TimothySaffles.com

Concealed carry has always been, at least in my opinion, one of the weirder laws in Arizona. Never mind the odd 1800s laws that are still technically valid. This constantly debated and updated law allows citizens to carry weapons nearly anywhere in the state without obvious declaration.

I’m not saying that the law is necessarily a bad thing. I do have my concealed carry permit. I got it within a week of moving back from NY. But the real oddity of living in the sixth largest city in the nation knowing full well that a large percentage of people are armed and regularly irritated (the weather and the traffic are enough to drive someone to insane depths of rage) really gets me wondering about the sanity of the law.

Take for instance, the ongoing legislative argument of whether or not to allow concealed carry permit holders to take their weapons onto school grounds. Heck, a year or two ago they were debating whether to allow CCW in bars. I would have linked to that article as well but it appears it is under the “archives” section of AZ central in which the articles must be purchased. How insipid. Put the archives up for free and you will get paid on advertising revenue. Server space costs nothing. Morons. But I digress…

Let’s think back to my experience in AZ Concealed Carry Class…

About 2 years ago (wow, almost exactly 2 years ago), I took my CCW class from Shooter’s World. The instructor was decent, an ex-cop that reminded me of my scout master from way back when, the class wasn’t too long (8 hours) and, having at least a little experience in weapons, the target shooting was extremely easy (at 5 yards or so I could have just thrown the bullets dart-style and hit center-mass). Now, as with all things, it is rarely the institution that creates a problem, it is the people within the institution. In this case, it was two 60-ish women that scared the living hell out of the class and the instructor.

Let’s start at the front of the store. Shooter’s World is a large store/indoor shooting range that caters to the myriad tastes of the downtown gun enthusiast. The store owners and patrons expect guns knives and ammo to be all around and in turn are expected to be comfortable following the rules of interaction when people and guns are involved.

Now, understandably, people are a little overwhelmed at first. The surreality of a gun shop, and the movie-like quality of entering into a gun shop in an urban environment can throw the senses. But there is no excuse for not reading the GIANT RED SIGNS at the entrance. There is only one entrance to the store for a reason….so that you READ THE SIGNS. These signs clearly state, and I’m paraphrasing from memory here: “unload the weapon, the weapon must be carried in an approved carrying case, if you do not have a carrying case, we can provide you with one free of charge”.

Not too much to ask I would think.

So one of the ladies, arriving at the last possible second before the class begins, walks to the front of the class with a very large revolver handle sticking out from inside a velvet crown royal bag. The instructor takes one look at the bag and, with a big sigh asks: “Ma’am, uh, do you know that reading the English language is required in order to pass this course?”

“Yes.”

“So you just ignored the large red signs posted at the front door that said ‘Please Read’?”

“Well…”

At this point, the instructor walks over and gingerly, very gingerly, picks up the bag and weapon to inspect.

“Did you borrow this weapon or is it yours?”

“I borrowed it from a neighbor.”

“Are you aware that it is loaded?”

“No.”

Not only was the weapon loaded, the cylinder was jammed shut, making it nearly impossible to open and unload. After the gunsmith came back and opened the cylinder, it was decided that, if she were to fire the weapon, it would in all likelihood explode in her hands. The instructor recommended that she rent a different firearm and she ended up passing the class (though luckily she was the last to shoot).

Now, I retold this little anecdote not to say that women should not have CCWs. I’m sure, by the way the instructor reacted, this wasn’t the first time someone did something like this and I’m positive situations like these cut across all gender, racial and economic conditions.

The point here is that, without any weapons knowledge, decision making capacity, ability to read large red signs or ability to use common sense, this woman received her concealed carry permit.

Doesn’t that frighten anyone?

Think of it this way: if a gunman enters your classroom, say Bio 103 (because it fulfills one of your undergrad lab science requirements), and starts mowing down classmates and instructors alike, and the lady above is concealed carrying her giant revolver in her crown royal bag…is she going to know to wait for a clean shot? Is she going to kill a few classmates before getting a miracle head-shot on the gunman? Is the pistol going to explode in her hand?

I guess the point is this, with the concealed carry permit should come a requirement, at least 20 hours of tactical shooting/decision shooting classes. That way at least I can be assured that I’m not going to be sucker-shot by some crazy woman trying to be Rambette while I’m busy using classmates as human shields and trying to jump out the window.

Hey, I never said I was a hero…did I?