issue only one sort of pistol permit, the CCW. I've noticed that the closer you get to the Five Boroughs, the more complicated the process becomes and the more varieties of pistol permit are issued. There are premises permits; hunting and target permits; ownership permits; and CCWs. Further, the closer you get to New York City, the more hoops you have to jump through to get the permits. Further yet, while many upstate counties issue lifetime permits, in the counties that comprise or abut NYC the permits must be renewed every five years. A bill that would have changed over all the pistol permits in New York State to five-year permits and also would have required a repeat of the pistol safety courses and background checks - for which the people with the permits would have had to pay, naturally - was defeated in the state legislature this year. It was, unsurprisingly, sponsored by the lackwits who represent New York City. The rest of the state's representatives banded together and voted it down.

So, as with New England, you have a distinct dichotomy. You have counties with sane gun laws upstate, and then you have the totally urban New York City area down on the coast. Don't blame us upstaters for the screwball gun laws promulgated by the leftists in New York City. Our problem is that with voting districts allocated by population, the City has an awful lot of representatives in Albany, virtually all left-wing Democrats. Trying to keep them reined in is a full time job for the sane people in Albany.

I have suggested, tongue firmly in cheek, that what New York State needs to do is secede from New York City. As far as laws concerning pistol permits go, that would certainly be a desirable thing to do!

[SightNSqueeze]

Cyrano- I agree that I should not have made vague generalizations. Years ago, I had a college roommate from New Jersey and he said much the same of his state. I think the same can be said of California. Practically everyone I know from that state is from San Diego far to the south, or northern California where reason is still cherished. Yet, we associate what we hear coming out of San Francisco and Los Angeles as representative of California.

I think the problem is as you stated; lack of broad legal definition. Until that happens, every city, township, county, etc, will make their own uneven interpretation of the law. Even here in South Carolina, there was once a move afoot in the city of Charleston to have restrictions on handguns in automobiles unless the driver had a CCW permit. Fortunately, that was shot down. Presently, even people who choose not to carry concealed can still carry a gun in their glove box, or other "closed" part of the vehicle as they could before CCW.