OK, so first my bias. I'm not a gun guy. I qualified with an M16 in the Air Force, but that's about it. So this concealed carry thing has me wondering.
When I grew up in Chicago though, the guys at my high school had a really simple way of settling disputes without guns though ... it started with someone getting pushed into a locker or being met after class by a few pals.
But times have changed and now people often shoot first and think later, if they're thinking at all.
With the new concealed carry law and some people's desperate need to covet the 2nd amendment's apparent endorsement of all things weapon-like we need to realize guns are just part of what we've signed up for I guess.
So very soon, folks in Illinois will have caught up with the rest of the country ... I'll be able to carry a 38 in my jacket pocket if I choose ... so I'll be ready when the bad guys come after me.
You gun folks may need to help me with this, but I think the logic goes that if more of us normal people are carrying, the bad guys will be afraid and stay away from all of us.
The bad guys are going to be afraid of a bunch of untrained people carrying guns. That's where you start to lose me.
If the goal of the law is to scare off the bad guys, I think the Illinois legislature did all the 2nd amendment advocates a real disservice when they supported concealed cary.
They should have taken a few steps back, as in back to the 1800's because I think those folks really had protection figured out.
You didn't wonder back then who you needed to worry about. It was pretty clear.
See a guy with a pair of Colts on his belt out in the open and you knew who to avoid. You assumed he knew what he was doing if he was bold enough to carry the weapons right out in the open. Winchester in hand ... might want to walk the other way.
Watch an Evanston cop closely as they pass. Do you need to wonder if they're packing? No sir. Those weapons are right out there for the bad guys to see and they take their chances accordingly.
But look at what a bunch of wimps we've become. We expect the bad guys to take the time to guess which of us is carrying now and act accordingly. Who out there thinks the new concealed carry law will make better people of the bad guys?
Me, I'm heading out to Arizona next week to get me a holster with a Colt that I can wear on my belt ... under my jacket.
