OH: Concealed Carry of Weapons Becomes Mainstream

Ohio State Seal

Practical experience has convinced skeptics that ordinary people can be trusted with carrying lethal weapons.  They go from skeptical, to neutral, to becoming supporters.  

This is the typical progression for a person who is willing to be convinced by facts.   Most people can change their mind about an issue if it does not challenge their basic assumptions about reality, because that threatens their very identity.

 The assumptions of the "Blood in the Streets" anti-rights groups are those of the "progressive elite" model of modern murder.   In that model, murder occurs when an ordinary citizen flies into a rage, and has access to a gun or other lethal weapon.  The success of the shall issue CCW programs, which allow 95% of society to carry lethal weapons with them if they choose to, discredits that model.   If that model were accurate, murder rates by CCW holders would be higher than that of the general public.  Instead, they are much lower.   They are even much lower than murder rates for police officers.  

We see the progression with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Allen County Sheriff Sam Cash in this article:

LIMA — When Ohio first licensed citizens to carry a concealed handgun nearly 10 years ago, then U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine was a little skeptical.

He wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

But after nearly 10 years of concealed carry not only has DeWine, the current Ohio Attorney General whose office oversees the program, changed his mind but he became a supporter. He's also a licensed concealed carrier.

 From Sheriff Crish:

Crish also is hearing from a lot of people who opposed allowing citizens the right to carry concealed handguns but now support it, he said.

“That shock is over. When it first happened, it was 'Oh, that guy's carrying a gun.' It's now accepted by a lot of people. It's almost second nature. It's not, 'Wow, you got a CCW,'” Crish said.

A local concealed carry instructor, Steve Farmer, sees the same thing:

“I'm seeing people in class, who seven or eight years ago, were against it. They not only accept carrying a gun but more importantly understand those who do are not dangerous, they just want to protect themselves and their families,” Farmer said.

 The people who cannot accept this are those who have invested part of their identity in the discredited "Progressive elite"  model.  It is extremely hard for an adult to change their basic assumptions about reality.  It hardly ever happens because of a rational presentation of evidence.  Fortunately, in this case, such people are a small percentage of the population.  Unfortunately, they are vastly overrepresented in academia, the old media, and in "progressive" circles generally.  One of the credos of the far left is "The Masses are Asses", which is a fair representation of the "Progressive elite" model.   Disprove that assertion, and you threaten their identity, so they tenaciously cling to the position, despite all evidence to the contrary.  

©2013 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Update: Michael Barone  explains that he went through the process listed above in this Washington Examiner Article.