Born To Fail? Constitutional Carry Bill Hits Colorado State House After Passing Committee… Unlikely To Pass

DENVER, COLORADO — Recently, a Republican-led Senate committee gave the green light for a permitless concealed carry bill to enter into formal discussion on the Senate floor. Despite the bill getting to the floor, many citizens in the state are hesitant to say it will go anywhere much less lead to permitless carry in Colorado.

via Colorado Politics

“Common sense tells me that just like more cars on the roads means more car accidents, more guns in our communities means more gun accidents,” one concealed carrier said.

“Let’s not give concealed carry permits to people who are unwilling to take a basic gun-safety course,” said another.

On the other side of the fence, gun owners say that they aren’t any bit more dangerous with a coat covering their gun as when their gun is visible to the public. Dan Murphy, representing Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, pointed out that open carry and concealed carry don’t change a thing.

“When I’m lawfully open-carrying my legally owned firearm that I did undergo a background check to purchase, putting my coat on does not suddenly make it any more dangerous and should not be punishable under the law,” he said.

As we see more states go permitless, the arguments against grow louder. It’s hard to study a process in motion. If the argument that more concealed carriers equates to more gun crime, there needs to be studies to back that up. As of right now, nothing exists to make that argument.

The other argument that gun owners should be required to take a pistol safety class could potentially hold some water. Unfortunately, in the world of politics, “common sense” has nothing to do with it.

Politicians may argue for or against this Senate bill for any number of reasons, but basic safety courses are still something the average gun owner would benefit from. Would we rather that be driven by the individual or the state?

Each state has a wide variety of criteria they accept as basic pistol safety. The NRA usually offers a basic pistol safety course through a large number of gun training centers located across the country. NRA-certified instructors certainly have a good basis to instruct new gun owners. Should the state require that type of course?

This bill will certainly be hotly contested in the Colorado Senate and it’s still a long way off from landing on the governor’s desk. In the meantime, I’d expect to see more and more states having these hard debates about what constitutes a basic education necessary to carry a gun.