State "concealled carry" initiatives

USAToday notes this morning that there are legislatures in a dozen states considering laws that would eliminate the need to have a permit to carry concealed weapons. Those states are Colorado, Iowa, Georgia, Kentucky (i.e., HB 280, HB 484 ), Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia, according to the National Rifle Association.

Gun-control advocates are naturally viewing the efforts as part of a long-range strategy to eventually weaken gun laws across the country, while supporters say armed, law-abiding citizens prevent crime.

"Andrew Arulanandam, policy director for the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, which supports these legislative efforts, argues that crime rates are low in four states — Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming — that already allow residents to carry without a permit," the article says. "Our viewpoint is, a good person will always be a good person… They don't need a license to be a good person."

Brian Malte, director of the state legislation section of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, doesn’t quite see it that way and argues permitless systems put law enforcement officers in a bad situation when they encounter someone with a weapon and is critical of efforts that would allow people who have never even shot a firearm to carry one in public. He said, "They want a gun in every nook and cranny in society with no permission needed and no background check… That’s just a recipe for disaster."

Ohio has nine "concealed carry" bills listed, including HB 54, which amended Revised Code sections 2923.13 and 2923.14 "to conform the restoration of civil firearm rights with federal law and U.S. Supreme Court case law" and SB 17, which allows concealed carry in premises serving liquor & open air arenas. Both of those passed and became effective last September.

HB 422, introduced in January, would "repeal requirements that a concealed carry licensee inform an approaching law enforcement officer that the licensee is a licensee and is carrying a concealed handgun and keep the licensee's hands in plain sight after the officer begins approaching and until the officer leaves…"