Amid all the furious debate generated by gun tragedies like the Trayvon Martin shooting in Florida, citizens in too many states have been quietly, legally arming themselves at alarming rates that offer little optimism for reining in the nation’s runaway gun culture. One look at your local movie theater’s trailers should give you an idea, not only of what’s new in concealed-carry guns, but massive fire-power weapons blowing away screens and minds all over America.
Returning to Florida, it granted more than 173,000 new concealed-carry gun permits in the past year, even as the Trayvon Martin case proceeded—with a 17 percent increase that is double the rate of five years ago and brought the total of gun-ready citizens in Florida to more than one million. The total population of Florida is 19,317,568.
The trend was equally pronounced in a dozen other states that together issued more than a 500,000 permits in 2012, in a civilian armaments boom that shows little sign of diminishing, according to a survey in The Wall Street Journal. And while six states enacted tighter gun safety laws after the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., politicians in 20 other states picked up the slack, successfully prodded by the gun lobby into loosening their concealed-carry laws. This according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Illinois, the last of the 50 states to ban concealed-carry, ended its holdout this month after a Second Amendment court challenge. In an alarming reversal, the legislature enacted a law that sets no limit on the number of guns or ammunition anyone with a permit can carry. In fact, you can probably have your own private army. It also allows patrons to tote their weapons to restaurants where liquor sales make up no more than 50 percent of the establishment’s gross revenue (such are the nuances of supposedly safety-minded lawmakers).
The number of Americans with concealed-carry permits is now around 8 million, according to a conservative estimate by the Government Accountability Office. Florida, a leader in the legislative mayhem, enacted the first Stand Your Ground law in 2005, setting a lethal precedent that figured in the tragic Trayvon Martin case—even though George Zimmermanm who shot and killed Martin, didn’t use a Stand Your Ground defense—and tripled the rate of justifiable homicides in the state. More than 30 other states have followed suit, extending traditional self-defense doctrine into the streets, far beyond a gun owner’s home. Last Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., properly denounced these laws as senseless invitations to “sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods.”
Ah, but leave it to Mississippi to go even further in this year’s laissez-faire gun derby by enacting a law allowing adults to flaunt their weapons unconcealed in public without the need for a permit. The Wild West has now gone south. In fact, the district attorney in Jackson, MS, and other law enforcement professionals are currently battling the law’s Wild West implications in court, asking what might happen when police officers responded to a nightclub disturbance involving cocky drinkers armed and ready to draw. Shoot it out. What else?
Congressional politicians display no concern for such questions as they mindlessly uphold the gun lobby’s dogma and duck the public’s calls for nationwide gun safety. In a chilling commentary, the White House recently felt obliged to issue a guide advising houses of worship on how to prepare for such disasters as a mass shooting of congregants. What’s next: bullet-proof viewing windows in hospital newborns’ nurseries?
If the situation comes down to “run, hide or fight,” the guide sagely suggests, “Fire extinguishers or chairs” may have to be wielded against a gunman. The booklet is a weird reminder of how little political leaders have done to protect citizens from the nation’s raging gun culture.
Of course, our political leaders have been far too busy legislating allocations for arms—from drones to submarines, aircraft carriers to the most-advanced air force in the world. Any and everything else the military-industrial-complex can up with, including miniature drones that can help you spy on your neighbor’s backyard is fair game. That is, unless he or she shoots them down with a Bushwhacker rifle, a Glock handgun, or plastic pistol (for traveling).
Ah, so it’s a great country, America, with a total of 40,000 gun deaths every year. That number will be rising soon enough. According to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey—the leading source of international public information about firearms—the U.S. has the best-armed civilian population in the world, with an estimated 270 million total guns. That’s an average of 89 firearms for every 100 residents—far ahead of Yemen, which comes in second with about 55 firearms for every 100 people, or Switzerland, which is third with 46 guns for every 100 people. So relax. Have a nice day. And don’t forget to duck if you hear shots.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.
Of course the amount of concealed carry licenses are exploding. People have a feeling that something big is going to happen and they need to be able to protect themselves and their families if the need arises. That feeling might be unjustified, or it may be justified. Regardless, the second amendment is in the constitution for a reason and people should be allowed to exercise it if they so choose.
Conceal Carry Laws