Category: Carrying / Self-Defense

There’s been a RAND study on the issue.  It would be harder to pull off here, and having more people running around who know how to handle guns is part of the reason why.  I include police in that.  Even in New York City, I would expect the police to do a lot better than the police did in Mumbai, who often had little to no weapons training.

The United States indulges in security theater quite often too, but in general, we have a healthy “gun culture” and we expect our police, and armed citizens, to know how to handle a firearm.

Apparently the people who administer Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky are upset because we legal gun carriers are clearly going to trap everyone in a cave and shoot them like ducks in a barrel:

Mammoth Cave has previously banned guns from the cave, saying it keeps everyone safe. McDougal says there aren’t many ways to escape once you’re inside on a cave tour.

Does McDougal really think the rule was preventing a mass cave slaughter before?  Apparently in his world, mass killers were busy checking the Code of Federal Regulations to check first whether their gun possession would be legal before they go on a killing spree.

Either way, I have to accept that they might be a little challenged in the reading comprehension department, since they are waiting for “guidance from Washington on interpretation of a new law opening national parks and refuges to people with loaded guns.”   All the guidance one needs can be found in the Coburn Amendment itself.  It’s one of the simplest laws you’ll ever read:

The Secretary of the Interior shall not promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm and the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the State in which the unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.

There’s your guidance.  Guns are legal in Mammoth Cave according to Kentucky Law.  Now quit your whining and deal with it.

So says the Lancaster County Sheriff:

Starting in November of last year, applications for concealed weapons permits jumped markedly, Chief Deputy Sheriff Mark Reese said.

“We saw a huge increase,” he said.

Typically, the department might receive 15 applications a day, Reese said, but more recently the total would be as high as 30.

Maybe we can hit 700,000 LTC’s issued if the trend keeps up.  Pretty clearly blood will fill the streets, and children will run screaming if that happens.

U.S. Customs has denied a request by the American Knife and Tool Instutute for an extension of proposed customs regulations that would treat folding knives as switchblades.  It seems they are intent to ram through this new regulation.

Looks like the South Carolina man who shot an armed robber at an AA meeting won’t be facing charges.

In Florida, the media seems to have found several female business owners who have decided it’s time to step up and defend themselves.

Lake Worth business owner Mayra Ramirez has been practicing at the Palm Beach Shooting Range in Lake Worth for months.

“I was always against guns but from watching the news and seeing so many things happen, I figured it was time to get one,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez is arming herself because she’s fed up with the crime around her business. A week ago a man was shot just steps away from her storefront.

“At the beginning, firing a gun was terrifying,” she said. “When I first started I couldn’t stop shaking. “But after your first few times, you look forward to coming in.”

A few doors down from Ramierz’s store, coffee house owner Marilin Garcia is also arming herself for the first time.

“You can protect yourself just being alert and in case you see danger, it’s there for you to use,” Garcia said.

It’s always a reason to celebrate when a couple of empowered women decide to learn how to use firearms safely.

Looks like Arizona is working to repeal its resataurant carry ban.  Not coming from a state that restricts carry in restaurants, we’re like Indiana in that regard, I was surprised by how much it got in the way, especially if you’re on foot and having to walk back to a hotel to ditch firearms.  It would be one thing if you planned to drink, but a real hassle if all you want is a bite to eat, and nothing stronger than a coke.  It is easier to just not carry, which is what I suspect opponents are hoping for.

Joe Huffman looks a bit deeper into the issue and concludes, “it appears they are pushing toward calling any knife you can open with one hand as a switchblade.”  I can open my Leatherman blade with one hand.  This should be interesting.