The NRA-ILA Outrage of the Week!

Outrage of the Week - Crossing the Line

Friday, February 01, 2008

This week’s outrage comes from Pasquotank County in North Carolina.

If you want a gun permit in Pasquotank, you can go to the new Pasquotank Public Service Building in Elizabeth City, but you must stand in line. The only problem is that you, a law-abiding citizen, may have to stand in that line with convicted sex offenders. That’s because if you’re there to get a gun permit, there’s only one line you’re allowed to stand in; and the sign at the head of that line reads, “Gun Permits/Sex Offender Registration.”

That’s right. In the county’s public service building, law-abiding citizens are forced to mingle and wait with some of the worst criminals in our society. As Bob Halbert, a 26-year retired Navy officer who was recently humiliated by standing in the line said, “I feel they’re putting me or a person coming in for a gun permit in the same category as sex offenders. If someone comes by who knows you and sees you, all it takes is one bad rumor and bam, you’re marked for life.”

Halbert went on to say, “A close friend of mine’s son recently visited us after his return home from Iraq, where he served for 15 months as a military policeman. And yes, he did put himself in harm’s way as I did numerous times in my career ... with 26 years of honorable service to this great country of ours. But in Elizabeth City, we are grouped with sex offenders if we want to apply for a gun permit.”

Commenting on the sign that requires that the two groups mingle, Pasquotank Sheriff Randy Cartwright said, “I don’t know where (else) we would put it.”

Did they ever consider having two lines?

As you know, law-abiding gun owners are some of the most upstanding citizens in our society. Yet in Pasquotank County, if you want to get a gun permit, you must endure the possibility of fraternizing with convicted felons, and the ensuing anger and public humiliation that would entail. The sign, publicly announcing and requiring the commingling of the two incongruent groups, showcases the contempt that many government officials still have for lawful gun owners.

Forcing law-abiding citizens to wait alongside sex offenders in order to exercise a constitutionally protected right is not only shameful; it’s outrageous.

UPDATE: More here.

Victory in Missouri!

Missourians won’t need sheriff’s permit to buy concealable gun

By KEVIN MURPHY
The Kansas City Star

Residents of Missouri soon will no longer need a sheriff’s permit to buy a concealable gun, although a permit still will be required to carry one.

Missouri lawmakers changed the gun law earlier this year with little of the controversy that often goes with gun legislation. The change will be effective Tuesday.

“It’s something we’ve advocated for some time,” said Kevin Jamison, a Gladstone lawyer who is president of the Missouri Sport Shooting Association, the National Rifle Association affiliate in the state. “This makes it easier for people to buy firearms. They don’t have to get permission first.”

The gun-permit law for purchases dates to 1921, Jamison said. The sheriff has up to seven days to review a permit application and conduct a criminal background check.

So far this year, Jackson County has issued 4,150 permits to acquire a handgun, said Sgt. Judy Farnsworth of the sheriff’s office. The permits generated about $60,000 in fees for the general fund, she said.

Under federal law, gun dealers already do background checks on people who buy handguns from them, so the sheriff’s review is redundant, Jamison said. In addition, going to the sheriff’s office to apply for a permit and then to pick it up is a nuisance, he said.

The sale or transfer of firearms between individuals also will no longer require a criminal background check.

“There will not be any safeguards on that, individual to individual,” Farnsworth said. “It’s always a concern, but there’s not a lot we can do about it.”

Jamison said most sales of handguns are by licensed dealers, so background checks still will have to be done. Though illegal, the transfer of guns without a permit among individuals is already common, he said.

Jamison said gun-rights groups will advise individuals to have a dealer do a computer background check on gun buyers they do not know. The dealers will charge a small fee but have access to criminal records not available to individuals, Jamison said.

Jamison said there was no testimony against the bill this year when the change was made part of a larger, 20-page firearms and self-defense bill.

As word of the new law got out, however, some people mistakenly believed that permits would no longer be needed to carry a weapon, said Deputy Ronda Montgomery, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman.

In a news release this week, Montgomery said that “it is important to note this does not affect the concealed permit law.”

A 2003 Missouri law allowed carrying of concealed weapons, with permission of the sheriff and after training, background checks and other restrictions. All of those rules still apply, Jamison said.

“Buying a handgun does not make you qualified to carry it,” he said.