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The article in The Times on Jan. 1, "Gun laws have some up in arms," points out some of the tired old arguments that the anti-gun crowd keep using, such as expanding the concealed carry law would lead to a "wild West" mentality.
Back in 1987, when Florida pioneered the "shall issue" concealed weapons law, critics said the same things. "Every traffic accident will turn into a shootout," some said. They said concealed weapons permit holders would somehow turn into a bunch of vigilantes. It hasn’t happened. We now have 40 states that allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed firearms, and the only noticeable change is that across the board the crime rate has gone down. I would say to those who oppose expanding Georgia’s concealed carry law to include churches and colleges either come up with some hard evidence to support your claims or shut up.
To Pastor David McDonald, in light of the increase in incidents of active shooters in churches of late, I hardly think that allowing permit holders to carry their weapons in churches would be a bad thing. The knowledge that a number of people in the church service could be armed would be a deterrent. We have also had no shortage of active shooter situations on college campuses.
To all of those who have such a hard time understanding law-abiding citizens carrying guns, why is it that you go armed every day? You drive a weapon in excess of 3,000 pounds everywhere you go. I very much doubt that the vast majority of you would ever consider intentionally running down pedestrians. Why not? You have the means and the opportunity to kill people; why don’t you?
I would suggest that you don’t kill people because it would be against your moral code. In addition, you know that it is against the law, and most of you are law-abiding. You also know there could be other consequences: lawsuits, revoked or suspended licenses or increased insurance premiums.
Driving a car as well as carrying a gun is a privilege that comes with the responsibility of doing so in a safe manner. We have no problem trusting each other to operate a motor vehicle. Why the problem with guns? For those of you that have a problem with law-abiding citizens carrying guns, maybe you should consider walking instead of driving. I might be concerned that you could someday decide to run people down with your car in the church parking lot.
There probably were more people killed in accidents with cars last weekend in Georgia than were killed in the U.S. in gun accidents in all of 2009.
Gainesville Police Chief Jane Nichols correctly stated that guns and alcohol don’t mix, and we all should know that alcohol and cars don’t mix. She also stated, in essence, that laws only effect the law-abiding. The bad guys don’t obey the laws and the bad guys are the ones that you need to worry about. They carry guns despite the laws.
Jerry Callahan
Braselton