OPINION:
I read the editorial about the problems caused by Chicago’s gun-control laws and could not agree more that the city needs to allow residents to have the tools to defend their communities (“Guns needed to stop Chicago murders,” Comment & Analysis, Thursday).
This illustrates why Maryland and the District need to go a step or two further along the same road and begin the process of changing their concealed-carry bans to put their laws in line with the majority of the states. A total of 41 states allow their residents concealed-carry permits without requiring a special show of need. Others, such as Alaska, Vermont and Arizona, allow for carrying without a permit.
Dangerous events have occurred in the Washington area in recent weeks. While relative calm prevailed in Virginia, West Virginia and other surrounding states that permit concealed-carry, criminals have preyed on people in both the District and suburban Maryland. It is an established fact that criminals fear armed victims, and nowhere that liberalized concealed-carry has been implemented has the prediction of wanton mayhem been realized.
To the contrary, violent crime has been reduced in those states. The first state to pass a liberalized concealed-carry law was Florida in 1988. There were the usual screamers from the Statehouse in Tallahassee, but to their credit, a few years later, they became public advocates as they saw the liberalization working as predicted. We need to pressure Annapolis and Washington to take the inexpensive, proactive measures that are certain to create safer streets. Politicians with armed guards and escorts may think they know better, but they don’t - and it is time to give those who don’t have government-supplied bodyguards the means to defend themselves and their communities.
NORMAN HENDRICKSON
Bowie, Md.
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