imported post
How much longer can Dan milk this subject? This is what his third column in the past couple of weeks now?
I guess he needs to be reminded you in Va you don't need any of that to OC either, but I am sure I already know what his take on that will be too.
http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/casey/wb/210924
Concealed-carry course was easy A
By Dan Casey
Here's little confession that might raise the eyebrows of folks who support Virginia's laws regarding concealed carry of handguns.
I have never fired a handgun.
Water pistol? Check. Cap gun? Hundreds of times. Pellet gun? Absolutely. A rifle, too.
But at age 50, I'm about as experienced with handguns as the Virgin Mary was with sex when she conceived Jesus.
However, my gun naivete extends much further than that.
Until Monday morning, I was under the silly impression that my absolute lack of experience in firing a pistol rendered me unqualified to obtain a concealed handgun permit in Virginia.
You have at least to show somebody that you know how to load, or hold, or fire a pistol, don't you?
Not exactly, and certainly not anymore. At least not anywhere in Virginia, thanks to state Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax. He is running as the Republican candidate for Virginia attorney general.
A law the senator sponsored, and which took effect July 1, has removed all doubt about that.
You can take an online handgun course and meet the education/training requirement for a concealed handgun permit without ever touching a pistol.
So that is exactly what I did Monday, after seeing an ad on the Web site Craigslist, where you can also find cheap bicycles or instant hookups for casual sex.
The Craigslist ad took me to the Concealed Carry Institute, which is owned by a guy named Robert Marcus, who also owns Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk. He's been in the business 42 years.
For $39.95 billed to a credit card, I took the course, which is an hour of streaming video and includes about 11 minutes of instruction on how to actually shoot a handgun.
Then I took a simple, 20-question online test, answered 15 of the questions correctly and earned my certificate.
Marcus and I spoke Monday morning. He's been offering the course online since August, and about 3,000 people have taken it.
It seems that back in 1995, after the General Assembly enacted the concealed handgun permit legislation, there was some confusion over what would fulfill the law's education/training requirements.
The law specifies many different ways to fulfill that requirement. No. 3 is the catch-all, and the italicized words below are mine, for emphasis:
"Completing any firearms safety or training course or class available to the general public offered by a law-enforcement agency, junior college, college, or private or public institution or organization or firearms training school utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Department of Criminal Justice Services."
The permits are granted by circuit court judges. And, Marcus says, some judges around the state misinterpreted the law to require that applicants actually have some handgun-use experience.
They likened it to a driver's license for which applicants actually have to demonstrate some driving aptitude, he said. And that's why the law Cuccinelli sponsored was necessary, Marcus added.
It added electronic, video, or online instruction, conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor.
Although Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed the bill, the House and Senate each overrode that veto.
Cuccinelli told me that his bill resolved an inconsistency in the application of state law. Proficiency with a handgun was never intended to be part of the 1995 law, he argued, no matter how some judges were interpreting it.
"In the 1995 compromise, that wasn't part of the compromise," Cuccinelli said. "Let's be clear, that the important qualification, the big one, is the [clean] criminal background check."
(In some other states, such as Minnesota and Utah, hands-on firearms experience is required, while in others it's not, said Gary Shade, who operates Shade's Landing Inc., a multistate firearms training school in Minnesota that offers online courses).
In Virginia you also can't be mentally unstable, the subject of a restraining order, or somebody who has been ordered into treatment for substance abuse. Also part of the law was "some knowledge or book learning be required," Cuccinelli noted.
An online course is the equivalent of book learning, he added.
But what about the analogy with the driver's license? I asked Cuccinelli.
"You don't have any constitutional right to drive a car," he replied. With concealed carry of handguns, "you're at least in the universe of a constitutional right."
So, presto! I am now qualified.
I have a certificate from the Concealed Carry Institute to prove it. And it must be accepted by a circuit court judge as evidence of my familiarity with guns and gun safety, should I ever apply for a concealed carry permit.
Even though I have never touched or fired a handgun.
No matter how rotten my aim is.
I don't know what universe Cuccinelli lives in.
But in mine, that just doesn't seem right.
Dan Casey's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
How much longer can Dan milk this subject? This is what his third column in the past couple of weeks now?
I guess he needs to be reminded you in Va you don't need any of that to OC either, but I am sure I already know what his take on that will be too.
http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/casey/wb/210924
Concealed-carry course was easy A
By Dan Casey
Here's little confession that might raise the eyebrows of folks who support Virginia's laws regarding concealed carry of handguns.
I have never fired a handgun.
Water pistol? Check. Cap gun? Hundreds of times. Pellet gun? Absolutely. A rifle, too.
But at age 50, I'm about as experienced with handguns as the Virgin Mary was with sex when she conceived Jesus.
However, my gun naivete extends much further than that.
Until Monday morning, I was under the silly impression that my absolute lack of experience in firing a pistol rendered me unqualified to obtain a concealed handgun permit in Virginia.
You have at least to show somebody that you know how to load, or hold, or fire a pistol, don't you?
Not exactly, and certainly not anymore. At least not anywhere in Virginia, thanks to state Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax. He is running as the Republican candidate for Virginia attorney general.
A law the senator sponsored, and which took effect July 1, has removed all doubt about that.
You can take an online handgun course and meet the education/training requirement for a concealed handgun permit without ever touching a pistol.
So that is exactly what I did Monday, after seeing an ad on the Web site Craigslist, where you can also find cheap bicycles or instant hookups for casual sex.
The Craigslist ad took me to the Concealed Carry Institute, which is owned by a guy named Robert Marcus, who also owns Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk. He's been in the business 42 years.
For $39.95 billed to a credit card, I took the course, which is an hour of streaming video and includes about 11 minutes of instruction on how to actually shoot a handgun.
Then I took a simple, 20-question online test, answered 15 of the questions correctly and earned my certificate.
Marcus and I spoke Monday morning. He's been offering the course online since August, and about 3,000 people have taken it.
It seems that back in 1995, after the General Assembly enacted the concealed handgun permit legislation, there was some confusion over what would fulfill the law's education/training requirements.
The law specifies many different ways to fulfill that requirement. No. 3 is the catch-all, and the italicized words below are mine, for emphasis:
"Completing any firearms safety or training course or class available to the general public offered by a law-enforcement agency, junior college, college, or private or public institution or organization or firearms training school utilizing instructors certified by the National Rifle Association or the Department of Criminal Justice Services."
The permits are granted by circuit court judges. And, Marcus says, some judges around the state misinterpreted the law to require that applicants actually have some handgun-use experience.
They likened it to a driver's license for which applicants actually have to demonstrate some driving aptitude, he said. And that's why the law Cuccinelli sponsored was necessary, Marcus added.
It added electronic, video, or online instruction, conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor.
Although Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed the bill, the House and Senate each overrode that veto.
Cuccinelli told me that his bill resolved an inconsistency in the application of state law. Proficiency with a handgun was never intended to be part of the 1995 law, he argued, no matter how some judges were interpreting it.
"In the 1995 compromise, that wasn't part of the compromise," Cuccinelli said. "Let's be clear, that the important qualification, the big one, is the [clean] criminal background check."
(In some other states, such as Minnesota and Utah, hands-on firearms experience is required, while in others it's not, said Gary Shade, who operates Shade's Landing Inc., a multistate firearms training school in Minnesota that offers online courses).
In Virginia you also can't be mentally unstable, the subject of a restraining order, or somebody who has been ordered into treatment for substance abuse. Also part of the law was "some knowledge or book learning be required," Cuccinelli noted.
An online course is the equivalent of book learning, he added.
But what about the analogy with the driver's license? I asked Cuccinelli.
"You don't have any constitutional right to drive a car," he replied. With concealed carry of handguns, "you're at least in the universe of a constitutional right."
So, presto! I am now qualified.
I have a certificate from the Concealed Carry Institute to prove it. And it must be accepted by a circuit court judge as evidence of my familiarity with guns and gun safety, should I ever apply for a concealed carry permit.
Even though I have never touched or fired a handgun.
No matter how rotten my aim is.
I don't know what universe Cuccinelli lives in.
But in mine, that just doesn't seem right.
Dan Casey's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
