Dump on these guys, folks. This is the worst case of B/S I have seen in years. Note the "arrest" (not convicted) and "alleged" passed off as absolutes.
You can reach these intellectual whores via: asorense@pilotonline.com
Some who are licensed to carry weapons commit crimes
By VIRGINIAN-PILOT EDITORIAL BOARD
© 2000, The Virginian-Pilot
Whoo-ee! Talk about customer service. Anyone panting to pack heat now can swagger into the Portsmouth Sheriff's Department any hour of day or night and, after plunking down 15 bucks, apply for a concealed-handgun permit.
What a deal. The Sheriff's Department's round-the-clock, cheapest-in-the-region service for anyone eager to join the dressed-to-kill minority cheers all who believe the gun lobby's mantra that an armed society is a polite society.
A sheriff's spokesman says the department's no-sweat application process will accommodate all who have trouble getting to government offices weekdays between 9 and 5. Applying for a concealed-handgun permit will be easy as pie.
Isn't that how Virginia's lawmakers want it? Aren't all duly licensed pistol packers upright citizens whose hardware protects themselves and others from predators?
That's the gun-lobby line. And Virginia legislators swallowed it hook, line and sinker when they added the Old Dominion to the list of ``shall issue'' states, now numbering about 30. In ``shall issue'' states, anyone meeting specific criteria can obtain a permit to carry.
Texas lawmakers also subscribe to this notion. They sent a ``shall issue'' bill to Gov. George W. Bush, who's as devoted to the gun lobby as Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, and Bush signed it. Hadn't the National Rifle Association assured all and sundry that, unlike the run of citizens, Americans licensed to carry handguns are ``law-abiding, upstanding community leaders''?
By May 2000, nearly 212,000 Texans held active concealed-handgun licenses, at $140 a pop. That fee is a lot higher than Portsmouth's, but perhaps Texas officials saw no need for discounts to encourage a proliferation of concealed guns.
And nothing so piddling as the 23 arrests of law-abiding, upstanding community leaders holding concealed-handgun licenses for murder or attempted murder between Jan. 1, 1996, and April 30, 2000, has shaken lawmakers' conviction that every Texan roaming the streets legally armed is a Boy Scout.
Neither have 11 arrests of other armed-and-ready law-abiding, upstanding community leaders for alleged kidnappings or false imprisonment, nor the 60 arrests of other licensees for alleged rape or sexual assaults during the same period.
Nor the 183 cases of alleged assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Nor the 41 arrests for indecency with children, the 227 arrested for drug-linked offenses, the 752 charged with drunken driving, the 100 charged with sexual misconduct, the 34 arrested for trespassing or criminal trespassing or the eight charged with arson. We have the NRA's assurance that they are model citizens and defenders of civilization, every one of them.
But these aren't Virginia statistics, you say. Of course not. Texas requires police to collect and report data about arrests of concealed-weapon licensees. Virginia does not.
The Washington-based Violence Policy Center has calculated that Texas licensees were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 66 percent higher than the general adult population of Texas.
About the ``shall issue'' experience in Virginia, where 89,500 citizens hold active concealed-handgun permits, we can only wonder.
This is not to besmirch all concealed-weapon licensees. Many seek permits for legitimate reasons of self-defense. Even so, Texas' experience demonstrates that concealed-handgun licensees commit crimes too.
Perhaps Virginia's lawmakers assume that the licensee crime rate in Texas, like everything else there, is just bigger.
You can reach these intellectual whores via: asorense@pilotonline.com
Some who are licensed to carry weapons commit crimes
By VIRGINIAN-PILOT EDITORIAL BOARD
© 2000, The Virginian-Pilot
Whoo-ee! Talk about customer service. Anyone panting to pack heat now can swagger into the Portsmouth Sheriff's Department any hour of day or night and, after plunking down 15 bucks, apply for a concealed-handgun permit.
What a deal. The Sheriff's Department's round-the-clock, cheapest-in-the-region service for anyone eager to join the dressed-to-kill minority cheers all who believe the gun lobby's mantra that an armed society is a polite society.
A sheriff's spokesman says the department's no-sweat application process will accommodate all who have trouble getting to government offices weekdays between 9 and 5. Applying for a concealed-handgun permit will be easy as pie.
Isn't that how Virginia's lawmakers want it? Aren't all duly licensed pistol packers upright citizens whose hardware protects themselves and others from predators?
That's the gun-lobby line. And Virginia legislators swallowed it hook, line and sinker when they added the Old Dominion to the list of ``shall issue'' states, now numbering about 30. In ``shall issue'' states, anyone meeting specific criteria can obtain a permit to carry.
Texas lawmakers also subscribe to this notion. They sent a ``shall issue'' bill to Gov. George W. Bush, who's as devoted to the gun lobby as Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, and Bush signed it. Hadn't the National Rifle Association assured all and sundry that, unlike the run of citizens, Americans licensed to carry handguns are ``law-abiding, upstanding community leaders''?
By May 2000, nearly 212,000 Texans held active concealed-handgun licenses, at $140 a pop. That fee is a lot higher than Portsmouth's, but perhaps Texas officials saw no need for discounts to encourage a proliferation of concealed guns.
And nothing so piddling as the 23 arrests of law-abiding, upstanding community leaders holding concealed-handgun licenses for murder or attempted murder between Jan. 1, 1996, and April 30, 2000, has shaken lawmakers' conviction that every Texan roaming the streets legally armed is a Boy Scout.
Neither have 11 arrests of other armed-and-ready law-abiding, upstanding community leaders for alleged kidnappings or false imprisonment, nor the 60 arrests of other licensees for alleged rape or sexual assaults during the same period.
Nor the 183 cases of alleged assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Nor the 41 arrests for indecency with children, the 227 arrested for drug-linked offenses, the 752 charged with drunken driving, the 100 charged with sexual misconduct, the 34 arrested for trespassing or criminal trespassing or the eight charged with arson. We have the NRA's assurance that they are model citizens and defenders of civilization, every one of them.
But these aren't Virginia statistics, you say. Of course not. Texas requires police to collect and report data about arrests of concealed-weapon licensees. Virginia does not.
The Washington-based Violence Policy Center has calculated that Texas licensees were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 66 percent higher than the general adult population of Texas.
About the ``shall issue'' experience in Virginia, where 89,500 citizens hold active concealed-handgun permits, we can only wonder.
This is not to besmirch all concealed-weapon licensees. Many seek permits for legitimate reasons of self-defense. Even so, Texas' experience demonstrates that concealed-handgun licensees commit crimes too.
Perhaps Virginia's lawmakers assume that the licensee crime rate in Texas, like everything else there, is just bigger.
