From firearms-alert-owner Mon Nov 13 13:57:45 1995 Received: (chan@localhost) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) id NAA14362 for firearms-alert-outgoing; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 13:56:00 -0800 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with ESMTP id NAA14242; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 13:55:47 -0800 Received: from lcsdns1.litton.com (lcsdns1.litton.com [139.61.7.2]) by nova.unix.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with SMTP id NAA23906; Mon, 13 Nov 1995 13:55:47 -0800 Received: from lcsipdp (lcsipdp.litton.com) by lcsdns1.litton.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA17323; Mon, 13 Nov 95 13:54:18 PST Received: from pc.gcs.litton.com by lcsipdp (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA13376; Mon, 13 Nov 95 14:08:44 PST Received: from Connect2 Message Router by pc.gcs.litton.com via Connect2-SMTP 4.00; Mon, 13 Nov 95 13:57:14 -0800 Message-Id: Date: Mon, 13 Nov 95 13:56:40 -0800 From: "WIENER, DAN WH:3708" Organization: Litton GC/S To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Cc: ca-firearms@shell.portal.com Subject: CA: MEDIA: Sheriff supports CCW X-Mailer: Connect2-SMTP 4.00 MHS to SMTP Gateway Sender: firearms-alert-owner@shell.portal.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: "WIENER, DAN WH:3708" Followup-To: firearms-politics@cup.hp.com Status: RO For the last two weeks the Ventura County chain of Star newspapers (total circulation of 130,000) has been soliciting letters on the subject of "Concealed Weapons: Should More People Carry Them?". I know they received a huge pro-CCW response from both within and without the county, but they only printed one page of letters in yesterday's (11/13/95) editorial section. There were 9 pro- and 3 anti- letters; I suspect that the actual ratio of letters received was far more lopsided in our favor (I know that Sandi submitted a letter that wasn't printed). The main anti-gun letter came from Glenda Lee-Barnard, representing L.A. Women Against Gun Violence and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. She voiced all the usual hysteria and twisted statistics and flat-out lies. I gather from her article that her son was shot and paralyzed 5 years ago, and she's chosen to scapegoat guns and the "gun lobby" instead of blaming the person who pulled the trigger. But the really interesting thing was that the main pro-CCW article (reproduced below) came from our county sheriff!! To give some brief background, Ventura County is adjacent to Los Angeles' northwest boundary. It contains several cities including Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Oxnard, Camarillo, and the City of Ventura, with a total population of about 700,000. The sheriff got a dose of bad publicity earlier this year when the Los Angeles Times and the Star papers reported that there were only 235 permits outstanding in the county, a good portion of which were issued to the sheriff's white male cronies and contributors. Yet the sheriff has told Sandi Webb that he is pro- gun and an NRA member (he may even be a Life Member). We have heard anecdotal reports over the past couple of months about people who _did_ receive CCWs from the sheriff. Certainly his letter below sounds _very_ promising. (I think Peter Kasler and Edgar Suter probably deserve some indirect credit for Carpenter's letter. Earlier in the week the sheriff's office called Sandi and requested some source material, so she sent Carpenter a copy of Kasler and Suter's excellent and comprehensive rebuttal to the the California Police Chiefs Association's anti-gun position paper.) If you live in the area, I would suggest calling (805-654-2380) or writing (800 S. Victoria Ave., Ventura, CA 93009) the sheriff to give him some positive feedback, to counter all of the criticism that the other side will heap on him. GIVE CRIMINALS PAUSE by Larry Carpenter I have carried a badge and a gun in this county since Sept. 11, 1965, first as a city of Fillmore policeman, then, since 1969, as a deputy sheriff, and now the elected county sheriff. I remember the fear, the frustration and the outrage of the street. I am grateful that I do. My comments today pertain to Assembly Bill 638, a bill that proposes to liberalize the issue of concealed carry permits in this state. Should AB 638 become law, if you are 21 years of age, have a clean record as verified by the Department of Justice, and demonstrate competence with a firearm, you will, within 15 days of application, be granted a license to carry a concealed firearm. Why do so many people feel the need to protect themselves in this manner? How did we get to this point? There are many reasons. No one feels as safe as they did several years ago. Criminal acts seem more violent today. Simple auto thefts have become carjackings. The bad guys carry guns, the good guys don't. Gangsters shoot because of a "wrong" look. Shootings occur over a wrong turn in a residential district. Home-invasion robberies make the nightly news. In short, innocent people are having their lives turned upside down, and we see it every night on the news. People now realize that government cannot always take care of them. There seems to be a growing realization that the individual is ultimately responsible for their own well-being. There is an increasing desire by many people to "harden" the target, to fight back, for victims to utter the phrase "never again." Our laws have always recognized the individual right to self-defense. However, while the right hand gives the citizen the right to defend oneself, the left hand restricts the tools that can be used to do that. At least 26 states now have concealed carry laws like the one proposed in California. I will not address the argument of numbers, percentages, crime rates going up or down, etc., but I will offer the thought that in spite of dire predictions, the blood bath has not occurred and those states have not turned into armed camps. I am one of those "bureaucrats" who believes that we should trust the people, give them the benefit of the doubt, and deal with the aberrations as they occur, harshly if necessary. You asked me how I felt about this issue. I can tell you that I believe that the responsible possession and use of a firearm can be an asset, not just a liability to honest citizens. Criminals should have to give serious consideration to who their next victim will be. if a citizen might be carrying a firearm, their next sexual assault on a woman may not be as easy as the last one, the follow-home robbery may not be without risk. Criminals should fear law-abiding citizens, not the other way around. We must do all that we can to create a hostile environment for the criminal element. A rational concealed carry law might be one way to do that. -- Dan Wiener (wiener@pc.gcs.litton.com or dpwiener@aol.com)