Will the Lone Ranger Ride Again?

For everyone that thinks Arizona is still the Wild West, the legislature out here has just confirmed it by passing a law where anyone over 21 can carry a concealed weapon. I am a card carrying concealed weapon advocate. This law, however, puts everyone out here in danger.

Up until this law was passed, anyone could carry a gun in plain sight. If you have a holster, or you wanted to carry your twelve gauge as you walked down the street, you could. Only those fortunate enough to pay $65 dollars and attend 8 hours of training could carry the gun or other weapon under our coat, or hidden in the glove compartment of our cars, or under the seat.

Now anyone can carry it that way, and there is no fee. Imagine, if you will, the poor officer who now pulls over someone for a traffic stop and has to deal with the possible option of a concealed gun. It was always possible, but less likely as there were only about 65,000 licenses out there. Now there could be upwards of 1-2 MILLION! Don't get me wrong, I am an advocate of the 2nd amendment, but some people should not be allowed to have a gun, especially one that is concealed.

Advocates say that crime will go down. But will shootings, accidental or otherwise, go up ? Right now, as a licensed concealed weapons carrier, I am required to give a peace officer help if he needs it. I am to say, "Officer, I am licensed to carry a weapon, to you need help?" When an officer pulls me over, if I have my guy gun, I am required to say, "Officer I am licensed to carry a weapon, and I have it on me. What do you want me to do?"

Now, I think we can expect traffic stops to go this way:
A police officer(s) stop a car for a traffic violation. As they approach the car, they unsnap their holster, and put their hands on their guns. One officer stands to the rear of the vehicle ready to draw....
Officer: Sir (or madam) put your hands on the wheel in plain sight. Please have all your passengers display their hands also.
Driver: What's the problem, officer? Why am I being treated this way?
Officer: Sir (or Madam), Do you or anyone in your vehicle have a weapon of any kind?
Driver: No, Sir.
Officer: Please step out of the car and keep your hands visible.

As you can see, this issue will force all traffic stops to be potentially more dangerous than they already are. People are going to be upset and they are going to mouth back to the officer. Confrontations are possible.

Why did this happen? Because here in Arizona we seem to have a problem with ciminals coming across the border and hurting our citizens. Our state legislature reacted to help protect its citizenry, but I do not think this was the answer. It did cut off its nose to spite its face, though. The loss of the money for licenses is significant.

Now we could go back to those good old, bad old days! We return to those days of yesteryear.

Hi Oh Silver!

Doughnut