The Pros And Cons Of Concealed Carry

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

With around 270 million to 310 million guns in the United States and more than a third of every household claiming they own a gun, firearms most definitely have a presence in America (DeSilver, Drew). Because of the rights given from the second amendment, citizens of the United States are allowed to own and carry any type of gun; however, specific rules and regulations apply to gun owners depending on the state in which they live. There are countless federal laws in America: The Brady Act, The Firearms Owners’ Protection and others (“Key Federal”). Amongst these laws that civilians of our country must follow, their are countless state laws which are of course state specific. Within these state laws, is a set of

To understand what the term open carry means, it's important to know the definition, which states allow it and also the pros and cons this means of carry has over concealed carry. People can make up many different definitions for this type of carry. Considering this, according to Dictionary.com, open carry is “to openly carry a gun or other weapon in public” (“Open-Carry”). To clarify, open carry allows people to carry a gun visible to others in public. Gun owners can keep their weapon in a holster attached to their hip or shoulder, in a pocket, or simply in their hand. When it comes to individual states, each one has its own option whether to allow open carry or not. Out of all fifty states allowing you to carry a gun, five of them don’t allow open carry and the rest of the 45 do. There are five states in which people are not allowed to open carry firearms: Florida, Illinois, South Carolina, California, New York. The rest of America’s 45 states as mentioned before do allow citizens to openly carry a firearm in public (“Open Carry”). What this means is any person visiting or living in these five states are not able to ever open carry in public and any person in the 45 can. It's important to also

Even though it may be simple to describe by some, it is still important to know what open carry means to understand the background of it. Dictionary.com states that a concealed carry is to carry a concealed gun or other weapon in public (“Concealed-Carry”) To explain, concealed carry is the carry of a gun that is hidden from the sight of people in public. Gun owners can conceal their concealed gun defined above in several spots: A waist holster covered by shirt, an ankle holster covered by pants, or in a briefcase or handbag. Knowing that each state has the option to either allow open carry or not, they also hold the power on whether the citizens of that state can have a concealed carry. Unlike 45 can to five can’t, all 50 states in America allow gun owners to use conceal carry. What this entails is that in every state, gun owners can carry a gun on them that is out of sight of other people. Similarly to open carry, even if you have the right to open carry in public, certain businesses and campuses can restrict you from doing so. With the plethora of state laws, one is particularly important for gun owners who choose to conceal carry. Out of the complete 50 states that allow concealed carry, 41 of them require a permit with the remaining eight not. The eight states include “Alaska, Arizona,