Concealed carry laws and permitting practices are a very discussed topic in current policy proposals. All states in the US now have to allow concealed carry permits after a decision by the US 7th District Court of Appeals that Illinois had to lift their concealed carry ban. One way gun rights advocates try to justify the point of guns being used to further self defense is the crime rates with respect to concealed carry permits. Some say that the potential victim of a violent crime is a less risk in a shall issue or may issue state than in other states. This is because the potential offender will realize they are at greater risk of being injured or not being able to follow through with the crime because the victim could be armed. Overall, the …show more content…
Vermont required no form of licensing, New Hampshire started allowing permits in 1923, Washington in 1961, Connecticut in 1969, and Georgia in 1976. The history of modern concealed carry started in 1976 in the state of Georgia. The lieutenant governor, Zell Miller, started the new concealed carry laws which became what other states now resemble in their laws. Ed Topmiller, the NRA director inspired the Georgia law and Zell Miller. The big change within this law was that the shall-issue permits were no longer administered by law enforcement agents, but were now given by the probate court judge. In 1980 Indiana passed a law requiring mandatory issuance after there were issues with law enforcement agencies not allowing permits to be given out for arbitrary reasons. They later had to sue the state police in order to receive compliance. The laws passed by Georgia and Indiana started a nationwide trend and four more states (Maine, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Florida) passed concealed carry laws from 1985 to 1987 (Arnold …show more content…
On April 20, 1999 two armed students at Columbine High School in Colorado shot and killed twelve of their classmates and injured twentyfour more. The anti gun backlash was severe and there was a halt in concealed carry laws passing nationwide. It would make it easier for civilians to carry around firearms and in turn, potentially make it easier for more school shootings to occur. Lawmakers did not want to risk this happening anywhere else in the near future so they hesitated to pass any more concealed carry laws for a few years in the US (Arnold