Washington Post tries to get a D.C. handgun permit
Recently, Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport tried to get a handgun permit from the District of Columbia. Mr. Davenport’s lengthy article outlines just how little the vaunted Heller decision really did for residents of the District of Columbia.
While the handgun ban was overturned by the Supreme Court, the scope of the decision was extremely narrow. That lack depth has allowed D.C. to create enough bureaucratic hurdles to make it as difficult as possible to get a handgun permit.
It took $833.69, a total of 15 hours 50 minutes, four trips to the Metropolitan Police Department, two background checks, a set of fingerprints, a five-hour class and a 20-question multiple-choice exam.
Oh, and the votes of five Supreme Court justices. They’re the ones who really made it possible for me, as a District resident, to own a handgun, a constitutional right as heavily debated and rigorously parsed as the freedoms of speech and religion.
Just more than a year ago, by a 5-to-4 decision, the court struck down the District’s three-decades-old outright ban on handguns — the most restrictive gun law in the country. In District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said the Second Amendment guarantees the right of an individual to bear arms, not just Americans in a “well regulated Militia”; the District’s prohibition was therefore unconstitutional.
Reluctantly, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s administration set up a process through which about 550 residents — now including yours truly — have acquired a handgun. But as my four trips to the police department attest, D.C. officials haven’t made it easy.
Which was exactly their intent. The day the Heller decision was announced, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) vowed that the city was still “going to have the strictest handgun laws the Constitution allows.” Fenty decried the ruling, saying that “more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.”
Under threat of additional litigation, however, the city has already had to ease some of its initial restrictions by greatly expanding the range of gun models, including semiautomatic handguns, residents are allowed to own.
You can read Mr. Davenport’s whole story below the fold.
Meanwhile, the battle over the right to bear arms in the nation’s capital continues. The lawyer who won the Heller case recently filed a federal lawsuit attempting to overturn the District law that prohibits private citizens from packing heat in public. Earlier this year, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) attempted to do away with the city’s gun registration requirements.
For now, the D.C. regulations are still in place. That meant that on my journey to gun ownership, I had to prove proficiency with a weapon on the range and in the classroom. I had to allow the District government to fire my gun before I did so its ballistics could be recorded. I had to vow that I was mentally sound and not under indictment.
In the end, I got my gun. But I keep it locked in a box in my dresser. Because despite the fact that my government trusts me to own a gun, I’m not sure how I feel about having a weapon that can send a piece of metal the size of a thimble hurtling through space with such speed that it could make someone’s head explode.
I’ve been surrounded my whole life by people who see guns as a cause of social ill, not a cure. But what if they’re wrong? I live in a dangerous part of a dangerous city. I’ve heard gunshots from my bedroom window clearly enough so there was no mistaking them for firecrackers. And then, about a month or so ago, my wife went out to her car and saw the glass on the ground and then the shattered window. Nothing can make you want a gun more than that sickening, helpless moment when you realize you are more vulnerable than you had thought.
* * *
If I lived in Virginia, I’d simply walk into a shop, show my ID, fill out forms and then wait while the store calls for my background check, which can take all of three minutes. If I pass, the gun is mine. Or I could buy a gun from a private citizen and forgo the background check. No safety course required (unless I’m applying for a concealed-handgun permit, which is not even an option in the District). No need to register the gun with the government (unless it’s a machine gun, which is, again, not an option in the District).
In Maryland, the process is more involved (though nothing close to what you have to go through in the District): There’s an application, a background check, a mandatory 45-minute safety video and then a seven-day waiting period.
But I live in the District, where the path to gun ownership, believed by some to be designed to intentionally thwart gun ownership, begins first with a trip to the police department to pick up the necessary paperwork. Then there’s a five-hour safety course (four hours in the classroom, one on the firing range) with one of about 30 instructors certified to teach the class.
For those experienced with guns, the class may seem unnecessary, even ridiculous. But I’m grateful for it. I’ve never fired a handgun. Can’t say I’ve ever even held one. My experience with firearms is limited to .22-caliber rifles at summer camp, and a brief dove hunting excursion in Texas in which I never fired my shotgun.
The course I choose costs $250 (group lessons are cheaper), and is taught in Temple Hills by Isaiah Abraham, a behemoth of a man who also works as a Department of Defense police sergeant assigned to the Naval Observatory. He walks me through the basics: Always treat a firearm as if it’s loaded; keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to fire; never point at anything you don’t intend to shoot. Then there’s this bit of instruction that makes me shudder because I live in a Mount Pleasant rowhouse with neighbors on either side: Know your target and what’s behind it because bullets can punch through doors and walls.
We go over the parts of the gun so I can identify the difference between the hammer and the firing pin. Soon I’m learning to load a .38-caliber revolver with dummy bullets.
From the moment I wrap my fingers around the grip, the gun feels uncomfortable, unwieldy and so surprisingly heavy that my entire arm dips a bit as Abraham hands it to me. A toy it is not. As I adjust my grip, the muzzle dances wildly around, pointing its deadly black eye all over the room.
Disapprovingly, he takes the gun to show me how to hold it properly, and in his experienced hands the weapon is immediately obedient. Then again, guns have long been a part of his life. Growing up in Southeast Washington, he saw one of his friends get shot in the head “for candy money” when he was in middle school. As an adult, he worked as a security guard in the projects, and later, as a D.C. cop, he patrolled some of the toughest neighborhoods when crack cocaine was driving up the homicide rate.
It’s a cruel, violent world, he says. Which is why, when we get to the range, he’s going to want me to shoot with my left hand as well. Why? I ask. “If you get shot in this arm,” he says pointing to my right, “I don’t want you to give up.”
If I get shot, I think, it’s game over. Instead, I just nod and realize that beyond the safety requirements, general gun knowledge and instructions on stance, grip and breathing, he’s also preparing me to shoot at another human being. Because, really, isn’t that what a handgun is for? It’s not for squirrel hunting — certainly not in the District, where the law prohibits me from taking the gun out of the house unless I’m going to a “lawful firearm-related activity” such as the shooting range.
That’s why Abraham tells me to always aim for the “center mass of your available target” and to “pick up your weapon as if ready to fire” because, as he warns, a gun battle typically lasts just a couple of seconds. That’s why the targets on the walls of his office are in the shape of torsos, some with faces on them, so you’re firing at something that’s looking back at you.
And that’s why at the range, he wants me to pick up the gun and fire three shots in four seconds. Which makes my palms sweat even more. My hands shake, which causes the gun to quiver and Abraham to say: “If I can just get you to relax. Loosen up.”
The first shots are an absolute shock, a full-body experience I feel in my shoulders, hips and knees. The gun doesn’t fire so much as explode, kicking back ferociously, releasing a hot whiff of air and a bright red flash from the muzzle. It’s louder, more violent and more cannonlike than I expected, and I realize that part of me is more than nervous. I’m a little scared.
But also thrilled. There is a rush, a blood-pumping high, which builds with each shot as the once foreign sensation becomes more familiar and evokes a basic, even primitive, emotion. Like Zeus throwing lightning bolts, I control that frightening explosion. I make the red flash. I make the smoke curl from the muzzle.
Plus, it turns out I’m a decent shot.
I get several in the bull’s-eye. I’m no expert, but with each round, the gun feels more comfortable. The test feels like a game — an adult version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
I completely forget that the gun I’m holding is a deadly weapon.
By the end, I find myself having so much fun that I ask for the target to be moved back. For my last test, I want to try shooting two to the body, one to the head, which is more difficult than going for the bull’s-eye in the middle of the target.
I hit the body twice, but miss the head.
Later, studying my target, Abraham says I pass, which is a huge relief. But he points to a bullet hole a few inches to the right of the head.
“That’s an innocent bystander,” he says.
* * *
It may be legal to own a gun in the District, but you still can’t buy one within the city limits. At least not in a gun store because there are none. Instead, you must make the purchase in one of the 50 states and have the weapon transferred into the custody of one man: Charles Sykes, who plays an odd role in the transaction.
As a licensed firearms dealer, he could, theoretically, sell guns. But he chooses not to because “I don’t want to have to carry an inventory,” he says. “Too much liability.” Instead, he’s the middleman, the only licensed dealer willing to help D.C. residents acquire handguns, a nice little side business for which he charges $125.
So I head out of the city to Maryland Small Arms in Upper Marlboro. After shopping around a bit, I settle on a used Taurus Model 85 .38-caliber revolver. I like it because it’s just like the one I used during my instruction, though smaller. And at $275, it was a relatively cheap beginner’s gun, even though the dealer tacks on a $35 fee for transferring it to Sykes.
But the only thing I can bring home is the receipt. Only Sykes can bring the gun into the District, which he does two days later. The following week, I meet him at his office in Anacostia, and we fill out the registration form. Then he hands me paperwork from the federal Department of Justice that asks, among other things, if I am a “fugitive from justice” or if I have ever “renounced” my U.S. citizenship.
Next, I have to go to the police station — my second visit — to get fingerprinted and pass a 20-question exam that covers D.C. gun laws, a hurdle neither Maryland nor Virginia requires. Then I have to wait 10 days — considerably longer than in Virginia or Maryland — while police run a criminal background check.
Only then will the gun be mine.
* * *
The assumption from the beginning was that I would never keep the gun. This was to be a solely journalistic exercise: See what it takes to get a gun in the city. My editor, who had to persuade higher-ups at The Post to allow a reporter to expense a handgun purchase, assumed I’d sell it back when I was done reporting. My colleagues assumed that as well. My wife insisted on it. (I believe her exact words were: “There’s no way you’re bringing that thing in the house.”)
Guns are dangerous, especially in an urban environment. I’ve read the horror stories, and even wrote one a few years ago about the 3-year-old son of a White House Secret Service agent who shot and critically wounded himself with his father’s .357 semiautomatic.
The chances of something bad happening with a gun in the house might very well outweigh the chances of using it effectively in that kill-or-be-killed situation. What’s more likely: a Plaxico Burress-esque accidental discharge or a wild-eyed murdering-rapist crack addict breaking into the house?
“Criminals prefer unarmed victims,” read a bumper sticker I saw at a gun show a few weeks ago in Chantilly while mulling whether to keep the gun. Better to have and not need than to need and not have, I was told again and again by gun owners.
While I’d love to believe I will never need, my wife and I have often seen drug dealers in our alley doing their business. To no avail, we have called the police. A couple of years ago, a neighbor was nearly abducted in front of her house. And then my wife’s car was broken into while parked directly behind our house. Which led to another of the should-we-move-to-the-burbs discussions that have become more frequent of late. Once again, we talked about better lighting and alarm systems.
But is that enough, I wonder. Even with the fastest of 911 responses, isn’t a gun the only real protection in a doomsday scenario?
Still, I’m torn. Say the murdering-rapist crack addict is charging up the stairs, coming to get us. Would I, as he raises his gun, be able to fire mine? The District can make me take a five-hour class and pass an exam. But none of that ensures that in the heat of the moment my hands won’t be shaking so badly that I send a bullet hurtling not into the center mass of my would-be assailant but instead into the bedroom of my neighbor’s teenage son.
All of which raises perhaps the most difficult question of all: Does the gun indeed provide a much-needed layer of security in a dangerous city, or does it merely provide the perception of security?
* * *
After the 10 days, my background check complete, I go back to the police station (Visit 3) to pick up my registration, now stamped “APPROVED” in red ink. But that’s only the first step in what becomes yet another series of gun-related errands that eat up three hours of my Monday. With my approved registration in hand, I have to go back to Sykes’s Anacostia office, where he then turns the gun over to me.
When I get to my car, I put the gun in the trunk because the law says it cannot be “accessible from the passenger compartment of the transporting vehicle.” I’m still not done. Next, it’s back to the police station (Visit 4), this time so they can fire the gun and put its ballistics on file, which will help them identify the firearm if it’s ever used in a crime.
Then, finally, I can take it home. Two weeks after it began, the journey to gun ownership is over.
Unloaded and locked in a box, into the dresser it goes, in between my jeans and sweaters, out of view but not out of mind.
The act of firing the gun is a genuine thrill, and the gun itself is, I realize, an alluring work of art. The metal is sleek and smooth, the trigger tight, the sight a precise, simple and altogether new way of looking at the world. I take the gun — my gun — out of the box and, knowing it’s unloaded, pull the trigger. I love that satisfying snap as the hammer drops and the cylinder clicks into place, ready to fire once again. The gun’s weight, once solely the cause of angst and discomfort, now feels impressive.
My wife is adamant that that thing can’t stay, and makes a compelling case that it’s more likely to cause harm than to save us from it. And the more I think about keeping it, the more I’m convinced that the range is where the gun belongs. Not here at home, where it feels out of place, an intruder that shakes our sense of peace more than bolstering it.
Maybe it’s the wrong decision, maybe I’ll later regret it, but the gun is going back. And so am I . . . to the range, where I’ll shoot rented firearms. I think I’ve found a new hobby.
Why do you think lawmakers want restrictive gun laws or even total bans? Because it provides the government with power and money. What I mean is that as the crime rates rise, they can start yelling that they need more money, more laws, etc. They should be tried for racketeering. It’s all a shell game, an illusion, a con and they know it (or if they don’t, they are totally clueless).
Why do you think that when it comes time to cut budgets the first responders (fire departments, police, etc.) are the first to be impacted? They know that people will get upset about the cuts and then they can ask for tax increases, etc.
I CARRY A WEAPON , HAVE’ A PERMIT.AND LIVE IN ARKANSAS ITS BAD IN THIS STATE ALSO.VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW I CARRY ITS BEST THAT WAY DON’T BE A COWBOY.ON NEW YEARS I WAS ASK BY ONE PERSON I KNOW HOW DO I GET A PERMIT/? ITS GETTING BAD IN OUR STATE TO.
It’s real simple; disarm the citizens and the government can and will do anything they want. Read your history book. That is why the right to bear arms was but in the constitution.
Jst wait to when he has to renew. In GA the renewal process is repeated. You have to “PAY” in cash to refile (same as the intial filing). Then you go to police department and “Pay” $40.00 to be RE-FINGER Printed, I thought fingerprints were forever. Police will accept only money orders payable to them.
When the author said, “My wife is adamant that that thing can’t stay, and makes a compelling case that it’s more likely to cause harm than to save us from it” I wished I could remind him, and his wife, that in the United States firearms are used to STOP crimes by law-abiding citizens an estimated 2.5 MILLION times a year. Without those guns, there would have been 2.5 million more victims in a year and the balance would go to the criminal in a big way.
Proper training and a frame of mind that would allow one to shoot an intruder or a mugger if it came to that, is important, as is not having an unreasonable fear of guns, as many have. Unless one pulls the trigger, guns are just expensive paperweights with the potential of causing harm. They don’t fire themselves. To fear them is unreasonable. To respect them is reasonable. We do not own guns because we love them, but because we love what they protect.
In Switzerland, all males are REQUIRED to own / maintain / be able to use a rifle. Everyone’s ” packing ” and there is virtually no crime. People are much less likely to pull a gun on you if they think you might be able to shoot back ! Men are defined by the tools they can use – computers, guitars, machining centers, frying pans…guns.
Congratulations on passing all of the requirements and getting your gun. I hope you haven’t made a serious mistake by not keeping your gun at home. As you have said “Better to have and not need than to need and not have.”
P.S. I have had a loaded gun in my dresser for forty-five years and it has never shot anybody. It’s funny how inanimate objects don’t have a mind or a soul to do bad deeds.
For Mr. Davenport:
1. The delays and obstacles you experienced in obtaining a hand-gun permit are the very “infringements” that are prohibited by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Governmental entities make it as difficult as they can BECAUSE WE ALLOW THEM TO. The Second Amendment is your right to own and carry a firearm. No state or local government can legally infringe on that right. Period. End of discussion.
2. I hope you will re-think your decision not to own your own fire arm(s). If the current administration has its way, there will be no private ownership of firearms in this country and its citizens will be defense-less in the face of tyranny. If that happens, we will have lost a vital component in the balance of constitutional power intended by our Founding Fathers. Beyond that, you have a responsibility to protect your family and there is no better way to do that than to own a firearm, know how to use it and be psychologically prepared to defend yourself and your family. If you already have children, I suspect you are already there. If you do not have children yet, you will be at some point.
3. I encourage you to take your wife to the range and teach her how to shoot. That is the best way to overcome her perceptions about “that thing”.
4. When I first starting carrying a concealed weapon, it was uncomfortable and even a bit disconcerting at times. That quickly dissipated and now, I am uncomfortable if I am not carrying it every day. The difference is experience, the “muscle memory” that comes from handling my gun every day, and most critically, the practice time that I spend on the range. My gun is a tool. Nothing more. Nothing less. I choose to handle and use it responsibly and in my hands, it is no threat to those who mean no harm to me and my family. In other circumstances, however, it will become the tool through which I will exercise my God-given right to defend my family and myself.
I hope that your experience will convince you of the importance of the Second Amendment and, will help you realize that every obstacle you encountered was (and is) an infringement of your right to “bear arms” under the U.S. Constitution. Those delays and impediments simply should not be tolerated.
When guns are Outlawed , only Outlaws will have Guns. CCW Permits are the best thing that has happened in this country, also the reciprocity between the different States. If criminals have any idea that there might be a gun in a home , they avoid it like the plague . I live in WV and crime is about the same as everywhere.
Just what part of “shall not be infringed” is so difficult to understand? I am in New Mexico and we have in our constitution the same Second Amendment rights. You can wear your gun in plain sight but need a permit for concealed carry. The only ban on wearing a gun in public, or carrying your rifle (we are allowed to own machine guns here also) is that you cannot bring your gun into an establishment that sells liquor. However, that will be taken care of in the next legislative session, as it failed by ONE vote this year. I just do not understand why the people that put their hand on the bible and swear to “uphold and defend the Constitution from enemies both foreign and domestic” are allowed to blatantly disregard their oath. This country is changing and the 2nd Amendment militia (which is comprised of the PEOPLE of the US, to clarify this simple sentence for all lawyers and politicians) is, as I see it, getting prepared to take back this country. Even Russian Intelligence Agents report that Obama is preparing for a massive bank failure and the ensuing civil chaos that will follow, by assembling a million man army for this eventuality. Good luck, Obama, finding a million Oath Takers that will fire on American citizens. Your ill treatment of the military will come back to bite you.
What the heck good is a gun locked in the trunk while your getting hijacke? Washinton DC city people are a bunch of stone faced idiots. Just like our elected officials!As the saying goes guns only have two enimies rust and polititions. Criminals who try to break into my place will be sooooooooooooooooooooo surprised.
A gun does not weigh as much as a cop.And is a lot closer.
Chris Davenport’s story is a very sad one. It would make our founding fathers weep to see what our once great country had come to. I am fortunate to live in Florida, one of our FREE states and I will do everything in my power to see to it that it remains that way. I carry 24/7 and feel very comfortable doing so. But then I grew up with guns and hunting and competitive shooting sports so I have always been comfortable around guns.
I hope I never need to use,BUT??
I was born and raised in the south. So I’ve been around weapons all my life. I spent 28 years working as a contractor and have had to live and work in most of the major cities in this country. Owning and carrying this weapon has saved my life on no less than four separate occasion’s. I’ll leave the names of the cities nameless, except to say that one of them was DC.
Let me state for the record. Weapon’s don’t kill people. People kill people! On most occasion’s it’s citizen’s getting killed or wounded by some drug crazed criminal! If you have drug dealer’s plying they’re trade behind your house. Take my advice my friend. KEEP your handgun!!! Regardless of what your wife may say. Mine used to feel the same way until it saved our life’s one night. Now she ask’s if I have it in my dresser next to the bed. The answer is alway’s yes!
Nuff said.
I’m a 72 year old gunsmith and a retired Army veteran. I have worked with firearms my whole life (I fired my first shot from a .22 rifle in 1941 @ the age of 4) and can fully understand the travail the author has had to go through. But he just doesn’t “get it”: he and his family’s lives may well be at stake. If I were forced to live in DC, it would be a critical item to me to become profient with a handgun.
I suppose he would plead that “I don’t have time to become proficient.” I sincerely hope that he finds the time, lives depend upon it.
If you can’t pull the trigger to save your life, don’t carry a firearm. Be constantly alert to your surroundings. Carry that firearm and smile. You will be safer and happier!
The biggest question is why on earth do we need a CCW in the first place? I firmly believe the Constitution gives us that right as well as by birth in a free nation. I have felt for a lengthy time that our biggest threat to our Constitution and country is from within by the type people who claim to control Washington, D.C. Maybe that is why the Oath of Allegiance to our Constitution given to all military personnel, civilian government personnel, and who knows how many others reads something like “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic”. It would seem some or many of our forefathers had a vision. Regardless, its surprising to many when they learn the states who have Concealed Carry Permits have lower crime rates. Would you as a dumb criminal set upon someone with criminal intent in mind in a state where that potential victim might be armed? Some are dumb enough and others learn its easier to find victims who possibly are not armed. In the best words of Charlton Heston ” From my cold dead hands”.
There’s a reason guns are called equalizers. I suggest this guy takes his wife out shooting. I never understood why many women are so against guns. A gun in a woman’s hand makes any would be attacker easily overcame. Even if the attacker has a gun too she has a 50/50 chance of repelling the attack and living to put on makeup another day.
Is Davenport aware of the statistic that about 3,000 lives a yr. are saved because those people protected themselves with a (gasp!) gun?
Somebody breaks into my house, I will try my best to gurantee that it is he and not I who ends up incapacitated, i.e., DEAD. Remorse would not set in.
The 2nd ammendment give us the right to have firearms…do you really think that a sticker on the door of your building will stop someone from coming in with a loaded weapon, it just tells them that no one inside has a weapon….what a crock….my weapon is always with me, I don’t want me or my family to ever be a victim of crime….you never know where the idiots will be.
Imagine John Wayne, Roy Rogers or a host of other “real men” reading this article. Chris…, get some courage and get off the Kool aid. Get rid of the “piece” and you may live to regret the day that you were reduced to a SHEEP. That pistol is never going to get up in the dead of the night on its own and do anything. Chris, you and the wife are either worth protecting or not..,the choice is yours. Grow a pair and get over your fear through education and experience. That will cure any fear caused by ignorance.
Gun ownership is a personal choice. I grew up around firearms (dad was marine) was taught safety at a very early age , as I have taught my children ,I am completely as ease with them but am concerned about a government that works so hard to keep them from law abiding citizens.cops are great but too often unable to react until after the fact and it is comforting to know ypu can defend yourself or loved ones.rights are rights and any attempt to restrict or outlaw them should be looked at as a threat bigger than a “murderer-rapist crack addicted criminal”
One can only wonder how many Jews died because they were not permitted to own
a firearm in Nazi Germany. One can only wonder how many Americans will die because they were not permitted to own a firearm in Democratic America. One has to make a choice, die like Jews under Hitler or live like Americans fiercly defending our rights. That choice may come sooner than we think. Hopefully we will win, if not we and future generations are doomed.
Whenever someone asks me why I carry a firearm, I give them this quiz: of the criminal, the victim, and the police officer with a gun, which one arrives LAST?
As a retired police chief from NH, I have watched our Constitutional rights being slowly picked away.
DC is the prime example of the addage, ‘Only criminals will have guns’.
People must not give up their right to bear arms. It’s the last defense against totalitariunism.
Obama wants a million manned force to be prepared for a civilian uprising. (Martial Law ??)
Like Charlston Heston, “From my cold dead hand”..
That is my belief.
Well, the way ive been doing it all these years is to keep both well trained dobermans half hungry all the time so when the idiots think they can come in and take what they want they turn into dog food.If they get by with that than my wife and her double barrel will do the rest.If they get by with that than my Fully auto M-14 finishes it.If they get by with that they can have what they want.Cant go against bullet proof villians.So far havnt had a problem yet.All my neighbors are gun toters as well so the chances are slim to none that anything will happen here at the OK corral. You all need to move into a more friendly environment.
Sadly, I live in Illinois. Enough said? There are way too many dummycraps here who believe that guns kill people. I own many weapons, guns included. The bleeding-heart libs do not think I have a right to defend myself. Even though I have a .380 auto and a .22 auto within my reach at night. ( Both are loaded, I have no children. ) I still do not lock the doors because my male dog, Thor, and his little sister Roxy will protect me. It is still legal to have 315 lb.s of Rottwieller-Doberman mix dogs?
Sure it is. Tell all the scumbags you know to break into my house. LOL!
The only way they can enforce these rules is if we play by them. Who says we can’t have our own side sales? Since when does Washington play by the rules? I’ve yet to see a criminal who follows the rules when they rob and murder. I say we manufacture and sneak across the border just like the illegals. They don’t enforce immigration laws and they sure as hell can’t chase all of us!
I’m almost 71 and I’m fed up to my eyeballs with their attempts to control us. We’ve fought and died for our principles and rights………don’t give up the ship!!!
I for one will NEVER give up my guns. Fear the government that fears your guns.
THE COMMIE LIBERALS CAN PASS ALL THE FEDERAL LAWS THEY WANT BUT THE STATES HAVE FINAL SAY ON WHAT GUN LAWS THEY WANT.VOTE THE GUN HATERS OUT OF OFFICE PERIOD..HERE IN TEXAS WE CAN GET GUN PERMITS AFTER A BACKGROUND CHECK AND GUN EDUCATION COURSE..CRIME DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY AFTER TEXAS PASSED A CONCEALED HANDGUN LAW..THE HEATHEN THIEVES DIDN’T KNOW WHO IS PACKING AND WHO ISN’T.I KEEP A LOADED 12 GUAGE”SHELL IN CHAMBER”SHOTGUN AND A 9 MM PISTOL AT HOME 24-7 IN CASE SOME ASSHOLE WHO THINKS WE ARE FAIR GAME..I LIVE IN THE DEEP WOODS AND I SURE AS HELL WON’T CALL 911 WHEN THEY BREAK IN BECAUSE MY DOG WILL LET ME KNOW THEY ARE COMMING AND THEY ARE DEAD..I’LL CRANK UP THE OLD BACKHOE AND FERTILIZE THE WOODS.CASE CLOSED..I GOT ROBBED AT GUN-POINT IN HOUSTON IN 1974 AND ROBBED AND THEY THREATENED MY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WHILE I WAS IN BED..I HAD NO GUN AND NO DOG TO LET ME KNOW THEY WERE COMMING..NOW I HAVE BOTH ..LIVE FREE OR DIE,REMEMBER THE ALAMO
It’s important to have some defence against the intruder, whether it is man’s best friend or a nifty little side arm. In either case, man’s best friend should be trained for command and the owner of the side arm must be trained in its use and function. End of story
I have a cc license and have been carrying my .45 acp wherever I go. It is my right and I will fully exercise it. I believe we as true citizens of the USA should be able to legally “open” carry including rifles without a license or permit. I do not hunt nor do I consume “flesh foods” so my guns are for self defense from (thuggie druggie) humans! Have plenty of loaded rifles at home just waiting for a foolish thief. When the laser is on you its time to consider a career change or be prepared for your destiny!
Mr Davenport,
Suggestions:
1. Get rid of your wife, before she gives you a nervous breakdown.
2. Move to Maryland.
3. Buy Mace.
I lived in Maryland, and was working for a Presidential Inaugural Committee, so I know D.C.
One night after work, I dropped off a girl on the way home. She worked for me. The next morning, she told me that seconds after I left, a man shot another man in front of her house. Uhmmmm
Now that I think about it, I think you should keep your wife and move to Maryland. Reconsider the right to bear arms in Maryland where you won’t be tortured by the laws of D.C. Remember, you already know how to fire a gun. You just just need to convince yourself that it’s a better idea to defend yourself.
Delores Smith
Delores109@cox.net
I don’t carry, either concealed or in the open, but every CCW permit issued in Colorado adds to the worries of those who might rob me in the street or break into my home. The greater the possibility that I MIGHT have a gun, the fewer would-be felons willing to try their luck. They must realize that one unlucky encounter might be their last.
i’m 70 years old carried in new york, ct, las vegas now fl more than 60 years never killed anyone thankyou,there was an attemted hijacking of my auto,first time ever needed to draw my weapon,it was enough to scare the hell out of two wouldbe hijackers.never took any shots at them or i would have been arrested,stupid isn’t it???
I agree with Air Force Sam…why do we need a CCW anyway? I’m in Nevada, and they have an open carry law here. I could very well walk down the street with my .22 or my .380 in plain sight. Oh, sure, the cops might stop me and ask me why I’m doing it, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
Oh the other hand, I choose instead to stick my .22 in my clip on holster and cover it with my shirts…yeah, concealed. I did have a CCW but let it expire. So now I’d have to go through the whole bullshit thing again, you know…pay for the background check and fingerprints and day long safety class and then the qualification. When I first got my CCW I was working for the POLICE DEPARTMENT and STILL had to be fingerprinted. How freakin’ stupid is that? It’s just a way for them to get more $$ from you.
My stupid liberal friend thinks they should take all the guns away. When are these idiots gonna understand? Answer–never! That’s the first step at the beginning of a dictatorship…
Besides, the 2nd Amendment was designed to PROTECT US FROM A TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT. Which is what we have now, right? Now I’m gonna buy a rifle and thinking about a shotgun too. I’m a single woman who lives alone and there’s no way I wouldn’t have guns. I’m also frankly totally amazed that there are any cities or counties in the US that bans guns. How can this be? WTF?
I am a retired US Army NCO. and since the age of 17 when I first enlisted in military service,m I have always been around firearms, mostly what civilians call “Rifles”. In the army, we just call them “Weapons”. My first weapon was the .30 caliber carbine. One sweet weapon, small and light it was invented to replace the.45 caliber pistol for jungle warfare. It is light, durable, accurate, easy to care for,and not very complicated. My second weapon was the dreaded M-14. A cumbersome 9 pound weapon(unloaded) which during basic training I grew to hate with a passion, why? well for starters during bayonet training, we always started off with the command,”On Guard”, at which time you thrust forward, with fixed bayonet, left foot forward, arms fully extended, and you hope like hell that stupid D.I. will shut his mouth give a second command to relieve the pressure from every concevable part of your body, which after exactly 5 minutes in that position, you want nothing more than to ram your bayonet to it’s full extent up his posterior. But, no, the D.I. continues to chatter on and on, you have absolutely no idea what he is talking about, and neither does he. Your weapon grows increasingly heavy, it begins to dip and suddenly you hear the soft, tender voice of another D.I. directly behind you saying softly,”YOU BETTER GET THAT F——G WEAPON UP WHERE IT BELONGS OR I WILL TAKE IT FROM YOU AND RAM IT UP YOUR STINKING A– MAGGOT” Yet, there came a time when my life depended on that very same weapon, and thank God it was there for me , it worked relentlessly, continuosly, never letting me down, and I grew to love that weapon, and do to this very day. The first time I saw the M-16, I was struck dumb. My first reaction was,”A MATTEL TOY?”. Well, it seems that Mattel toys came out with a toy “gun” at the same time as the M-16 was introduced to the US Army as well as the rest of the military, AND THEY WERE IDENTICLE IN EVERY WAY. The only thing different, was the weight, but it went through years of work before it became the standard weapon of our military today. What I’m trying to say is this, for more than 20 years of my life I have had to deal withn weapons of every sort, and I love them .I live the feel of them in my hands, I love the feel of them while firing them, I love the smell of cordite in the morning (or any time of day or night. Weapons, large or small IE hand guns, long guns (rifles) it doesn’t make any difference, they are first and formost TOOLS, yes, thats right they are tools, and anyone with even a smattering of common sense knows that a tool in the wrong hands is dangerous. Would you knowingly put a chain saw in the hands of just anyone? No,of course not, nor would you put a gun in the hands of someone inexperianced in the use of a gun. And this is where trouble begins, because when guns are stolen, and used in a crime, the user is in all probability inexperianced in the use of a gun and someone dies. We do not need more laws, we need more enforcement of existing laws. Of all the laws enacted in recent times, all these laws accomplish is to restrict lawful gun owners and do absolutely nothing to correst the real problem of removing guns from the hands of criminals. As I have said before, I love guns, I have no fear of guns, but what I do have is a deep and abiding respect for guns, and to paraphase Charlton Heston, “FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS”. God Bless you, God bless America and all the gun owners in America. Withoutn us, America will perish.
Part of the conspiracy to take control of this country is to take our guns like they are chipping away at our constitutional rights.
When they start collecting gns that will be the beginning of a revolution in this country because most people I talk to say they will have to pry their guns out of their cold, dead hands. Why people think that is a solution to any crime problem is beyond understanding.
Any gun laws passed now are ILLEGAL as far as I am concerned and will NOT be tolerated PERIOD! WE MUST STAND UP TO THESE ANTI GUN BASTARDS ! ONCE THEY HAVE YUR GUNS THEY NO LONGER FEAR YOU AND WILL DO WHAT THEY WANT TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES.! I have seen enough historical documentaries to understand what happens to a disarmed citzenry. They are rounded up, beaten ,raped and then murdered .If that is what you want to happen to you and your loved ones……..GO AHEAD TURN IN YOUR GUNS …….AS FOR ME ,NOTHHING DOING …FIGHT TO THE DEATH……..COME ON DOWN ,I GOT SOMETHING FOR YOU …ANTI GUN C.S’er
Why waste time idly talking over the Internet about ethereal “rights” that none of us truly have? The only rights anyone has ever had are the rights that they TAKE BY FORCE. Simply arm yourselves, network and congregate, then make a stand: it is time for a revolution, nothing less.
I have read what was written ande am glad most of the posters were “pro-gun”.
For myself I have a wide collection of “pistols” and revolvers. They range in capacity from 6 rounds to 42 rounds (AK pistols). Most fire a 45 caliber and I have those loaded with hollowpoint should I need them.
The state where I live has a law that gives the homeowner certain right as long as whoever is breaking in is armed. (He will be with his prints on the bullets.)
DC and IL needs to catch up to the rest of the country in passing decent gun laws.
While not as virulent as a few of the posters who have already contributed here, I am in full agreement with the thrust of their comments. We, as American citizens, have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, and nowhere in that document does it say anything about how you can bear it…whether concealed or not. I grew up with guns of all types, and hunted and target shot and plinked (shooting at cans, bottles, whatever, out in the woods) when I was a kid through young adulthood. My experience with firearms continued in the military, and although I was in the Navy and never saw combat (Vietnam era) I had the opportunity to fire just about every caliber of weapon imagineable, including 20MM! I haven’t owned a gun in many years, however, and never until recently felt the need. But two factors have convinced me to buy a gun or two: 1) Our world is increasingly violent and dangerous as our society slips closer to anarchy because of economic and social decline; 2) Our government is doing all it can to take away our rights, not only to own a gun, but many other rights as well, and subject us to a marxist/socialist regime, dictatorship, or worse. I will have my guns, and the gun control zealots can go piss up a rope for all I care.
In Missouri it is legal to conceal and carry a hand gun. However, in Missouri it takes two day of training and a firing test on the range besides the normal back ground check. In Missouri your permit is only good for 3 years and is taken away from you if you loose your drivers license for any reason.
I for one carry a Utah permit which is good in most states. It is a 4 hour course and no range testing. It is good for 5 years and can not be taken away from you if you loose your Missouri drivers license for some reason with the exception of a felony conviction.
Replacing politicians is safer than being forced to surrender our right to defend our lives, families and property from criminals. No government on the planet has the right to demand that its citizens give up their right to self defence. As long as firearms exist criminals will have them. It is, therefore, immoral and unethical to deny law-abiding citizens the right to defend themselves.
Anyone who is capable of linear logic and still possesses a modicum of common-sense knows this.
Perhaps it would be prudent to take back our ‘education’ systems so that the ill-conceived, illogical and efficiency-robbing propaganda that has taken the place of hard facts backed by historical precedent may be eliminated and the products of our so-called ‘education’ system may, once again, learn to survive in reality rather than in some ‘professional’ educator’s vision of Utopia that doesn’t exist and probably never will. The population of this country once respected ‘The Law.’ That, however, was while ‘The Law’ still made sense and personal responsibility for one’s actions were still emphasized very strongly during the educational process – both in the home and at school.
What do you think?
Correction: the Constitution does not give us the right to keep and bear arms We are born with this right. The Constitution prohibits the government from infringing on this God-given right.
What’s a .357 semi-automatic?
I have been the victim of a stalker. Needless to say, I have a Utah CCW. It won’t happen again.