Category: Carrying / Self-Defense

… read (or watch, rather) this one.

SayUncle talks about the pants shitting hysterics the Brady Campaign is using against carry on college campuses.  The Brady’s are experts at framing debate.  Their rhetoric automatically makes people think of rowdy drunken frat boys shooting guns into the air.

When I was in college, I was too busy studying, and working to pay for it all, to have much time for the whole binge drinking scene.  In fact, I probably drink more now than I did in college.   The problem with the Brady rhetoric is that drunken college kids are too busy, well, drinking, to have time and money to spend on a side arm, and all the training that’s required to get a license to carry one.

I didn’t get a carry license until I was in my mid twenties, because in my early twenties I didn’t have the money for it, or the time to become and stay skilled.  I think the Brady’s are fooling the public about the kind of person who chooses to get a license to carry a gun.  If a 21 or older person in college has the time, money, and dedication to go through what we all did to get a carry license, he’s ot the kind of person I’m worried about having a firearm on campus.

Florida’s bill was spawned by something Disney Corporation did.

I represent Doug and Linda Gray, a husband and wife who were both employed by the Walt Disney World Company. They worked similar shifts, and traveled to work together. The Grays had to begin their commute before sunrise, and had to travel through some less than safe areas. In fact, they had been accosted on their commute to work in the past. They contacted law enforcement about this and were advised that they should purchase a firearm for their own protection during their commute. Based on this advice, Mr. Gray purchased a revolver to protect he and his wife. When the Grays arrived at work, the revolver was locked in their vehicle.

The Grays were both hired by Disney on November 13, 1996. They met at Disney during the final entry interview process, and were later married. Just 17 days before their 10th anniversary of employment at Disney, they were both terminated. While Mrs. Gray was being asked about an absence from work, she responded that her husband was unable to attend, and she didn’t feel safe traveling into work without him. Upon further questioning, Mrs. Gray revealed that Mr. Gray had the firearm in their vehicle for their protection. Disney had the vehicle searched, and the firearm was found, locked in the vehicle where the Grays indicated it was. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gray were terminated. Additionally, Disney had the Orange County Sheriffs issue a trespass warning against Mr. and Mrs. Gray, so that neither could step foot on any Disney property again.

Well, I can tell you, if we win Heller, I hope the attorneys won’t be going to Disney World. But I think this is a good lesson in keeping your mouth shut about how your provide for your own personal security. It’s a bad idea to blab about your carry status; there’s just no reason to mention it. You’re not doing anything wrong or illegal, and it’s none of their damned business anyway.

… less crime. Who would have thought?

UPDATE: Seems to work out alright in Memphis too.

This was a pretty interesting read from a guy who interviewed 200 survivors of gunfights and compiled what actually happens.

Via Second City Cop 

I just have to wonder if this is the kind of discretion the Brady Campaign thinks is just dandy:

That makes two separate incidents documented by the BPD of assaults and/or threats against me. The Major put it simply: he simply can’t see any way that they can not make the right decision here. I agreed, and pointed out that if what the Corporal at the Jessup MSP Licensing Division said to me on the phone was true (he rather testily suggested that he “knew what I was up to” and insisted that I was engaged in both vigilantism and an active campaign to misrepresent what he was saying in regards to my case), if in fact I really wanted to be a V For Vendetta style vigilante shooting up the neighborhood and taking the enforcement of the law into my own hands…why the hell would I be handing the MSP a copy of my fingerprints? My mugshot-style photograph? The serial number for my Glock pistol from which the MSP have a spent shell casing on file? Why would I apply for a permit at all? Why go on TV talking about my efforts to save Pigtown from itself?

If he lived in Philly, he would have had his license months ago. Of course, that’s not stopping Philly from wanting to be like Maryland.

Also known as may-issue laws.

Keyboard and a .45 has an interesting post about answering the door. I have a pretty simple solution to this problem, I just don’t answer my door if I’m not expecting someone. Chances are, if I didn’t invite them, I don’t want to talk to them. Maybe it’s rude, but I figure anyone I know who is outside my door and I’m not answering, is going to call the cell.

Pennsylvania and Arkansas now have reciprocity. The agreement can be found here.