Handguns. A correction.
Twenty six states allow concealed carry of firearms without a permit.
Oregon requires a permit.
An early version of yesterday's blog post contained an error. I inadvertently included the word "concealed" when discussing my own locality's policy regarding firearms training. I have corrected that.
Nearly any adult can buy, own, and carry a firearm in most of the USA. In blue-state Oregon, convicted felons, people convicted of a misdemeanor within the past four years, and people subject to restraining orders are prohibited from buying firearms. However, people with serious and well-documented substance or mental health problems can buy and carry firearms so long as they have not been convicted of crimes. The key is to avoid formal convictions or a court determination of mental illness. My sheriff told me that people with a clean record on those points do not set off "red flag" subjective interventions by law enforcement. It is not illegal to be angry, jumpy, vision-impaired, paranoid, schizophrenic, or to have a strong fear and dislike of certain people or ethnicities. One can be some or all of those things and still carry around a loaded gun.
However, my county does require people to take and pass a class on firearm law and safety if a person wants a permit to legally carry that weapon concealed. A reader brought that error to my attention. He told me he personally had decided not to bother getting a concealed gun permit when he learned he needed to take a class.
My point remains the same, though. It is a head's up to all of us. The U.S. is increasingly a place where people have guns at the ready for "personal protection." Some gun carriers may not be cool-headed rational people. Gun carriers can "stand their ground" based on their subjective belief that they are in danger. In the aftermath of a shooting, police and courts will look at what the victim might have done--perhaps innocently or inadvertently--to cause that belief. The balance has shifted on fault between the "self-defender" and the "shooting victim."
The direction in red-state legislatures is to loosen gun laws, not tighten them. In both red and blue states Americans notice that more people are carrying guns, so are deciding they, too, need a gun in self defense. More guns. More looking out for danger from others. What could go wrong?
What could go wrong are incidents like this one yesterday: