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Concealed Carry in Utah - the current gun fest, reminiscent of the wild west.

Two Headlines; This . . .

And this . . .

By Brandon Loomis

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated 31 minutes ago

Some state lawmakers want to loosen Utah’s already liberal gun laws by following the Last Frontier’s example and allowing any legal gun owner to pack a concealed weapon without a permit. . . . more.

The fact that these two headlines ran in the same newspaper, and on the same day, might make some wonder if Utahns aren't a bit paranoid, as well as schizophrenic, when it comes to wrangling over the close personal relationship citizens and lawmakers alike seem to have with their handguns of choice.

Or, as one commenter on the article observed, "Utah - the only state trying to get guns into schools."

I'm an ex-hunter, who has cut my own arsenal back from 3 rifles and 2 handguns,

to one (very old, and 'open sights') 30 cal. rifle, and 1 (very old, and very small) 25 cal pistol.

By way of comparison, I have a brother who - in addition to his other guns - has acquired an additional pair of AR15 assault rifles, and probably upwards of 3,000 rounds of ammo (he listens to Glen Beck, and thinks Armageddon is coming soon).

Yeah, So what's in a world view? Especially one where xenophobia and anti-federal government sentiments are allowed to grow.

The fact that kids finding guns still kill a handful a year, and we even had two armed neighborhood watch vigilantes shoot it out (well, technically only one got off a shot - the other one just bled out), I'm not looking forward to anyone who 'legally owns a gun' being able to stick it in his pocket while he goes over to see who it is giving his son a hard time on the playing field (and, no, I'm not exaggerating here).

True, there's a lot of crime out there, and criminals carrying guns, but what do you think about the desire to arm every citizen?

Tags: ammunition, christians, god, guns

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Permalink Reply by Abnormal on July 2, 2010 at 11:02pm

I think we should have laws like Sweden with their gun laws. I'm too lazy to post them all here but a simple google search of gun laws in Sweden will take you right to them.

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Permalink Reply by D R Hosie on July 2, 2010 at 11:50pm

I'll look into it - much obliged !

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Permalink Reply by Jezzy on July 4, 2010 at 10:31am

I live in Utah, so this is interesting.

I don't really understand the gun craziness, but it seems safer to have more responsible adults who are armed, instead of just criminals, militia, and law enforcers. According to one of my teachers, several of the teachers own guns and possibly store them in the classroom. It doesn't worry me too much, to be honest. It made me feel a bit safer, mostly because I'm not afraid of my teachers and if this is true, they're obviously keeping them WELL out of sight and sticky hands.

I had one teacher who, during a lock down, turned off the lights, lined us up against the wall (protocol, but many teachers don't bother), and stood by the door with a baseball bat. Epic.

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Permalink Reply by D R Hosie on July 5, 2010 at 2:19am

Jezzy, Good to hear from you.

Your qualifier, that "it seems safer to have more responsible adults who are armed,". . . presumes 'responsible adults,' who are not only highly qualified to handle a gun, but are also psychologically steeled, to exercise the kind of calm mental preparedness to control a weapon, and exercise proper judgement in weighing the option or whether to use, or not use, a firearm - especially in confined and crowded environment of your average school.

I learned a long time ago that, as people, we're normally what's considered to be 'thin-skinned' animals. And it doesn't take much to seriously injure or even kill one of us - and with any number of weapons at hand. If there were, in fact, armed teachers in your school, I'd have to give kudos to the one who stood by the door with the baseball bat.

The same fear that would keep someone from trying to 'take someone out' by combative means, is the same fear that will cause the inexperienced to either start shooting wildly, or - more commonly - freeze up and allow an attacker to gain control of their weapon.

More than one person has been shot with their own gun, or stabbed with their own knife, after an assailant managed to take it away from them. And that's because most have never steeled themselves to commit to that kill or be killed - in it for the whole bag of marbles - life and death contest that these things can ultimately come down to.

It's always wiser to get the hell away, if at all possible, and only fight if you're absolutely 'cornered.'

And then, remember that your attacker has absolutely no regard for your health or well being. And as such, needs to be viewed as a vicious animal that deserves no quarter, and can to be 'taken out' with any means at your disposal.

At that point, you can usually forget about not getting hurt. Focus instead on the task of inflicting pain, hurt, disability or even death, as your only means of coming out of the experience alive.

And then, don't wait for an engraved invitation. At that point, The Code of the West says, "Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto You."

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Permalink Reply by Ronnie Swain on August 11, 2010 at 7:02pm

I don't see where passing a law where any legal gun owner can conceal carry without a permit is going to cause people to shoot each other on the ball field or really even vastly increase the percentage of the population that carry a gun on a regular basis. If there is someone in Utah that is, 1) a legal gun owner, and 2) hasn't carried a gun on them because it was illegal to do so without a permit, . . . is that very law conscious person suddenly creating a more dangerous world if they start carrying a gun, at times, because the laws have changed to allow that? Who's really being paranoid?