Arizona to allow concealed weapons without permit

This is good news, for sure, but I wonder about the choice of words used in the story.

<blockquote>PHOENIX — Favoring the constitutional right to bear arms over others' concerns about gun safety, Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill making Arizona the third state allowing people to carry a concealed weapon without requiring a permit.

The measure takes effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which likely puts the effective date in July or August.

"I believe this legislation not only protects the Second Amendment rights of Arizona citizens, but restores those rights as well," Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement.

Alaska and Vermont now do not require permits to carry concealed weapons.

By eliminating the permit requirement, the Arizona legislation will allow people 21 or older to forego background checks and classes that are now required.
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You can read the rest of the story at http://bit.ly/aNGiUG

One thing that concerns the reporting of the story, and you can see it when you read it yourself, is the distinction between how the article says it and how a reasonable person would say it. For example,

*** article: Some police officials are concerned the law will lead to more accidental gun discharges from people untrained in firearm safety, or that shooters in stressful situations will accidentally strike innocent bystanders with stray bullets.

*** reasonable person: Some police officials feel that a piece of paper in the pocket will make citizens more careful while handling a deadly weapon, or that an innocent gun owner who has been assaulted by a felony criminal may spray the countryside with bullets instead of stopping the threat of an imminent violent attack against his person.

*** article: Supporters say the bill promotes constitutional rights and allows people to protect themselves from criminals, while critics worry it will lead to more shootings as people with less training have fewer restrictions on carrying weapons.

*** reasonable person: The voters, courts, legislature, and governor agree that this law restores civil rights to gun owners. Unnamed critics worry about more shootings.

*** article: "If you're going to be carrying a weapon you should know what the law is and how to use it."

*** reasonable person: "If I'm going to be wearing a uniform and gun, I should know what the law is and obey it, even if I am concerned about maturity level of unnamed people of unknown age."

*** article: However, the measure was supported by police unions representing rank-and-file officers, who said their best friend on the streets is a law-abiding citizen equipped to protect themselves or others.

*** reasonable person: Officers who know what they are talking about say that restoring civil rights is consistent with the law, and with the state and federal Constitution. They claim that their best friend is a law-abiding citizen, and not some unelected bureaucrat who sits on a political board such as an Association of Chiefs of Police.

"A Democratic leader, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, of Phoenix, said the bill deprives law enforcement of a tool "to separate good guys from the bad guys." With a permit requirement, police encountering a person with a concealed gun but no permit had reason to suspect that person was not a law-abiding citizen, she said." But what she did not say why the police officer would even know why the person had a concealed gun in the first place. The new law requires the person to volunteer this information, which it did not before. The Representative did not indicate whether she had read the law, or in fact, whether she is even a gun owner, unlike most of her constituents in the state of Arizona.

"Arizona's permissive gun laws gained national attention last year when a man openly carried a semiautomatic rifle to a Phoenix protest outside a speech by President Barack Obama." This does not, obviously, have anything to do with this story, since the weapon was not concealed, nor was it even loaded. National attention has nothing to do with concealed weapons at all, now that we think about it.