Is Concealed-Carry Good Or Bad?
Last week when I was at the gun show, I overheard a
conversation between three gents standing in line at the Dunkin’ Donuts kiosk,
which was the most popular booth at the show. The topic being discussed in very
serious tones was this: If you could only keep one handgun to carry around for
self-defense, which gun would it be?
Now readers of this column may find such a discussion
ridiculous, stupid, or worse, but what do you want three guys on Social
Security to talk about – the national debt? I mean, what could be more
important to the future of American civilization than whether I should be
walking around with a Sig, a Springfield or a Glock?
The truth is that most, if not nearly all the 15 to 20
million Americans who go to the trouble of getting a concealed-carry (CCW)
permit rarely, if ever actually carry
a gun. First of all, you don’t need to carry a gun because it’s not as if you
will ever find yourself in a situation where the gun would make the difference
between getting or not getting hurt. Second, the gun is heavy and unless it’s
kept concealed you’re going to wind up in the back of the patrol car with your
gun comfortably resting on the front seat. Third and most important, sooner or
later you’ll put the gun on the floor so that you’re more comfortable while you
take a dump, and the gun will somehow not go back into the holster while you
hitch up your pants.
There isn’t a single boy in the United States who by
the age of twelve hasn’t seen hundreds of bad guys being shot in video games,
movies or TV. If anything makes America
exceptional, it’s how we have created a culture which celebrates ‘virtuous
violence’ with the use of a gun. How many states now have stand-your ground
laws? Try thirty-three.
Notwithstanding the sanctimonious and holier-than-thou
preaching of so-called gun experts like David Hemenway
and John Donahue, the fact is
that gun owners with concealed-carry licenses are not only extremely
law-abiding, but rarely, if ever, engage in unlawful or dangerous behavior with
their guns. The last time I checked, the Violence Policy Center has still been
unable to identify more than 600 CCW-licensed individuals who committed
a fatal gun assault over the last 12 years.
Fifteen million people have CCW, less than 50 commit a fatal gun
assault every year and that makes CCW-holders a threat to community
safety? Give me a break.
On the other hand, anyone who thinks that these
law-abiding armed citizens constitute the frontline of defense against all
those street ‘thugs’ is also just blowing smoke. Sure, every once in a while someone pulls a
gun out from underneath the counter and plans to rob the mini-mart go awry. But
the NRA has never been able to validate
such acts of civilian bravery more than 50 times a year. The bottom line is that the notion that we
are becoming a nation of armed citizens basically gets down to the old guys who
were amusing themselves talking about their favorite handgun while standing on
the Dunkin’ Donuts line.
What motivated me to write this column was an exchange
between Corey Booker and Meghan McCain on The View, in which Meghan
claimed that her brother would never give up his guns if Booker became
President in 2021 and instituted a gun buyback plan. If the government
repurchased all AR rifles there would be plenty of black guns that
wouldn’t get turned in. But such a buyback would also result in no more new
assault rifles being made or sold.
Now if someone would finally be honest enough to admit
that by repurchasing all guns which really cause gun violence (i.e., handguns)
then maybe, just maybe we could end gun violence once and for all. But if we did that, what would those guys
waiting for their Dunkin’ Donuts coffee have to talk about? The national debt?
