map by gun-nuttery.com
The Associated Press has long been known for its anti-Second Amendment attitude. John Lott exposed there bias in The Bias Against Guns, published in 2003. They have gotten a little better in the last decade, because numerous errors have been exposed. AP committed another error about gun laws on February 10th, 2017.
In a story about Constitutional or "permitless" carry moving through the New Hampshire legislative process, the AP wrote that the NRA said that concealed carry is legal in 11 states. From AP via nbcboston.com:
The National Rifle Association says concealed carry is legal in 11 states, including Maine and Vermont.The problem is that AP left out an important qualifier. That is "permitless". AP does not say where they obtained the information from the NRA. I suspect it was from the nraila.org article on the New Hampshire bill. Here is the relevant paragraph from the NRA-ILA article:
New Hampshire is the only northern New England state that does not allow permitless carry. Permitless concealed carry is legal in 11 states nationwide, including both Maine and Vermont. Similar legislation has passed the state legislature twice before, but the former governor vetoed it both times.All 50 states have legal concealed carry of some sort. Most states, 31, are shall issue, meaning that concealed carry permits must be issued if applicants meet objective criteria.
11 states are "permitless" or Constitutional carry, where no permit is required to carry openly or concealed. Ten of the eleven also have provisions for a permit if people wish the permit for reasons of reciprocity across state lines, or as an alternative to the NICS check when purchasing firearms.
Only 8 states still have the archaic "may issue" system in place, where some authority has the power to issue or not issue permits, essentially by whim. Several states abuse this authority, and are virtual no-issue states, such as Hawaii, New Jersey, and Maryland. No states categorically deny all concealed carry permits.
The AP story would have us believe that only 11 states have legal concealed carry.
The Associated Press used to be considered a reliable source of news. When it comes to guns, they often get simple facts wrong. It will be interesting to see if they correct this error.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
If they are going to have permits, the objective criteria should be limited to, HUMAN, Alive and Breathing , legal citizen. the more people that will read the constitution and learn exactly what it says and what, what is written means the sooner we will solve these carry issues. what is written is what counts not what you think is written. some people may need to read it with dictionary in hand.
ReplyDeleteProbably simply an error of ignorance. The writer was probably so ignorant of gun issues that he simply accepted the absurd notion that only 11 states permitted concealed carry.
ReplyDeleteIt is not ignorance it is intent to deceive by gun haters.
ReplyDelete