Gun Rights: Constitutional Carry Keeps Making Ground
Mass media is noticeably quiet about Constitutional Carry. After fabricating and promoting blatant fear-filled fantasies about armed citizens, the “blood in the streets” never happened. Before CCW (Carry a Concealed Weapon, the permission-slip system) became near-universal, the media spread non-stop harangues about shootouts at stop signs and other total garbage. No fact-checking, no evidence, just fear for page one. When nothing happened, because armed citizens weren’t shooting up towns, crickets, media disappeared from the scene.
It’s been quite a while now; when do you suppose they’ll issue retractions? That’s right, never. It’s not something they do. It would hurt their (supposed) reputation as infallible purveyors of unbiased truth and facts. Mass media practitioners barely realize they’re already in the toilet on those scores.
They should praise the “unexpected” beneficial results. The ones no professionals could foresee, as they say. Like documented increases in self-defense incidents, criminals dispatched, safety improved? And what about now, with the nation pushing past so-called “right-to-carry” (with required government registration). Safely armed honest citizens carry constitutionally and no longer need the permission slips in their wallets.
Dangerous? Yes.
Some firearms trainers, good tacticians but poorly schooled in the politics of all this, intensely dislike Constitutional Carry. It frees people to arm themselves, which is obviously potentially dangerous. Guns, of course, are supposed to be dangerous. And so are chain saws, axes, lawnmowers, paint and pool acid. The list of deadlies is enormous, and they don’t require fees and permission slips. You’re supposed to be an adult, learn, get it right and if you don’t, it’s on you. Here’s a plan — teach these things in schools. Government schools absolutely refuse to do so. That’s sick.
We, the people, deserve at least an apology for all the horrific fear-mongering we’ve endured and the lack of system-wide education. And promotion of criminals during newscasts without equal time for promotion of citizen heroes. It is sensationalism. Reporters and news outlets are supposed to avoid this like COVID infection.
Apologize?
Any decent, civil person, not just journalists, can and should offer an apology for mistakes made. The public honors this and respects it. This was especially true when the mistake went on, knowingly, for decades costing untold lives. Documentation is abundant; it’s no mystery. Check out John Lott’s studies on defensive gun use. Or the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Crime Victimization Survey about that.
Don’t hold your breath. On the gun issue, reporters and editors are a national disgrace. They lie the way Saul Alinsky instructed — misinform to attain your ends. Informing is counterproductive. They toe the line and never offer guns-are-good stories. Not even sports like the recent Olympic Shooting competition … oh, you didn’t know there was one.
So now we’re up to widespread Constitutional Carry. No tests. No taxes called fees. No paperwork. No fingerprints in the criminal database. No photographs. No expiration dates. No plastic-coated permission slips. Just rights. For all law-abiding adults. Train because it’s right, not because training is state-mandated.
Training Opportunity
That last part is a real winner, opportunity on a platter. Only around 2% of the public was willing to bow and scrape for the wallet card and pseudo rights. Marketing to those folks is a clearly defined target audience, though small as a percent of the population. The market has exploded to fully half the nation that owns guns and no longer needs papers to walk out the door. You guys in business reading this should invest in advertising because the antis are right. Gun owners ought to be trained — based on common sense, not mandated edicts for classes — and you ought to do it.
We mounted a $100K+ joint advertising campaign here in Arizona, funded by industry heavyweights in range, retail, rights and manufacturing. We used billboards, bus shelters, brochures and cooperative stores, to reach every gun owner and get them to pony up for a class. It’s only common sense. And as capitalists, it makes good sense, thanks to the infringement eraser, Constitutional Carry. Sometimes called Freedom to Carry — it’s just property — it contrasts with deceptively named “Right to Carry” permits, which require keeping government proof on you.
Freedom To Carry?
You do if you live in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. “Some conditions may apply.” Criminals can’t even touch guns; carry laws changed nothing in that regard.
Statutes are blistered with conditions related to “officials,” alcohol, schools, pretend “gun-free” zones, and the big fly in this ointment: tolerance for private denial of rights. You know, window-and-door signs that say, “We discriminate against you.”
The next step? Diplomatic Carry. That’s carrying like traveling politicians can, whose armed guards carry no matter what. Bans and edicts get ignored, no arrests made, none needed. Remember, possession is simple property ownership, not a crime. We must demand at least that much liberty.
Award-winning author Alan Korwin has written 14 books, 10 of them on gun law, and has advocated for gun rights for nearly three decades. See his work or reach him at GunLaws.com.
