How do you find out what people think about the right to carry a concealed weapon? How you ask the question may often determine the response and the answer you get.
At last week's town hall meeting in Carpentersville, Illinois State Representative Keith Farnham said the response from his constituents in the 43rd District was overwhelmingly against concealed carry.
Let's say you went to the Woodstock Square or Crystal Lake's downtown area or McHenry's Fiesta or any of the Fourth of July parades and began asking people what they think about concealed carry. What would you ask? (Or would you "say" what you think, instead of asking?)
If you were wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "I DON'T DIAL 9-1-1-" and an image of a handgun on it, what would people think? When I saw that t-shirt at Rep. Farnham's town hall meeting, all I could think of was a .45 cal. bullet going through 2-3 people and zinging down the street through windows and thin walls. And I'm a gun owner and right-to-carry proponent!
How might a question be phrased?
- Do you believe law-abiding, trained, qualified men and women should have the right to carry a concealed weapon for the purpose of protecting themselves outside their home, a right that they have in all states other than Illinois?
Or what if you were asked these questions?
- Should gun nuts have the right to strap on high-powered handguns and strut around town like Butch Cassidy? (No offense, Butch)
- Kids are being killed in Chicago every day; should more people carry guns?
- Should people be allowed to carry loaded, heavy-duty guns out of sight, under their coats?
- Aren't you safe in "gun-free zones" (GFZs) like schools, churches, government offices? Why do people need guns?
- Wouldn't you be worried if the man next to you had a gun?
I recommend two books. The easy one, the fast-read, is From Luby's to the Legislature, by Suzanna Gratia Hupp, a Texas chiropractor whose parents and 20 other restaurant customers were killed in 1991 in a family-style restaurant. She had left her gun in her vehicle, because then-Texas law said you couldn't take it into a restaurant.
The other, harder to read and harder to digest, is Prof. John Lott's book, More Guns, Less Crime. If you like facts and figures, you'll like this one. Read his statements by police officials who at first didn't want concealed carry, but who found that the problems they expected never materialized.
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2 comments:
I believe in the Second Amendment. I also believe that gun control and self defense should be taught in school. The right to defend yourself should never be challenge nor questioned.
Some States require you to register the handgun(s) you will be allowed to carry. Doesn’t that negate the security of the individual? At that point the Government would know who has guns. (It’s none of the Government’s damn business who owns a weapon.) You would also have to be registered. (A way to strip you of you money.) And the Government has MORE control over you!
Individual State Carry Laws are not universal. Each one is different.
The Second Amendment is a universal Right. That all states must abide by. I’ll continue to stand by the Second Amendment. IT’S MY RIGHT TO BARE ARMS!
Maverick, thanks for your comment.
The Illinois FOID card requirement is only two breaths away from confiscation, except officials don't know "if" the cardholder actually has a gun.
Requiring registration of a gun would be only one breath away, because then officials would which gun to come after.
A scary, recent court decision is that police now can apparently enter a person's home, even if they have no legal right to do so. And you can't resist. This is wrong - very wrong!
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