When Ohio’s original legislation allowing law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun passed in 2004, there were dire predictions by the anti-gun crowd that there would be shootouts in the streets or worse.

Fast forward six years, and guess what? None of it happened.

How could the anti-gun crowd have been so wrong? The answer is very simple and yet very important.

The answer is that concealed carry licensees are law-abiding citizens, and law-abiding citizens don’t commit crimes. Criminals commit crimes! I know that this shouldn’t be earth-shattering news to anyone, but it is to the anti-gun crowd.

Another well-kept secret is that criminals don’t even try to obtain a concealed carry license. Does anyone really think that criminals will go through a thorough background check by the sheriff and take the required course covering gun safety and the law? The answer is no.

When concealed carry laws are passed, violent crime goes down. That occurs because the criminals can no longer count on everyone being an unarmed victim. As more law-abiding citizens start carrying a handgun, the criminal’s risk of being shot by their intended victim increases, and therefore the number of violent crimes decreases. The criminals that aren’t smart enough to learn this lesson often pay a high price for their stupidity.

In just the past couple of weeks, concealed carry licensees in Ohio have used handguns at least three times to save innocent lives. In all three cases — two in Toledo and one in Columbus — innocent lives were saved thanks to citizens who accepted the responsibility of legally carrying a concealed handgun.

Finally, I’d like to discuss the changes that need to be made to Ohio’s concealed carry law.

Concealed carry licensees should be allowed to carry their handguns in restaurants that serve alcohol. It’s ridiculous to think that a person’s constitutional right to self-defense ends at the restaurant door. Law-abiding citizens have been killed in restaurants that serve alcohol because their guns were locked in their cars due to these arcane laws. The changes needed to fix these problems are contained in bills that are currently in the Ohio House and Senate, and both of these bills specify that a citizen can only exercise this right if they are not consuming alcohol.

Once again, the anti-gun crowd is predicting shootouts in restaurants that serve alcohol, and once again they are wrong. Restaurant carry already is allowed in more than 40 states, including every state surrounding Ohio, and there simply haven’t been shootouts.

Another change should be made in Ohio’s current law regarding vehicle carry is unnecessarily complex and cumbersome, which leads to the very real risk that law-abiding citizens can be charged with a crime for a technical violation of these complex laws. Most other states have much simpler laws concerning vehicle carry, and once again, these states haven’t experienced any problems.

If you aren’t one of the 200,000 Ohioans who is licensed to carry a handgun, now is a great time to get your license.

Local officials say a new federal law that allows people to bring firearms into national parks and onto federal land isn’t expected to have a big effect in the Texas Panhandle.

But gun rights advocates said the new rules will offer visitors an extra measure of personal safety.

The federal law, which went into effect Feb. 22, allows those legally permitted to carry concealed firearms to bring them into national parks. Local parks affected by the change include: Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Rosita Flats, Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge and some local Bureau of Land Management property.

“It doesn’t really change how we do business because we allow hunting here,” said Paul Jones, chief ranger at Lake Meredith.

Jones said the only effect is to carrying concealed handguns inside park limits, which had previously been prohibited.

“If you’ve got a gun and it’s legal to carry it in Amarillo, Texas, it’s probably legal to carry it in the park,” he said.

Those who want to carry handguns must have a concealed handgun permit.

“If you don’t have a license and you put a handgun on your person, you’ve committed a violation of Texas state law,” Jones said. “If they have (a gun) and they don’t have their license, they’re going to jail.”

Jones said he’s not concerned about any problems because concealed carry permit-holders are “usually good, law-abiding citizens” and have been screened by the state.

Despite the new rules, some weapons restrictions still apply. Possession is prohibited in designated federal buildings like visitor’s centers or offices.

“If you have a concealed handgun and you carry it into the headquarter’s building … you’d be arrested for a felony,” Jones said. “(Signs prohibiting possession) are posted per law.”

A spokesman with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, which runs Buffalo Lake, echoed Jones and said the refuge doesn’t expect any problems with the new regulations.

Alice Tripp, a legislative director for the Texas State Rifle Association, the National Rifle Association’s state affiliate, described the legislation as “a big deal.”

She said the legislation now makes it legal to carry concealed handguns on both state and federal parklands. The new law, she said, is about personal safety.

“It allows travelers, like snow birds, to have that safety option,” she said.

Tripp said many national parks, like Big Bend and lands along the Texas/Mexico border, have a lot of isolated camping space, and carrying a firearm is just an added layer of protection.

“It nice to have that personal safety,” Tripp said. “You could travel all over the country, but you couldn’t legally have it in our vehicle unless it was disassembled and effectively rendered useless.”

And CHL News

We are  pleased to announce the ability of our customers to purchase firearms for just $30.00 over our dealer cost.

 With all the useless stimulus plans floating around these days, how about one that can actually save you some money.

Purchase any firearm from us and pay just $30.00 over our dealer cost.  That’s right, any in stock gun for just $30.00 over our actual cost.

To check on the availability of guns, or to just compare prices follow the link below.  You will be taken to our Gallery of Guns page.

Wholesale Firearms

By BOB PALMER – Daily Tribune Editor

Starbucks Coffe

Gun owners around the country made headlines earlier this month by walking into Starbucks coffee shops with a “big iron” strapped to their hips.

This exercise of the “right to carry” could not happen in Texas, unless the person packing heat also owned the Starbucks, Titus County Attorney John Mark Cobern told me last week.

“There is no right to carry in Texas,” Cobern said. “The state code declares unlawfully carrying a weapon is Class A misdemeanor.”

While you can’t walk around town with a pistol openly displayed on your person, Texas law allows citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights in other ways, including some new freedoms established by the last legislature.

“The law allows you to carry a pistol in your car as long as it is not in plain view,” Cobern said.

You can now carry a handgun in your glove box or console of your car without any special license, as long as the gun is not visible.

Of course it is still legal to have a rifle or shotgun in the gun rack of your pickup, but only if you are fond of having your glass broken and weapons stolen.

Cobern cautioned that there are limits to the right to travel with a pistol in your car.

“A person commits an offense in a motor vehicle any time the handgun is in plain view or engaged in criminal activity, a Class B misdemeanor or above, or if someone in the car is a convicted felon or member of a street gang,” Cobern said.

While you don’t have to worry about a speeding ticket getting you into deeper trouble, Cobern warned it may be easer to find yourself in the soup than you think.

“If you get pulled over for a DWI, you have not only committed a Class A misdemeanor with the DWI, you are also illegally carrying a hand gun,” he said.

“The same thing would apply even if you have a concealed hand gun license,” Cobern cautioned.

The concealed handgun license does allow a citizen to move around the community with a pistol on his or her person, but the weapon must be concealed.

On the other hand, the weapon can be visible on a person’s property, either your house or business.

Of course a person must be legally eligible to own a gun. While Texas does not require you to get a license or permit to purchase a pistol or rifle, you do have to be more than 18 years old, not be a convicted felon, and not fall under certain other legal restrictions.

“It is confusing,” Cobern admitted.

The new law allowing you to carry a gun hidden in your car, however, did simplify earlier laws that permitted traveling with a weapon only when you were crossing three counties or taking a deposit to the bank.

“I like the law change,” Cobern said. “I think you ought to be able to travel and have a fire arm in your car.”

Having a guy wearing a 9 mm next to you while you order your double espresso mocha is another story.

ToledoBlade.com

Five years after it became legal for Ohioans to carry concealed firearms, more people lined up for permits than in any year since the law took effect.

A record number of permits also were issued in Michigan last year, and across the country sales of guns and ammunition soared as well. While many cite the Obama factor – some Americans feared the President would take away their right to keep and bear arms – they also say the recession has prompted security fears.”The economy is causing all these law enforcement officers, whether they’re police officers or sheriff’s deputies, to get laid off and people realize they’re in a situation where they may have to be responsible for their own safety,” said Daniel White, executive director of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, a pro-gun lobbying group formed in 1999 to push for a concealed-carry law.”The flip side is the economy is driving more and more people to crime so you’ve got more criminals and fewer police officers so what is the general public to do?”In Toledo, several recent incidents suggest one answer to that question.Last weekend, workers at two South Toledo stores shot two suspected robbers, one fatally, after, police say, they brandished guns inside the businesses. Last month, a Toledo man who came home to find three suspected burglars inside his house fatally shot one of the intruders and injured another.”I don’t ever feel good that someone has to die. I don’t ever feel good that someone got shot,” said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association, a gun-rights advocacy group. “I’ve talked to many people who have gone through this. None of them are happy or cavalier about it. It’s not something anyone ever wants to go through.”Mr. White said that although the incidents are tragic, “if something is going to happen, it’s better that it happens to the criminal than an innocent bystander.”That’s an attitude that disturbs Toby Hoover, executive director of the Toledo-based Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, which wants to see the state’s concealed-carry law repealed. “The risk with all of this is we put our world into good guys and bad guys,” Ms. Hoover said. “People dismiss life without any other considerations.”Although she is bothered by the rise in concealed-carry-permit holders, she pointed out that the number still represents less than 2 percent of Ohio’s adult population. Nationwide, it’s estimated that about 40 percent of Americans have gun in their homes – a statistic that, according to Gallup polls, has been consistent since 2000.As for concealed-carry permits, Mr. Irvine said he believes people are coming to view them as safety tools that can save lives much like seat belts or smoke alarms, and they hope they’ll never be in a situation where they need them.Ms. Hoover said she’s concerned the rush to use a firearm is setting a precedent of what’s normal behavior. “I hope that we can retain the difference between my life is in danger and you’re taking my property,” she said. “We don’t have the right to kill people over property.”There’s a huge difference between you wanting the five dollars in my pocket and you putting my life in danger. What I’m seeing is a trend for people to react faster, to use lethal force because more people have the gun accessible to them. It’s a scary thing.”To purchase a gun, Ohioans must be age 21 or older and submit to a background check. Those with a history of felonies or domestic violence are not eligible.The FBI says 1.39 million background checks were performed in Ohio from November, 1998, through February, 2010, for people wanting to purchase a handgun.In Ohio and Michigan, U.S. citizens 21 and older who are residents of the state are eligible for a concealed-carry permit once they have completed a firearm safety course and undergone a criminal background check. Convicted felons and people with a diagnosed mental illness are not eligible.A booklet explaining Ohio’s concealed-carry law is posted on the state attorney general’s Web site, ohioattorneygeneral.gov. Among its admonishments:”The license to carry a concealed handgun comes with the responsibility of being familiar with the law regarding use of deadly force. … In Ohio, deadly force can be used only to prevent serious bodily harm or death. Deadly force can never be used to protect property only. Ohio law does not encourage vigilantism. A license to carry a concealed handgun does not deputize you as a law enforcement agent.”Still, it points out that under the “Castle Doctrine,” which the state legislature adopted in 2008, “a person does not have the duty to retreat from the residence that they lawfully occupy before using force in self-defense or defense of another … The law presumes you to have acted in self-defense or defense of another when using deadly force if the victim had unlawfully and without privilege entered or was in the process of entering the residence or vehicle you occupy.”Locally, those who process concealed-carry permits say applications spiked after President Obama was elected and again when former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner laid off 75 police officers in May, 2009.”It really picked up then,” said Wood County Sheriff’s Deputy Kathy Slaughterbeck. “A lot of people did admit to me it was due to the police layoffs, but also a lot of people came in after the election because they were afraid they would lose their right.”Ohio law allows residents to apply for concealed-carry permits in their county of residence or in any adjacent county, and the sheriff’s offices in Lucas and Wood counties see a number of residents from across county lines.Wood County issued 873 new permits last year – an 80 percent increase over 2008 when 484 were issued. In Lucas County, 1,507 permits were issued last year – a 67 percent increase over the year before when 909 were issued.Permits issued after 2007 are good for five years.Although Ohioans do not need a concealed-carry permit to have firearms in their homes, Deputy Slaughterbeck said she’s processed permits for “a lot of business owners” who say they want to protect their businesses and themselves when they’re transporting money to the bank.Patrice Russell, a deputy clerk who processes concealed-carry permits at the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, said she also has heard applicants expressing concerns about security in light of the waning economy. “A lot of people get [concealed-carry permits] for business purposes too,” Ms. Russell said. “They own stores, have their own businesses, and for personal reasons too.”Statewide, 56,691 new permits were issued – the most in one year since the law took effect in April, 2004. Some 45,497 permits were issued to Ohioans in 2004.In Michigan, where a concealed-carry law took effect in July, 2001, the state issued 66,446 permits last year, compared with 26,578 in 2008. Monroe County had a 255 percent spike – from 388 in 2007-08 to 1,376 in 2008-09.

The one-third or so of American adults who can’t obtain permits to carry concealed weapons from their home states need only look to Florida and Utah — and their mailboxes — to legally carry hidden guns.Because both states grant concealed-carry permits to non-residents and have reciprocal agreements with other states under which their permits are recognized, possession of a Utah or Florida permit gives non-residents the right to carry hidden firearms in as many as 32 other states — though often not the one in which they live.

Tens of thousands of gun owners have obtained the non-resident permits, and their numbers are surging.

That has helped fuel the larger debate over concealed-carry permits. Gun-rights activists say Americans who pack heat to defend themselves are exercising a legitimate right and have helped reduce the nation’s crime rate. Gun-control advocates say that there’s no proof that gun-toting civilians make the streets any safer and that looser concealed-carry laws are a recipe for disaster.

As the debate continues, the Utah and Florida permits are becoming ever-hotter tickets for out-of-state gun owners.

“Protect your family when traveling!” shouts a headline on one of dozens of Web sites that offer training and help with the paperwork to obtain the Utah and Florida permits. “You don’t have to be a resident of Utah or Florida!”

The non-resident permits are roundly criticized by gun-control advocates, who see the states that issue them as tools of groups like the National Rifle Association.

“I think the reason states are doing this, especially Florida, is the sheer power of the gun lobby in those state legislatures,” said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, which seeks a ban on private ownership of all handguns. “It’s not a question of what is in a state’s interest, but what is in the gun lobby and gun industry’s interest.”But NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam called non-resident permits an “organic” solution to needlessly restrictive state gun laws.

“There are people in all these states that are trying to get right-to-carry permits and are not able to,” he said. “As a result, they’re forced to explore other avenues. The solution to that would be for as many states as possible to have a ‘shall-issue’ permit system,” which allows most adults to obtain concealed-carry permits on demand.

Big increases in two states
The popularity of non-resident licenses with gun owners from heavily populated states like California and New York, which do not have “shall-issue” systems, has helped fuel big increases in both Utah and Florida’s concealed-carry permit numbers. That in turn has contributed to the nation’s fivefold increase in concealed-weapons permits, from fewer than 1 million in the 1980s to an estimated 6 million today.

In Florida, the number of new and renewal applicants for concealed-carry permits from out of state increased 529 percent — from 2,703 to 17,003 — from 1999 to 2009, compared with a 145 percent increase in applications from residents of the Sunshine State over the same period.

Florida is on a pace to grant new and renewed permits to about 25,000 out-of-state residents in the current fiscal year. Of 692,621 current Florida concealed-carry license holders, 71,059, or more than one in 10, are not state residents.

Over the past 10 years, the number of concealed-carry permits issued by Utah has surged 431 percent, from 40,363 to 214,403, a figure that would represent nearly 8 percent of the state’s population. But more than half the permits now go to non-Utah residents, up from just 12 percent a decade ago. Of the 1,011 instructors authorized by Utah to teach its concealed-carry license class, 641 live out of state — 100 in California alone — while 370 are Utah residents.

Both states require applicants to undergo background checks and submit to fingerprinting. Florida requires proof of firearms training that can be satisfied in a number of ways; Utah requires applicants to take a four-hour class on gun-safety and legal issues taught by a state-certified instructor. The Florida license costs $117 and is good for seven years. Utah charges $65.25 for a five-year permit.

The time and expense are well worth it to gun owners who want to pack their pistols in as many places as they legally can. Non-resident Florida licenses are good in 30 other states and non-resident Utah licenses are honored in 29 other states. The reciprocating states largely overlap, but there are a few differences. By obtaining both, for example, a resident of Illinois, which does not grant concealed-gun licenses to civilians, could legally carry in 32 states outside of his or her own, including the neighboring states of Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky.

DailyComet.com

BATON ROUGE — State Rep. Ernest Wooton, the former sheriff of Plaquemines Parish whose district once included portions of lower Lafourche, will again be pushing concealed weapons as a policy issue in this year’s session.

But it won’t be in the same form that garnered the Belle Chasse Republican headlines around the state in 2008 and 2009 when he steered a controversial and unsuccessful bill that would have allowed concealed handguns on college campuses.

So far, it appears that Wooton is shelving that push, which was opposed by several colleges including Nicholls State University.

In its place, Wooton has filed another bill that could help Louisiana shore up “reciprocity agreements” with other states and maybe even land a few new ones. Reciprocity agreements mean states agree to accept one another’s policies.

In the case of House Bill 9 by Wooton, that means concealed weapons.

Wooton’s bill would allow reciprocity between Louisiana and another state when a concealed-handgun permit is issued to someone at least 21 years old — the age requirement that currently exists in Louisiana.

Several state legislatures around the country are considering similar bills this year to ensure consistent concealed-weapons policies.

In theory, without Wooton’s proposed change, there’s a chance that Louisiana might lose its reciprocity status with other states.

Wooton, chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee, is also the author of House Bill 16,

which adds to the types of certifications required to be a concealed-weapons instructor.

Present law requires instructors to be certified by the Council on Peace Officer Standards and Training as a firearms instructor or by the National Rifle Association as an instructor for civilians and law enforcement.

Wooton’s bill requires that instructors certified by the National Rifle Association also be certified as an instructor in “basic pistol shooting, personal protection in the home or personal protection outside the home.”

Both concealed-handgun bills are expected to be debated during the spring regular session, which convenes March 29.

To view Wooton’s bills, go to www.legis.state.la.us.

Capitol Correspondent Jeremy Alford can be reached at

jeremy@jeremyalford.com.

Richmond Times Dispatch

The Republican-dominated House of Delegates advanced a slew of Second Amendment-related bills yesterday.

They ranged from a bill that would repeal the one-gun-a-month limit on handgun purchases, to shielding applicants for concealed-weapon permits, to protecting some Virginia-made guns and ammunition from potential federal regulation.

In all, about a dozen gun bills cleared a preliminary hurdle in the House yesterday and are up for a final vote today.

Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, sponsor of House Bill 49, argued that the rationale for the state’s one-gun-a-month law, enacted in 1993 under then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, has been “neutered” because of technological advances.

Handguns are subject to the national instant-check system to verify that the purchaser is not prohibited from buying a firearm, Lingamfelter said. And, he added, some people like to buy one gun for personal protection and another for target practice.

“In reality, one gun a month does not stop crime,” Lingamfelter said. “Criminals who are inclined to break the law don’t obey this one.”

But Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, countered that people can now buy up to 12 guns a year. He raised concerns that with a repeal of the law, the state could be the source of gun purchases for across-state sales.

He asked Lingamfelter if he could “really state that a citizen of the commonwealth is legitimately inconvenienced by not being able to buy more than one handgun a month?”

The House also gave initial approval to House Bill 854, which would shield from liability people who defend against intruders in their home.

House Bill 69, which declares that firearms and ammunition made in Virginia and retained here would not be subject to federal regulation, cleared the initial hurdle in the House. So did a measure introduced by Del. R Lee Ware Jr., R-Powhatan, that would shield from public view applications for concealed-handgun permits without written consent of the applicant.