Who really needs to carry a gun?
Leave it home, grandma.Gun control laws have always been a controversial issue. On one side, there are those that believe the right to bear arms is one guaranteed by our Constitution. Others, who take an opposing view, believe guns have no place in our society, outside of those used by law enforcement officers. I fit somewhere in the middle—I don’t have a problem with people keeping licensed firearms in their homes, but I believe carry permits should be severely restricted. The truth is, there are very few people who actually need to carry a firearm. This story from the Associated Press illustrates that point:
A relative of a 4-year-old South Carolina girl who accidentally shot herself with her grandmother's handgun in a Sam's Club store said Tuesday the family expects the child to be out of the hospital by week's end.
The child was riding in a shopping cart and playing with a cell phone, then grabbed the gun from her grandmother's purse and shot herself in the chest.
Authorities said the [grandma], a South Carolina magistrate, has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The Sam's Club store does not have a sign prohibiting guns inside.
Chief Magistrate Rodger Emerson Edmonds said it's common for magistrates to carry guns for protection.
"Sometimes some of the judges have to make deposits at the banks," he said. "The other reason is for self preservation to protect yourself because there are some crazies out there."
There are "some crazies" out there, and this grandma who carried a loaded handgun into Sam's Club is one of them. I don’t buy the Chief Magistrate’s reasoning here. First off, we all make bank deposits, and I hope to never see the day where every person who goes to the bank is armed. Regarding protection, many judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys receive threats from clients, prisoners, and friends and family members of those convicted. But how often do you hear about judges and/or attorneys actually being harmed? Almost never. And what about doctors who perform abortions, the stock guy who picked the wrong symbol and lost his client a ton of money, and local politicians? I'd bet they receive threats too--should they be armed as well? At the end of the day, 99.9% of the population doesn't need to carry a gun. If you're afraid someone might harm you, go get some pepper spray and/or a taser.
Blakely
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That said: bad stuff happens, from time to time. As rare as a gun self-defense is, I've had more than one -- and know quite a few people who have had one. Such things happen not only when going to the bank, or in Sams Club, but, say, when driving or walking to work, when coming out of or going into a restaurant, and they can happen to people as self-important as many judges are, or less so.
In the majority of the states, carry permits are not only not "severely restricted" but getting one is pretty straightforward, and not a matter of persuading some government official of some sort of need. Numerous folks have been able to scare away (or, more rarely shoot) somebody who was trying to do them harm, and as horrible as the incident you report was -- and it was -- such things are entirely avoidable, and very rare . . . much rarer than defensive uses.