South Florida’s Sun Sentinel has unleashed a bomb of a story– they’ve gone through concealed weapons records in the state, and found that there’s more holes in the concealed carry permit process than a sieve. All sorts of people who clearly shouldn’t have access to a weapon are easily obtaining permits to get one.
Garth F. Bailey, of Pembroke Pines, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in 1988 for shooting his girlfriend in the head while she cooked breakfast. Eight years later, the state of Florida gave him a license to carry a gun.
John P. Paxton Jr., then of Deerfield Beach, pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse in 1993 for grabbing his 4-year-old nephew by the neck, choking and slapping him for flicking the lights on and off. Eight years later, the state gave him a license to carry a gun.
John M. Corporal, of Lake Worth, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 1998 for pulling a chrome revolver from his waistband and placing it against his roommate’s head during an argument. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to grand theft. In February 2006, the state gave him a license to carry a gun.
Florida has given concealed weapon licenses to hundreds of people who wouldn’t have a chance of getting them in most other states because of their criminal histories. Courts have found them responsible for assaults, burglaries, sexual battery, drug possession, child molestation — even homicide.
In an investigation of the state’s concealed weapon system, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found those licensed to carry guns in the first half of 2006 included:
More than 1,400 people who pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies but qualified because of a loophole in the law.
216 people with outstanding warrants, including a Tampa pizza deliveryman wanted since 2002 for fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy over a stolen order of chicken wings.
128 people with active domestic violence injunctions against them, including a Hallandale man who was ordered by a judge to stay away from his former son-in-law after pulling a handgun out of his pocket and telling the man: “I’ll blow you away, you son of a b—-.”
Six registered sex offenders.
“I had no idea,” said Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson, who sits on an advisory panel for the state Division of Licensing, which issues concealed weapon permits. “I think the system, somewhere down the line, is broken. I guarantee you the ordinary person doesn’t know [that] … and I’d venture to guess that 160 legislators in Florida don’t know that, either.”
The Sentinel’s huge story is a must-read, and a clear look at what exactly is happening with the concealed carry process. The problem with firearms ownership is that it’s not safe for anyone to own firearms– ever. You can get all the training and experience you want, and yet sooner or later, if a firearm is involved, someone is going to get hurt. Now, the NRA’s standard response to all of this is that they only want “law-abiding gun owners” to own firearms, but they’re the ones who put this system in place originally, and this system is to blame for giving permits (and firearms) to people who shouldn’t have them. The NRA can’t have it both ways– they can’t say guns are safe in some hands, and not safe in others, because it seems that no one can tell whose hands are whose.
The problem rests with gaps within law enforcement and with “bleeding-heart, criminal-coddling judges and prosecutors,” said Marion P. Hammer, Tallahassee lobbyist for the NRA and its affiliate, the Unified Sportsmen of Florida.
“What you need to understand is the NRA and the sportsmen’s group are law-abiding people,” she said. “We don’t want bad guys to have guns.”
…”That’s incredible,” said state Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Aventura. “I just can’t believe it. It’s outrageous.”
“We should not have loopholes for these things,” said state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston. “It’s too dangerous. I think the Legislature should look at that.”
…Broward Chief Judge Dale Ross said the NRA’s stance is inconsistent.
“The NRA is mad at judges because more people are able to own guns?” he said. “I thought they were advocates of gun usage. They want less people to have guns?”
If the NRA really says they want less people to have guns, it’s just not shown in their actions. They are committed to spreading more and more firearms around this country, even, apparently, if they’re in the hands of criminals. They are to blame for these concealed carry laws (surveys show that the majority of Americans don’t even want them!), and so if these concealed carry laws are allowing felons and criminals to have weapons, the NRA is solely to blame for that as well.
The paper’s series continues tomorrow. We’ll keep an eye out for it. This is an important problem that may just condemn the process of concealed carry nationwide. If our concealed carry laws are allowing guns to be given to criminals, then even the NRA should agree it’s time to reconsider their passage.
