Here’s the scenario: FACT IS, only a small percentage at both ends of the spectrum are directly involved: Those who are utterly convinced that being able to carry a firearm under any circumstances is their absolute right, and those who are just as convinced of the opposite.
A distraught man walks into the Allen County Courthouse and after an argument brandishes a handgun. Another man — it’s tax-paying time and a crowd awaits — also draws a handgun from under cover. A distressed clerk stabs an under-counter button to alert of a problem requiring immediate law enforcement intervention. Sheriff Bryan Murphy dashes from his office and quickly confronts the two men.
His dilemma: “What do I do? Ask the bad guy to raise his hand?”
If the confrontation doesn’t dissolve immediately, Murphy said he had no recourse but to use deadly force, with both men being targets.
“I would have no other choice,” he said.
Therein is a concern that plagues law enforcement officers faced with citizens carrying concealed weapons, which may increase if a measure working it’s way through the Legislature becomes law. For whatever reasons, a substantial number of those elected to govern the state are hell-bent on permitting Kansans to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
Kansas has a concealed carry law, meaning whoever wants to strap on a shoulder holster or stick a revolver under their belt may after obtaining a permit. Included are eight hours of instruction in safety and responsibility. The training isn’t as thorough as that of law enforcement officers, but is of some comfort for society.
Murphy pointed out a license was required to hunt or fish and drive a car in Kansas. To hunt, which involves a weapon, a license isn’t issued nowadays until completion of a hunter safety course. A driver’s license also requires instruction and knowledge of laws governing use of vehicles.
But, if proponents in the Legislature have their way, anyone who can afford to buy, or otherwise obtain, a firearm will be able to go forth loaded for bear.
Murphy’s concerns are shared by many in law enforcement, upon whose shoulders dealing with gun violence falls.
“I firmly believe in the Constitution,” including the Second Amendment, Murphy added, pointing out he took an oath twice to uphold all in the document, first with the military and then in law enforcement. But, he thinks a haphazard approach with no guidance is a fool’s errand.
He doesn’t want to make a split-second decision about who is the bad guy, or for that matter for officers to approach someone in a critical or volatile situation with no idea what deadly implications might unfold. Admittedly that could occur with permitted carry, but would be less likely.
In between is the majority, and as has occurred far too often they are the ones who become victims when an extraordinary event explodes, which is happening with alarming frequency and several times this week.
Concealed carry without permits an ode to the odious
