DEBATING GEORGIA’S NEW ‘GUNS EVERYWHERE LAW’

Will it reduce crime or will it put more guns in the hands of criminals is the question, but Iowa went too far by issuing permits for the blind to carry guns in public

I’m not so sure Georgia’s new gun law expanding where licensed gun owners can carry firearms will reduce crime, but the argument put forth by Allison Anderman, a staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is ridiculous.

PRO-GUN ADVOCATE: GUNS FOR LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS REDUCE CRIME
By Courtney Coren

Newsmax
July 1, 2014

Georgia's so called "guns everywhere law" went into effect Tuesday, allowing Georgians who legally own guns to take their firearms into churches, schools and bars, and Yih-Chau Chang of Responsible Citizens of California says crime decreases when law-abiding citizens own guns.

"When we're talking about guns and guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens, if you take a look at the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, they've been published year after year showing a drop in violent crime rate, not just gun crime, but rather violent crime," Chang told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

"The FBI UCR reports, Uniform Crime Reports, clearly demonstrate that we have a drop year after year as gun rights expand all across the entire United States," he explained.

"If you take a look at those types of big-picture statistics, you'll realize that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens actually do serve to decrease violent crime," Chang added.

However, Allison Anderman, a staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told Newsmax that Georgia's new gun law only makes it easier for criminals to take advantage of the law.

"This new Georgia law puts guns into the hands or allows criminals to utilize this law like never before," Anderman said.

"One very troubling aspect of this law is the fact that felons now can shoot and kill a person and claim stand-your-ground defense and be immune from prosecution, and so this law is actually making criminals more likely to or more able to get away with gun violence," she explained.

"Another thing that's important about this law is that . . . there are going to be more guns in public places where Georgia does not require background checks for purchases between private sellers, and that means prohibited people are more likely to get guns and there is no way to know whether or not they are carrying guns into public places where our children are," Anderman added.

Chang contends, however, that "criminals are already carrying guns," but that with this new law in the Peach State, "law-abiding citizens have the ability to basically defend themselves when encountering these types of violent criminals for carrying guns outside the law."
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While I do not have a problem with Georgia’s new gun law, I do have a big problem with Iowa’s law allowing blind persons to carry guns in public.

IOWA ISSUES PERMITS FOR THE BLINE TO CARRY GUNS IN PUBLIC
By Melanie Batley

Newsmax
September 9, 2013

Iowa is granting gun carry permits to people who are legally blind or completely blind that will allow them to display, and use if necessary, the guns in public places.

According to the Des Moines Register, the issue has become the subject of debate between disability rights advocates and law enforcement officials about its impact on public safety.

Iowa state law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability, and the Gun Control Act of 1968 and other federal laws do not prohibit blind people from owning guns. Unlike Iowa, however, some states have a variety of vision requirements as a prerequisite to obtaining a permit.

Though the visually impaired have long had the right to private gun ownership in Iowa, changes in gun permit laws in 2011 have opened the door to allowing the visually impaired to legally carry firearms in public.

Delaware Sheriff John LeClere questions the wisdom of the law. "At what point do vision problems have a detrimental effect to fire a firearm? If you see nothing but a blurry mass in front of you, then I would say you probably shouldn't be shooting something."

Patrick Clancy, superintendent of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School also expressed concerns. "Although people who are blind can participate fully in nearly all life's experiences, there are some things, like the operation of a weapon, that may very well be an exception."

But Chris Danielsen, director of public relations for the National Federation of the Blind, disagrees. "There's no reason solely on the [basis] of blindness that a blind person shouldn't be allowed to carry a weapon. Presumably they're going to have enough sense not to use a weapon in a situation where they would endanger other people, just like we would expect other people to have that common sense," he told the Register.