Should bind people be allowed to carry concealed?

[spin]

Law allowing blind to carry concealed guns intact
Jun 8, 2011 5:01am

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has expressed concerns about changes to the concealed-carry law that prevents the state from denying gun permits to the blind and other people with serious physical disabilities.

The Legislature also has removed all requirements that people who wanted to renew their license must pass a close range accuracy Test

***snip***

The changes that took effect in 2010 removed language from the law giving the state the right to deny a license if applicants "suffer from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a weapon."

It also removed the requirement that people wanting to renew their licenses had to take a test in which they had to hit at least 18 of 25 targets from distances ranging from 3 yards to 10 yards. People applying for a license for the first time still are required to take the test.
http://www.necn.com/06/08/11/Law-allowing-blind-to-carry-concealed-gu/landing_politics.html?&blockID=3&apID=639d0cd39e51400c932a35dcd6188c23

Under Florida concealed carry law which is often used as the example for other states when they consider "shall issue" concealed carry:

Eligibility Requirements

You must be 21 years of age or older.
You must be able to demonstrate competency with a firearm.

***snip***

Possible Reasons for Ineligibility:

The physical inability to handle a firearm safely.
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/weapons/eligible.html

Of course, you can be legally blind and possibly have enough vision to safely use a firearm at close range.

Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness.<1> Total blindness is the complete lack of form and visual light perception and is clinically recorded as NLP, an abbreviation for "no light perception."<1> Blindness is frequently used to describe severe visual impairment with residual vision. Those described as having only light perception have no more sight than the ability to tell light from dark and the general direction of a light source.

In order to determine which people may need special assistance because of their visual disabilities, various governmental jurisdictions have formulated more complex definitions referred to as legal blindness.<2> In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as visual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object to see it—with corrective lenses—with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (61 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200.<3>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness

I personally favor a requirement to pass a test at a gun range demonstrating that the applicant can safely handle a firearm.

[PavePusher]

1. Sounds kinky....

Sorry, fun with typo's before being fully caffienated.

[Ian David]

2. This is easy.

Pass a law that says if you're attacking a blind person, you have to say, "Polo!" every time the blind person says, "Marco!"

[spin]

9. LOL. Good one. (n/t)

[petronius]

18. That's a hilarious image:

"Marco!" "Polo!"

"Marco!" "Polo!"

"Marco!" "Polo!" BLAM!

"Missed me, suck-" BLAM! BLAM!

...

"Fish out of water!" "Ooowwww...."

:rofl:

[fascisthunter]

3. Holy christ.... wow!

[PavePusher]

4. In all seriousness, if the person is only going to use the weapon at contact range...

and it's pretty easy to tell if someone is beating the shit out of you by hand, I have no problem with it. Assuming they can demonstrate ability to use it at contact range.

Why does anyone want to take away any part of a person's ability to possibly defend themselves?

[RSillsbee]

5. There you go w/ that damned logic again

You're making the whole Air Force look bad

[PavePusher]

6. Then I'm doing my job right.

:toast:

[Katya Mullethov]

12. I figured

the blue camo does a pretty good job of that .

[PavePusher]

13. It's NOT FRIGGEN BLUE!!!!!!! (yet...)

Ha, can you tell I just gave up my beloved BDU's and capitulated to ABU's three weeks ago? Not bitter at all, noooooo......

And now the Army is going to change it's camo pattern again, alledgedly to match the USMC, but they will keep their current cloth/cut/configuration.

Who could be next? :banghead: :grr:

And yes, my BDU's will come back "out of the closet" for the last week of October. Damnit.

[gejohnston]

15. I retired before ABUs started to be phased in

But I did wear the plain OD greens until the last day. Of course, sewing on the patches and stuff cost more than the shirt was the down side.

[RSillsbee]

29. When I got out

My wife said "Well now you can wear your BDUs for work clothes." I replied "If i wanted to wear BDUs to work I would have re-enlisted"

[spin]

11. You do make a valid point ...

I carry a S&W model 642 snub nosed revolver which is often called a "belly gun."

If I were totally blind and some fool was beating the crap out of me and I feared for my life, I could shove the snubbie in his belly and pull the trigger.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

17. A blind person may not be able to discern what is BEYOND their target.

When you miss, bullets can go a long way. Even when you HIT your target it may continue to travel. Just because a target is at point blank range does not absolve a shooter from being responsible for what is behind a target.

[PavePusher]

24. No, but you can buy guns and ammo designed to minimize the possibility of overpenetration. n/t

[Ian David]

19. If only there were some kind of invention that could be used to defend yourself at contact range...

[spin]

20. A knife like that could be extremely effective at close range. (n/t)

[rrneck]

21. Does the length of that knife

qualify as close range?

:rofl:

[spin]

23. Seriously, few people realize just how deadly a large Bowie knife can be. Watch this video

on the Cold Steel Natchez Bowie ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDiU6_v_zcw

[oneshooter]

25. That knife is illegal to carry,concealed or otherwise, in most states. n/t

[slackmaster]

28. It's perfectly OK for open carry in California

FWIW

[spin]

30. I can carry it concealed in Florida as I have a concealed weapons permit ...

unlike many states. Florida's carry permit allows an individual to carry a variety of weapons (in Florida only).
ref: http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/news/concealed_carry.html

[slackmaster]

7. Sure, if they can meet all of the state's requirements

Including a shooting test, if applicable.

The thread will now be piled on by people who are unclear on the difference between blindness and profound blindness.

Blindness is a legal definition that qualifies a person for a tax exemption. It doesn't mean the person can't see at all.

[Remmah2]

8. There are different degrees of legal blindness.

David Paterson, former governor of NY was legally blind, yet with the correct lighting and large enough letters he could read. He would probably have no problem identifying and seeing a close range target.

[spin]

10. Which I pointed out in the OP ...

which is why I am in favor of proving that you can safely handle a firearm on a shooting range.

[melm00se]

14. in NC

there is a range component to the CCW permit process

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

16. I would define competency as the ability to identify targets beyond a reasonable doubt.

[DWC]

22. Physical limitations in no way

limits one's civil rights or common sense.

Semper Fi,

[PuffedMica]

26. +1

Is vision a requirement to have Constitutional rights?

[slackmaster]

27. Tell that to one of the individuals on my Ignore list, who usually chimes in on this issue

:hide: