Debunking lies about Constitutional Carry
Police chiefs, misguided firearms instructors and the mainstream media have joined forces to vilify Constitutional Carry legislation in Texas and elsewhere. Here are the facts.
Police chiefs in Texas, including Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, say Constitutional Carry will make their officers less safe.
One of the many things these misguided top cops don’t understand is that Constitutional Carry is not about officer safety.
It’s about public safety.
More good guys with guns on the streets is a good thing. It will be beneficial, not detrimental, to the safety of their officers, they will learn.
This pushback by police chiefs is eerily reminiscent of the false claims they made decades ago when concealed-carry bills were debated in state legislatures across the country.
Their response also mirrors the misstatements made against campus carry years later.
To be clear, the streets never ran red with blood when concealed carry and campus carry bills were signed into law, even though many chiefs predicted they would.
And Constitutional Carry will have the same results.
Police chiefs are accountable to the mayor or city manager who appointed them, and to their city councils. They must parrot the politics and views of their bosses.
This becomes even more of a problem when a city is run by staunch anti-gunners.
That’s why police chiefs from Dallas, Houston and other large municipalities have stepped up to the mic to demonize the Texas legislation.
The bill has already passed the Texas House, is expected to pass the Senate, and will likely be signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
The National Rifle Association, strongly supports HB 1927 and similar bills in other states.
"It's time for Texas to join the 20 other states that have legalized this personal-protection option," NRA said in a statement last week.
What it is
Tennessee became the latest state to approve Constitutional Carry.
So far, 20 states have adopted some form of permitless carry.
The laws are similar.
Basically, they allow a legal resident who is at least 21-years old with no history of mental illness, substance abuse or felony or domestic violence convictions to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.
That’s it.
To put it simply, if you can legally purchase a pistol, Constitutional Carry allows you to carry it concealed without a permission slip from the government.
What it does
Constitutional Carry allows more law abiding people to carry concealed firearms.
That’s the bottom line.
The legislation also restores the intent of the Second Amendment.
It’s exactly what the framers had in mind.
They certainly did not envision the need to pay the government for a permit to carry — which is basically the government taking away your Second Amendment rights and then selling them back to you for a specified fee, but only for a specified amount of time.
When a governor signs a Constitutional Carry bill into law, they’re acknowledging that they trust their citizens — that they believe there are far more good guys than bad, and that they want to make it as easy as possible for the good guys to defend themselves and their families.
What it doesn’t do
Constitutional Carry will not make it easier for criminals to obtain or carry firearms.
The bad guys are already carrying firearms — illegally — so they are unaffected by any new law.
"Criminals who are prohibited from possessing firearms would still be barred from carrying guns,” NRA-ILA said in a statement. “This legislation would not prevent the enforcement of any laws broken by criminals who misuse firearms.”
For a story published Sunday, Mother Jones magazine had to go back in time to support their what about the criminals viewpoint.
“Permitless carry used to be a fringe position in Texas and across the country. As the Texas Tribune reported, Republican Lt. Gov Dan Patrick said in 2017, ‘with all the police violence today we have in our state…law enforcement does not like the idea of anyone being able to walk down the street with a gun and they don’t know if they have a permit or not.’”
To be clear, most seasoned street cops assume everyone they meet is armed. They don’t waste time worrying about permits. Besides, criminals have been carrying firearms without permits for years, because that’s what criminals do.
It’s always been that way.
Most violent criminals are involved in the illegal drug trade, and they’re the ones responsible for the vast majority of shooting deaths in this country — not law abiding citizens.
In their line of work, when criminals have a grievance with another group, they can’t sue in civil court. They seek redress on the streets, most often at gunpoint.
That’s the way their business operates. It’s something the gun prohibitionists will never acknowledge. They turn a blind eye to it — especially in cities like Chicago.
I have yet to meet a hardcore bad guy — and I’ve met more than a few — who could have carried a firearm legally.
All of them have felony arrests, usually for crimes of violence, and most have serious substance abuse and mental health issues.
Constitutional Carry levels the playing field for the good guys.
It puts guns into good guys’ hands easier.
Training will continue unabated
Constitutional Carry removes the hurdles most states have erected in their ill-conceived efforts to keep guns out of the hands of the bad guys, as if that’s even possible.
Texas state law is currently chock-full of these hurdles.
As is stands now, in order to obtain a concealed-carry permit, a Texas resident must pay for and pass a training class, a range class, a written exam and then pay an application fee.
The current law created a new group of instructors, the LTCs, or license-to-carry trainers.
For them, the current law has been a boon, since they make their living off of the government-mandated training requirement.
Unfortunately, some of these LTC instructors have done the unthinkable. They have lobbied against HB 1927 — a pro-gun bill — and been used as propaganda tools by the mainstream media.
“For people to bypass the LTC course, it's a recipe for disaster,” Raul Camacho, who said he was a former police officer and current LTC instructor, told the media last week. “The last thing we need is untrained individuals out in public carrying guns that don't know what the hell they're doing.”
Untrained?
Really?
His is a cardinal sin — putting profit above the constitutional rights of millions of Texans.
In my humble opinion, Mr. Camacho has been suckling at the government teat far too long.
Perhaps it’s time for him to compete in a Free Market — one without government mandates and requirements — where students seek out an instructor because of his abilities, not because he can hand them a state-mandated form.
Besides, Mr. Camacho needs to give gun owners some credit. Firearms training will continue.
Every serious shooter I know is constantly seeking ways to improve their skills. Students will always seek out well qualified trainers.
However, those instructors who lobbied against a pro-gun bill — who allowed themselves to become propaganda poster boys — may soon need to find a new line of work.
Eliminates barrier to self defense
In an editorial published Sunday, The Myrtle Beach Sun News said a move toward Constitutional Carry by South Carolina lawmakers “is a slap in the face to victims of gun violence and an affront to common sense about gun safety.”
I doubt any member of the Sun News’ editorial board has ever seen the aftermath of domestic violence.
I have — victims beaten by ball bats, chairs, plates and a piano stool, stabbed with knives and forks, scalded with boiling water and hot cooking oil, thrown into walls, thrown down stairs, beaten with fists and feet, nearly drowned in a bathtub and shot — and I could go on.
As we hauled their abusers to jail, many domestic violence victims asked how they could obtain a carry permit. It was a lengthy process, we’d tell them. It would take far longer than it would for their abuser to bond out of the county jail.
Constitutional Carry would change all that.
It would put a pistol into the hands of a domestic violence survivor instantly — without any bureaucratic BS.
That alone is reason enough why these bills need to become the law of the land.
Conflation run wild
As you’d expect, the opponents of Constitutional Carry are conflating it with mass shootings, as if one has anything to do with another.
None more so than Texas Democrat Mike Collier, who recently launched a campaign to run for lieutenant governor in 2022.
“Instead of focusing on fixing our grid or working to restore our economy following the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Republicans are laser-focused on making it easier for criminals to access dangerous weapons despite the mass shootings that we’ve seen time and time again across this country,” Collier told the San Antonio Report.
The Texas Observer had a similar view. The headline of their story was more than enough: “Instead of Addressing Mass Shootings, Lawmakers Expand Gun Rights.”
Their story was about what you’d expect:
“The House passage of permitless carry comes less than one week after a mass shooting in Bryan that killed one person and wounded five, the latest mass shooting in a state where mass gun violence has been increasingly common.”
To be clear, there is no nexus between mass shootings and Constitutional Carry.
No mass shooter ever obtained their weapon because of their state’s Constitutional Carry law.
No mass shooter ever carried a concealed pistol, legally, because of their state’s Constitutional Carry law.
The fact that the anti-gunners have to invoke mass shootings in an attempt to derail Constitutional Carry legislation shows how desperate they have become, because Constitutional Carry is growing in popularity across the country once the public learns of its benefits.
Good guys with guns needed
There’s a big difference between an appointed police chief and an elected sheriff.
Sheriffs are accountable to the voters — not a mayor or city manager.
They do not have to regurgitate the politics of their bosses, since they work for the people.
That’s why a sheriff can follow their oath and support gun rights.
There are few sheriffs in the country more pro-gun than Sarasota County (Florida) Sheriff Kurt Hoffman.
Hoffman, who oversees a staff of more than 1,000, said Constitutional carry eliminates roadblocks and “allows our citizens to protect themselves free of government regulation.”
“If my 32 years in law enforcement has taught me anything it is that good guys and good gals with guns can, and do, intervene to save lives everyday, the mainstream press just doesn’t report it,” Sheriff Hoffman said. “If we love freedom like we say we do we should put pressure on our elected officials to make Florida a constitutional carry state sooner rather than later.”
I couldn’t agree more.
As always, thanks for your time.
Lee
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“Instead of focusing on fixing our grid or working to restore our economy following the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas Republicans are laser-focused on making it easier for criminals to access dangerous weapons despite the mass shootings that we’ve seen time and time again across this country,” Collier told the San Antonio Report. "
Hmmm... if they are already CRIMINALS.. then nothing about this move to make Texas a Constitutional Carry state should make that any easier, right? I mean criminals are already denied a right they decided to forfeit when they decided to become a criminal.
The only link to be found between mass shootings and people carrying, concealed or open, is that over 90% of mass shootings occurred in gun-free zones.
Gun-Free zones are a danger to public safety. That should be obvious, even to the simple minded.
I thoroughly believe that any public officials that force people to be victims of gun violence, through policy or legislation, should be prosecuted. It should be made a criminal act with teeth and civil repercussions as well.