Right To Concealed Carry

Many tragedies have occurred recently that have spurred the debate on whether or not we need tighter gun controls. On one side of the debate are the gun control supporters, who claim that the easy access to guns is the primary cause for high rates of crime plaguing the United States. On the other side are people who argue that gun laws will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns, since they will continue to get them illegally. Guns are used for protection when in the hands of people who obey the law. It is crucial to not hinder law-abiding citizen’s ability to possess firearms with stricter gun laws, since gun laws do not lower crime, and guns can keep people safe.

If gun control is regulated, then we will have less crime. Access to firearms makes killing easy, efficient, and impersonal, which increases the lethality of crime. Josh Sugarmann, the Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center has once said, "We recoil in horror and search for explanations, but we never face up to the obvious preventive measure: a ban on the handy killing machines that make crimes so easy.”Allowing untrained people to carry guns puts others at risk and it can result in self-inflicting injuries both by suicide and unintentional incidents. Gun violence in America kills more than 30,000 and injures almost 70,000 each year. Guns can be misused and abused, which is why gun

Each state gets to determine if they will allow concealed weapons. If the state does permit concealed carry then people have to go through a long process before they can receive their concealed weapons permit. A person must first fill out the application, then "State police post the names to a private website for local law enforcement agencies to review and object to if police feel there

The Second Amendment has given the right to individuals to keep and bear arms since December, 15th 1791. Even though this has been in the Constitution for 223 years, the issue of gun control and the right to concealed carry has been a growing issue in the United States. Whether citizens should be allowed to legally carry a gun has been a growing debate. In this paper, I will talk about the history of concealed carry, the different types of issuances among the states, and how to obtain your concealed carry license in Wisconsin along with providing concrete evidence with different statistics and stating the pros and cons of the issue.

Looking at the nightly news, many would believe violent crimes are at an all-time high. There is no longer just one on one violent crimes or gang violent crimes. There are court shootings, school shootings, church shootings, theater shootings, mall shootings, workplace shootings, and others. Most one on one crime is committed with an illegal gun; whereas most mass shootings are done with handguns that are purchased legally. Although, violent crimes reported on the nightly news is hard to hear or see. It has become very common to encounter this information on a daily basis. The numbers seem to be overwhelming; statistics share violent crimes are at an all-time low. While the numbers of crimes are decreasing, gun ownership

Current Gun Control regulations do not deter violence and crime. It has been shown that places that have relaxed their gun control laws have a higher crime and death rate. Data proves that homicide rates “[...] among the metro areas whose principal city is in a state that requires some form of permit to purchase a gun, is 4.32 per 100,000 residents, compared with 5.74 among cities in no-permit states”(Bailey). This is evidence that there is a correlation between gun control and death rates. It is also proven with statistical evidence that places with the least amount of gun control have the most violence. Statistics show that “‘none of the states with the most gun violence require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Gun owners are also not required to register

The Supreme Court ruled on June 28th that the 2nd Amendment's protection of the right to bear arms applies on state and city levels. The 5-4 decision along ideological lines echoed 2008's decision to strike down DC's handgun ban, citing the 14th Amendment as a major factor in the decision to extend the federal right to own a hand gun for personal protection down to local levels. Though it officially returned McDonald v. City of Chicago to the lower courts for a decision, it is expected that Chicago's 28 year old handgun ban will be overturned, and that legislation against handgun restrictions in other states will be legally challenged for years to come.

Since 2007, over 921 American citizens have been killed by concealed carry weapons (VPC: Concealed Carry Killers). Concealed Carry should be illegal in the United States because countries with stricter gun laws have lower homicide rates and concealed carry weapons provide an easy way to commit suicide and other forms of violence. As of right now, the United States Government leaves concealed carry laws up to individual states to decide. Thirty-one states have shall issue laws, which entails that if law-abiding people complete specified requirements then they are eligible to get a concealed carry license (NRA-ILA). Connecticut is the single state with reasonable issue laws. Reasonable issue implies that the state has some discretion over

You have to be a certain kind of person to be able to properly carry and operate without making it obvious or having the risk of an accident. Some states are taking this to lightly. Georgia and Maryland require no training before receiving their concealed permit. In Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming and Vermont you don’t need a permit to legally concealed carry. This should be taken more seriously. I think that every state should force you to get training before having the chance to get a concealed permit. If an uninformed person is carrying

There is, however, a new development in gun laws. The last seven years has seen many states adopt Constitutional Carry laws in their jurisdictions. This is sometimes referred to as Permitless or Unrestricted Jurisdiction. As the name suggests, some states are fully unrestricted, meaning that no permit is required by law for an open or concealed carrying or bearing of firearms. This means, in effect, that these states are rolling back the long standing licensing, training, and registration requirement needed to conceal carry in the Shall Issue tradition. This is a welcome development for gun rights advocates who feel that the Second Amendment rights are restored as the founding fathers intended it. This is not so

Many Americans tend to be on opposing sides when dealing with such a controversial issue such as gun control. A more specific category of such a broad topic as gun control is the practice that some Americans participate in, called concealed carry. Concealed carry is the practice of carrying a weapon, typically a handgun, on one’s body that is hidden from the public. This political issue hits many different institutions within America, such as many special interest groups, the constitution and Judicial branch of the government, and also the principle of Federalism.

As far as overall gun violence is concerned, according to the FBI's 1998 Uniform Crime Reports, the overall violent crime rate in the US decreased about 7%. Robbery alone declined by 11%, the lowest since 1969. In addition, murder dropped by 7%, the lowest since 1967. More significantly, despite the fact the number of firearms and handguns owned by individual Americans continued to increase from 1997-1998, the FBI also reported the rate of firearms used to commit murder and robberies decreased in 1998. (1998 Uniform Crime Reports). These facts conclusively prove that firearms owned by peaceable citizens do not lead to increased murder or violent crime rates. In fact, they demonstrate that armed citizens lead to reduced rates of violent crime. When the gun is in the hands of a well-rounded person, it is no more of a weapon than your every day curling iron.

There is a small percentage of the population that has a concealed weapons permit. In that small percentage everyone is a law abiding citizen, except for a few here and there. They are a set of citizens hard to tell apart in a crowd because of their normality. This meaning that they do not plan on doing harm with their weapon. They respect the fact that having a concealed weapon is serious business. They are willing to go through the tests and classes that one must go through to obtain their permit. They know all the laws, which they must fallow, with that one could safely say that a concealed weapon would be handled safely by this set of people.

Further, despite the fact that gun ownership in the U.S. increased enormously during the 1990’s, there was a consistent, dramatic reduction of criminal violence. In fact, homicide and violent crime have plunged over the last 15 years. Considering that 18 of 25 countries surveyed had an increase of violent crime, America’s large decline is impressive. Moreover, Norway, Finland, Germany, France, and Denmark also have a high rate of private gun ownership, and the murder rates in these countries are as low as or lower than developed nations with less gun ownership (Kates & Mauser, 2007).

All 50 states have some sort of laws pertaining to conceal carry. Some states only issue permits to their residents, other states issue permits to residents and non-residents, and a few do not issue permits because they have what is called a permit less carry. Basically, in permit less carry states, they allow anyone that can legally possess a firearm to carry it concealed without a permit.