Quote:
Originally Posted by kutulu
I think it is stupid that permits are required for CCW. From what I hear, the classes are BS and just serve to give a trainer some extra money. Here in AZ they don't need them anymore. I don't understand why you can't just openly carry instead. To me, a CCW might help you out in an extremely rare situation. Open carry might prevent that extremely rare situation from ever happening.
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I wish the rest of the country was as cool about defensive carry as you are, Kutulu. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that, based on your philosophy, you don't carry and may not own a firearm. I don't have to tell you it's a crazy world out there. There are bad people. And there are people that don't like guns because bad people use guns. Some think guns are evil (some of these silly people think sex and booze are also evil). They also think that the only people that should have guns are cops and GI Joe. These people also depend on cops to help them with life-threatening issues. These people are often statistics because a cop on the phone doesn't stop a bad guy in your house / jacking your car / mugging your wife.
In a perfect world, open carry would be the norm and nobody would question why Joe Average has a Glock on his hip. The reality of open carry is that it makes you a showoff and a target. A concealed weapon offers you both the advantage of surprise (nobody knows who has / doesn't have a gun) and the advantage inherent in having a gun in a gun fight (a good idea). Open carry says "shoot me first" and makes you the target of suspicion to law enforcement and nervous little old ladies. Golly gosh, who knows when that gun'll just jump outta that holster and cap a baby or three?!
Concealed carry permits, in my opinion, are largely unnecessary. Just another case of the government trying to put a bar code on my forehead and keep me from exercising my Constitutional rights by making it a pain in the ass to do such. A concealed carry permit isn't about stopping crime; bad guys will continue to buy and use cheap .22s and .38s; saw off shotguns and hide them under their trench coats. It is my thought that the whole permit concept was largely created by the state government for the gun-fearing populace as a way of saying that they have control over guns and thus control over criminals that use them. It's a feel-good placebo for the meek. Based on crime statistics, it doesn't do dick to stop crime. And it's total bullshit.
Common sense says you don't learn to shoot at a concealed carry class. Such classes are designed to help familiarize Joe Average with the responsibilities and consequences associated with carrying a defensive firearm and using it to defend himself. While it may involve some type of firing qualification (such as a state standard police marksmanship qualification), it is mostly supposed to inform the students of where they can and can't carry and what will happen if they defend themselves with a firearm. The motivation behind the class is probably more cover-our-ass legal than save-your-ass educational. "By taking this class and getting this card, we've got your balls in the ringer if you do anything outside the lines."