Apparently criminals are undeterred by restraining orders and police have no obligation to enforce them. Duh. In case you didn't know, your local police have no legal obligation to protect you from any specific crime. This is why law-abiding, mentally healthy citizens should be allowed to carry concealed weapons. Otherwise, we're just victims-to-be.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police cannot be sued for how they enforce restraining orders, ending a lawsuit by a Colorado woman who claimed police did not do enough to prevent her estranged husband from killing her three young daughters. ...City governments had feared that if the court ruled the other way, it would unleash a potentially devastating flood of cases that could bankrupt municipal governments.
Gonzales contended that police did not do enough to stop her estranged husband, who took the three daughters from the front yard of her home in June 1999 in violation of a restraining order.
Hours later Simon Gonzales died in a gun fight with officers outside a police station. The bodies of the three girls, ages 10, 9 and 7, were in his truck.
The city governments were right to be afraid, and I think this court decision was probably correct. I don't know enough about the case to say that a gun would have been helpful, but there are many circumstances in which one would be.
Carrying a concealed weapon only helps Joe Citizen and is in everyone's best interests if he knows how to use the weapon properly, can keep his cool in a threatening situation, and can avoid hurting innocent bystanders.
There's also nothing to keep Joe Citizen from doling out $50,000 worth of punishment for a $50.00 crime either.
I know that many states with Concealed Carry laws require handgun training, etc. etc.... but that's not quite what you proposed. You said that "law-abiding mentally healthy citizens should be allowed to carry concealed weapons."
From a crime prevention standpoint, the data on whether concealed carry laws significantly reduce violent crime are unclear. While crime did drop in states that had CC laws during the 90's (as posited by John Lott's "More Guns, Less Crime" analysis)... crime dropped as much or more in states without CC laws. Some of Lott's critics have suggested that Lott's data, when properly coded, indicates that CC laws result in more crime... but I'm skeptical of that conclusion as well. The bottom line on reductions or increases in crime rates is that they're complicated and influenced by a variety of factors. This takes at least some of the wind out of the argument that CC laws result in less crime.
There is nothing to stop Joe Citizen from doling out $50,000 worth of punishment for a $50.00 crime with or without a CC law and you are fooling yourself if you think it does.
If it were possible to determine how many crimes were stopped or prevented by people with CCW that never get reported officially, I would bet that the reward outweighs the risk by a large margin.
Not only that, what would you rather have in a mass public shooting scenario: Bunch of people hiding and all potential victims while waiting for the police to arrive or potential of a fellow citizen being able to end it quickly? You are implying that you would rather wait.
Most opposing the CCW issue give the same argument you made - what if they start shooting for every little infraction. States that have enacted permits haven't seen any of this and in fact, CCW holders are less likely to commit a crime than non-holders. So in effect, you are basically saying you fear your fellow citizens.
CCW permits allow and encourage people to legally train to carry concealed. Restricting permits, especially when a good case is presented for CCW, only encourages unlawful carry options. If I am a criminal in Cali, the only people I would fear are celebrities since they are the only people that have permits. Others are all sheep waiting for shearing.
6K: Consider the following:
- Never have I said that the absence of CC laws would stop Joe Citizen from doling out punishment that doesn't fit the crime. CC laws do make it a bit easier, though.
- I fear my fellow citizens? So what do you do? Trust them implicitly? No you don't, you say? Fine... then neither do I fear my fellow citizens. I do not fear my fellow citizens.. but I do regard most of them as strangers.