Passive Aggressive Tyranny: The Concealed Carry Process
2011 was a year of record-breaking murder cases in Chattanooga, TN. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that last year (2011) there were twenty-five homicides in Chattanooga, a ten-year high in the city. With the increase in gang crime within the city, the problem has gotten worse and, as of January 31, 2012, the Chattanooga Police Department has already recorded thirteen shootings within the city. In the past several years Chattanooga neighborhoods have been ranked in the top ten most dangerous neighborhoods in America.
On my college campus alone, the serious felony crime rate is at 7.54% per one thousand students. Just to break that down, that means that for every thousand students on campus, seventy-six people are victimized.
Therefore, I decided to go through the process of obtaining a Handgun Carry Permit from scratch. I found out that although Tennessee is considered a “carry friendly” state, it is a costly and heavily bureaucratic process to own a gun.
First, I needed to find an instructor to teach me handgun safety; I paid $75 for the course. As part of the course you must qualify on the range, so I also spent $25 on ammunition.
After taking and passing the class, I had to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles office and stand in line. I filled out the background form and submitted it to the attendant at the DMV along with my birth certificate and driver license. I also had to pay a $115 “processing” fee. After the trip to the DMV, I had to drive across town to be finger printed. Then, the Tennessee Department of Safety would be running a local, state, and federal background check, and once I was cleared, I would receive my permit in the mail after no more than 90 days.
After the “registration” fees, add the price of the hand gun ($400.00), concealed carry holster ($15.00) and personal defense ammunition ($25.00), and the grand total equals $655, just to own a gun in Tennessee.
So is Tennessee the only state that makes it impossibly expensive and complicated for an American citizen to defend themselves? Journalist Emily Miller testified in front of the Washington, D.C. Judicial Committee about her difficulties trying to legally exercise her Second Amendment rights. She reported that the process involves 17 steps and costs $465 for the gun permit alone. On top of that, she added the price of the handgun and the $125 transfer fee for the weapon because of the lack of dealers in D.C.
Vermont, Wyoming, Arizona, and Alaska uphold constitutional carry, which means no registration is required to own a gun in these states as long as you have never been convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors.
Various state governments have realized that they can control how armed their citizenry can become. Right now the way most of the states are set up, the state can revoke anyone’s right to carry, at any time. These states have no business dictating who cannot exercise their Constitutional rights, excluding convicted felons.
Addressing the first session of Congress, George Washington said, “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people’s liberty teeth keystone… the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable… more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour.”
These words are no less important today then they were all those years ago. Until we ask, we will continue to be bullied by an oppressive government who gives itself powers that were never bestowed on them. Just remember, as the saying goes, “A right unexercised is a right lost.”
Mark Mayberry :: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga :: Chattanooga, Tennessee :: @markmayberry85
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You should be spending a lot more than $25 on ammo… are you ever going to practice?
Of course, you should have the freedom to exercise your right without practicing, but it’s pretty irresponsible.
I do practice every weekend. The $25.00 was referring to my personal defense rounds such as hollow-points that I actually carry for protection not range rounds.
1. I am an avid gun rights advocate. I believe firmly in the personal right to bear arms as affirmed in the second amendment.
2. This article is borderline ridiculous.
Think about what carrying a firearm concealed on your person really means. It is a serious responsibility. Complaining about having to go the range and qualify, or buying your own gun or ammunition is petty. If you really think everyone should just carry a weapon they haven’t qualified with, or at least have some weapons familiarization course, than you give gun rights a bad name.
Next let’s address the license fee. I’m glad they run all those background checks, and fingerprint us. It gives legally carrying citizens credibility. That being said, those things cost money. People are paid to run those checks. It’s really not too much to ask. $115 for the license. It’s good for four years. 115/4 = $29. That’s less than you pay every month in sales tax.
You also complain about the 90 days they have to issue you the permit. I can pretty much guarantee that it took about two weeks for them to get it ready.
In a perfect world, would everyone be able to carry a firearm? Yes. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have idiots either. Every time someone fraudulently carries or accidentally shoots the wrong person, it FAR outweighs the many who do everything right. There is a double standard. It will always be there.
I am not complaining about having to go to the range or qualify. Even though the case could be made that the four states that use “constitutional carry” have no more gun violence then those with the strictest gun laws, and most of the time they have less. I too have no problem with the checks but the price is very high in most states since TN is one of the cheaper states. It doesn’t cost that much to run a background check on someone. I am very aware of the responsibility of carrying a gun as I did it for a living but to say that the restriction are becoming crazy is not ridiculous nor is it irresponsible.
I’m one of those liberals who could care less about the gun issue. There are very bigger issues going on and I think any one that chooses their party afflication based on it is stupid. The gun control debate is totally on the bottom of the barrel of actual issues.
That said, thank god there are god control laws and there are these intense screenings. Really? You want just anyone to go in and be able to purchase a gun? Even criminals? Even unmentally stable people? (VA Tech anyone?)
When arguing in support of the 2nd Amendment, its important to keep in mind that our Founders a) just got off a war where the enemy was right next door and b) not thinking about the kinds of guns we have now. Guns in those days are like a our BB guns today.
So yea, sorry you actually had to put in effort to show that you’re responsible for a piece of equiment designed to kill someone. The world is so awful.
Michelle do you really believe that serious criminals care about the gun laws you hold so dear? Most criminals are carrying illegally. The only people who are lawfully carrying are those who care about being legal, this cancels out murders, robbers and various other lowlives. The guns of the revolution are no more deadly then the ones today when looked at in context. The founders did not write the constitution to allow only their generation to bear arms. The point is that there should be no effort to exercise your rights, what if the government decided to make it this hard to go to church or protest. One right is not more important than the others. Guns do not kill people, people use them to kill people. In this context anything can be a weapon from the pocket knife that I carry everyday to the pen I use at school every morning.
The 2nd Amendment, as ratified states: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Now, let’s look at the keywords “well regulated.” Now you can argue that applies only to the militia part. However, there’s no conjuction. Considering how common militias where, its pretty understandable that our Funding Fathers considered guns tied to militias. So even if they are supporting regulations, why are you against?
Seung-Hui Cho legally purchased his guns. Do you really think the families members of the ones he killed give a shit that you have to put some effort into purchasing a gun?
Your right to a gun does not take precedence over my right not to be shot just because you are either not trained on how to handle a gun or not mentally sounded enough to own one.
I am aware of what the second amendment states however your argument is flawed because the founding father specifically differentiated between the two by stating militias and then stating “the right of PEOPLE to keep and bear arms.” People not militias. As far as the VA Tech shooter goes it is unfortunate and I am not saying that their should the checks in place, I am saying you shouldn’t have to pay to exercise your rights. Again I must also stress that those who are legally attaining guns and exercising their rights are no the ones who are looking to shoot you. It’s the criminals who are not attaining them legally. I am extremely trained and mentally sound and so are the 99% of legal gun owners in America. I must stress that technically the VA Tech shooters was in violation of the law as well so to say he was legal gun owner is incorrect. He lied on his firearms forms by stating that he had never had any mental illness and also by carrying them on a college campus.
Militias are made up of people. You need people to have a milita.
He lied when purchasing the guns in VA. He didn’t fail at the gun he purchased in WI.
There were 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States in 2000. The majority of gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides, with 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths in 2007 due to suicide, while 12,632 (40.5%) were homicide deaths. This begs the question of “mentally” sound.
This is pure English – the Founding Fathers did not differ between the two since there is no use of grammar in the sentence. As I pointed out – militas were people back then and there’s no conjuction seperating the two points.
Our country charges for everything. And there is no thing in the 2nd Amendment promising you unregulated access to a gun. Even if we are to seperate the two, it just says that people have the right to keep and bear arms. If we are to follow your logical, the people who get them illegally are not breaking the law, they are just excerising their 2nd amendment rights.
You shouldn’t include the cost of the gun or ammo in the cost of your cc.The gun itself should be like picking which shoes to where….I carried the Colt yesterday,I think the Ruger goes better with this jacket.Ammo,are you kidding me…$50.00 a month if you’re going to keep your hand in it.As far as the handgun safety course,it shouldn’t be required,just show your dd214 or military ID.
I itemized it out just to show. I agree that your weapon and ammo choice is you decision and the state isn’t at fault for the price of guns and ammo, well at least not completely. I was just giving some context to the prices by itemizing them and as I said about the $25 was for my hollow-points that i carry everyday not my range ammunition which is closer to like $175 a month or so.
@ Michelle: Addressing the first session of Congress, George Washington said, “Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the people’s liberty teeth keystone… the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable… more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe and sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour.”
Are you going to argue with him too?
Um, why wouldn’t I? George Washington wasn’t infallible.
According to you, you want a gun because someone may use a gun to kill you. Guess you don’t trust them – why are you arguing with George?
Half of the deaths are related to sucides – guess those aren’t sane hands. Facts, why are you arguing with George?
(Oh, and by the way: he never said that: http://saf.org/pub/rkba/general/BogusFounderQuotes.htm)
That is a matter of conjecture because I can provide you sites that say he did and these are the ones I used to check the quote. Second of all you continue to use suicide as a reason to get rid of guns. How many people commit suicide with steak knives, electrical wire, carbon monoxide, medicines and various other things? Should we outlaw all of our normal household items as well? I don’t trust criminals who have guns that is correct. Nor should you. However normal everyday people who carry guns daily, of which I know many, are of no threat to me and it doesn’t bother me to have them in my home. You liberals just love to pick and chose what parts of the constitution you want and those you do not. I mean maybe the founders felt that free speech was specific to their time period as well, maybe that right isn’t as valid today as it was 200 years ago.
Excuse me? Where did I say I wanted guns to be outlawed? I said I could careless about the gun issue. Further, I own several weapons.
I refuted your point with stats (99% of gun owners are not “sane” if they end up killing themselves), logic (the Founder Fathers either intended for guns to be unregulated therefore there are Constiutionally no illegal gun holders or they intended it to be regulated, in which case your orginial argument has no place), and actual facts (George Washington was not infallible – none of the Founder Fathers were, thats why the Bill of Rights was created. People felt that the Consituation itself didn’t do enough so they wrote the Bill of Rights.)
You conservatives are all the same – you are all fine with infriging on other people’s rights until it affects your own. You either support gun control (and the cost is all relative and shouldn’t be in the argument) or you’re not in favor, in which case you think its perfectly fine that Seung-Hui Cho owned guns because that is his 2nd Amendment rights – I don’t see where it says “the right of the people to keep and bear arms – unless they’re mentally insane” do you?
Supporting gun control laws is not the same as wanting guns to be illegal. I’m so sorry you actually had to prove that you’re responsible enough to own a gun.