Arizona Repeals Concealed Carry Permit Requirement
NRA reports that Governor Brewer of Arizona has signed the law removing the requirement to have a concealed weapon permit. This makes Arizona the third state (after Vermont and Alaska) to no longer require a concealed weapon permit. Of course, if you are not allowed to own a gun, then you can't carry it.
I'm not opposed to such a change, although I don't consider it entirely a wonderful situation. There are people who are legally allowed to own a gun, but for whom it is probably not a good idea because of temperament. To the extent that a permit slightly discourages such people from carrying a gun, this is sort of good. But I must confess, this works only at the margins; only a small percentage of people that should not carry a gun will be discouraged by the permit requirement.
For those who wish to see Vermont-style carry become the norm, note the sequence: Arizona first went to a non-discretionary permit system, and after building confidence that it wasn't going to be a public safety problem, the legislature took the next logical step. This is also how Alaska did it as well.
UPDATE: A comment over at Snowflakes in Hell indicates that there are some places that may still require a concealed carry permit in Arizona--but not everywhere.
Kind of authoritarian don't you think? Seems to me that those people already self select.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I can't see denying anyone their right to self defense, to preserving their life.
It's kind of like the First Amendment, usually the best response to inappropriate speech is more speech. I look at the Second Amendment in the same way.
Sorry for my name, it's not meant to be disrespectful, it's my google reader identity.
The notion that everyone, regardless of past behavior, enjoys the right to be armed, is quite attractive from an ideological standpoint, but it isn't entirely defensible from an originalist standpoint, and there are sound public policy reasons to disarm those who have demonstrated by their past violent behavior or severe mental illness that they are a threat to others.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is considerable self-selection, and many of those who should not be armed will not do so. But especially among the psychotic, this is by no means as likely. Paranoid schizophrenics are especially risky in that respect.