Got an email Friday evening from PA Senator Bob Casey, who I email

[old mark]

pretty frequently with pro-gun, pro public option stuff, etc. He stated that he strongly supports individual carry rights for self defense, and that he did vote for the bill that would nationalize state carry licenses. He also stated that PA already has reciprocity agreements with 24 other states, so we are getting there slowly. Finally, he stated that PA has well over 500,000 residents licensed to carry a firearm, which I think is pretty impressive.
I recently got my 3rd license - I'm legal for another 5 years now.

Just FYI.

mark

[movonne]

1. Well I don't like people walking around the streets with guns...there

are far too many wacko's for this..I'm not against owning a gun but walking the streets with loaded guns doesn't thrill me...

[rd_kent]

2. Okay, got it. You're not thrilled.

But thats okay, you dont need to be.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. What about cops walking around with loaded guns? Are you afraid of them?

Are you aware that only a select group can have a CCW? They aren't just for any dufus that wants one.

Just like the police, a CCW person, in most states, must pass:

An FBI background investigation. Only those with squeaky clean records will pass.
Be fingerprinted.
Take classes and be tested on Self-defense law, firearms law.
Take classes and be tested on Conflict Avoidance and Conflict De-escalation.
Take classes and be tested on firearms.
Qualify on a range, live firing. (I personally scored 250 our of 250 possible.)
And pay a couple of hundred (depending on the state) for the license.

So in most states we must pass the level of test that the police must pass, yet you are afraid of us. Why?

[movonne]

4. sonetimes...I don't always trust cops but they have to have guns..

many years cops had guns but now citizens walking around with them scares me..I don't care how closely they have been screened...

[GreenStormCloud]

5. Why do screened citizens scare you?

We are several times safer than cops are. I suggest that you fear is entirely illogical. Probably too much TV & movies. In the movies, ordinary citizens never have guns, only cops and bad guys are armed in the movies. So you have been conditioned by the media to think of anybody who has a gun and isn't a cop as being a bad guy. Hollywood has lied to you.

[movonne]

6. Well that is not exactly true...I have not been to the movies is years and

do not like watching violence..not that I don't like to watch good murder mysteries...I think you judge people on your own beliefs...if I don't like knowing people have guns at there disposal walking, driving and etc...lots of road rage and rage in general to let citizens carry gums in public..then you think there is really something wrong with me...well so be it...

[divideandconquer]

7. The next escalation will be cops carrying actual assault rifles

Can't blame them with all the kooks with guns loose on the streets.

[Merchant Marine]

9. Most of them

Already have "Patrol Rifles" with pistol grips, barrel shrouds and a scary black finish in the trunks of their patrol cars.

Unlike the average citizen the cops get full auto too.

[GreenStormCloud]

12. A few years ago, in Rome, I often saw cops with sub-machineguns. N/T

[GreenStormCloud]

10. Lots of road rage? Not so with CCW.

Tons of anti-gun organizations have been screaming that "the streets will flow with blood" and "every fender-bender will be a shoot out" and so forth every time a state went shall-issue on CCWs. Then what actually happened? Nothing. No wild West. No high noons. Nothing much, except there began to be more reports of citizens defending themselves against crime.

But don't let the facts of 40 states experience with CCW dissuade you from a good old-fashioned hand wringing session.

And again you changed the truth of "carefully screen citizens" to "citizens" implying that everybody could carry.

What is your plan to deal with a violent criminal assault if your luck runs out?

[GreenStormCloud]

13. So why are you scared of carefully screened citizens having CCW permits? N/T

[uh clem]

8. Oh, really?

And all this is accomplished in one day which is as long as most training for a concealed weapon permit takes. Many states are "shall issue" states which means that you almost have to be in prison or a mental institution for the state to refuse you a license.

[GreenStormCloud]

11. Not true.

The FBI investigation is not the same as the NICS check. You have to have a squeaky clean police record to pass it. Your comment would apply to the NICS check.

Self defense law is not complicated or highly nuanced. It can be covered in a couple of hours. More time is spent on conflict de-escalation techniques.

Further, the records that the states keep on CCWs show that we are far more law-abiding than the average citizen.

Face it. Your real position is that you are in denial that violent crime can happen to nice people. You think that people who are ready to resist violent assault by using deadly force of their own are somehow evil. The reason that you don't like CCWers is that by existing we shake up your comfortable denial of the reality of violent crime. I do not believe that meekly allowing a criminal to kill me is somehow morally superior to fighting back.