I live in Georgia, where we have the CCW permit. We’re a Shall Issue state. So other than a small fee to process the paperwork, there isn’t really anything else.
I support that. I support the CCW requirement. I have a CCW. And here is why I support it. When I present it to the Police, they know that I am a law abiding individual. In fact, CCW holders are the least criminal group in the Nation. Police have more criminals, based upon convictions, than CCW personnel.
True story. I was involved in a minor fender bender. No big deal. When the cop showed up I handed him my licenses. Both of them, the CCW underneath the drivers. He looked at it and asked if I was armed. I said I was. He told me to put the gun in my car. I walked to my car, opened the back door, and stuck the gun on the seat. I then turned and showed him my empty hands.
He ran the license and registrations of both parties involved in the minor accident, and then wrote the accident report for the insurance.
Before he departed, he told me that I had handled the interaction about as well as anyone ever had. I didn’t start out screaming I have a gun, and kept it low key.
Without that CCW, the guy carrying the gun, is he carrying legally, or illegally? Is he a criminal who is on his way to rob someone? Or is he a law abiding individual going about his business? The only way to know is to run the individuals through the system to see if they have any felony convictions, or other disqualifying events in their history.
So cops will be running the “good guys” through the system a lot more. Wasting time, wasting resources, and drawing from the few hours a day they have to do their jobs.
A CCW shows that you’re a law abiding individual.
And training? Training would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble. Take the Brunswick Trio. Georgia has no training requirement. I took a class because I wanted to be sure I understood what the law was. When the story with the McMichaels broke, I knew they had broken the law, because they literally did everything I was told not to do by the Cop teaching the course.
I knew it was illegal to try and place someone under Citizens Arrest if I had not seen them commit a crime. I knew it was illegal to pull my weapon unless there was a reasonable belief of a threat to life. A reasonable belief, that means seeing a weapon or actions by the individual to show danger.
I knew that Travis had committed Aggravated Assault. I knew that they were going to prison for Felony Murder. The cop teaching the course on his day off, told me all of that.
Training would have told Greg and Travis what their rights, and responsibilities, and where those rights ended. They would have avoided Prison for the rest of their lives if they had understood just how much trouble they were going to be in.
Training means you understand what is going on better. You have someone help you understand what is going to be happening if God Forbid you ever need that bang stick. Training means you are better prepared for that day, and increase your own chances of survival, and help you avoid Criminal Prosecution because you didn’t have a clue what the law said.
And the law says things you may think is wrong, but that is what your actions will be judged by.
I support Concealed Carry. I support the Second. I also support Law enforcement in making their jobs easier, and safer.