Colorado is not the only state currently considering Constitutional Carry. South Carolina and New Hampshire both have bills fighting their way through the state legislatures right now. Both bills are progressing steadily. If all three of these states pass these bills, the number of Constitutional Carry states will double from 3 to 6. Currently Vermont does not have a conceal carry permit, and Alaska and Arizona both permit conceal carry without a permit, though you can still get a permit if you want to.

The primary idea behind Constitutional Carry is that if you are legally able to buy and own a gun, you should be able to carry that weapon without having to jump through more bureaucratic hoops. And there are those out there who believe that the Second Ammendment is the only license they need to carry a gun.

This law is of course currently controversial because of the recent shooting of Arizona Representative Gifffords. Mr. Loughner was carrying his Glock 19 pistol legally concealed without a permit that day. This frustrates a lot of people, but the truth is, even if there was a law against it, he would have done it anyway. And no one would have stopped him.

The reality is that as much damage as guns can cause, you can’t actually hurt anyone simply by carrying one. You have to actually use it for it to be dangerous. And if you have a gun legally, you have already shown yourself to be trustworthy up to a point. An additional hurdle is effective at keeping some people from carrying guns, but not the type of people you should be worried about. The people you should be worried about are the ones that don’t care if it’s legal or not, the ones who carry a gun and don’t give a fuck. Those are the people who should be feared. And this is another reason that we carry guns, because there are people out there who refuse to follow the rules. But the rules imposed on us as law abiding citizens restrict our ability protect ourselves from those who couldn’t give a shit about the law. Constitutional Carry does not magically create murderous criminals, it does away with barriers that impede only law abiding citizens.

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