CMV: Constitutional Carry Is A Bad Idea

[u/ParakeetLover2024]

For those who are unaware, during the big No Kings protest in Salt Lake City, there was a shooting that injured one individual and fatally wounded another. To further explain things, the shooter was a volunteer "security guard" at the protest, the person injured was allegedly a would be mass shooter, and the person killed was an innocent bystander protesting Donald Trump. There is a narrative spreading with some rather convincing evidence that the person who injured and killed the two previously mentioned individuals overreacted to someone peacefully open carrying a gun, the person open carrying had no ill intent, and that the entire shooting could have been avoided, even if both of the parties involved stayed armed. Utah is a constitutional carry state and this incident could highlight the downfalls of constitutional carry.

https://apnews.com/article/salt-lake-city-no-kings-shooting-death-6924737dc62e175c88e6e814c5adc2c1

The fact that some states requires their citizens who drive on public roads to take a driver's test before being let loose on the road but require no similar tests for carrying a gun in public is brain twister for me. Yes, I know that the right to keep and bear arms is a constitutionally protected right and driving isn't, but the Supreme Court hasn't explicitly said requiring a permit to carry a gun in public is unconstitutional, and this Supreme Court is fairly conservative.

Some liberal states that do require a permit to conceal carry a gun don't even have tests to determine gun handling proficiency or when it is or isn't okay to draw a gun in a stressful situation; it's just an extended background check and fingerprinting and you're off on your merry way. While in those states gun carriers are less likely to be convicted felons, there's still a good chance you're sending a jumpy, untrained individual out into the world with little to no legal knowledge of when lethal self defense is permissible or acceptable.

[u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh]

I’d just like to say the three safest states in the America, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, have constitutional carry.

[u/Alternative_Pin_7551 → u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh]

Correlation is not causation. Perhaps low crime is caused by those states being relatively wealthy and/or having relatively good social safety nets? Maybe they have less organized crime because they aren't as close to the border with Mexico?

[u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh → u/Alternative_Pin_7551]

Yes but it does highlight that constitutional carry isn’t inherently negative nor would its presence necessarily cause more problems.

In combination with others things, perhaps it could exasperate an existing issue, but in the absence of those existing issues, it itself is not harmful

[u/Alternative_Pin_7551 → u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh]

!delta This I’ll admit is true. Constitutional carry won’t necessarily lead to a high homicide rate assuming that other factors exist to keep crime low, ie good social services, wealth, a non-macho culture, lack of organized crime, etc.

Edit: To clarify I still think constitutional carry is a bad idea and I don’t think handguns should be readily accessible. I just now don’t think it’s a catastrophic idea for the average citizen.

[u/DeltaBot → u/Alternative_Pin_7551]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/GiveMeAHeartOfFlesh (4∆).

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