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It is hard to understand US gun laws and in particular Arizona's laws.  I thought that contrasting Arizona laws with the US Military regulations and training might not clear up the mystery, but show how strange the whole thing is.

The shooting in Arizona certainly brought out a lot of discussion in the media and neighbour to neighbour here in Canada.

One interesting TV interview was on CNN's The Parker Spitzer Show.  They interviewed gun expert Alan Korwin, author of "The Arizona Gun Owner's Guide" and owner and operator of Gunlaws.com,  He is National Rifle Association Member.  The NRA is the powerful gun lobby group that has tried to block any and all gun control legislation in the US. 

Their most famous of which was the result of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.  This resulted from the crippling of Reagan aid James Brady and the act was named after as the Brady Handgun Provision Act.  The NRA fought this act with millions in lobby and advertising money as it does for every change proposed to limit guns.

Mr. Korwin was asked about the shooting spree in Tucson.  He maintained that having more guns in the public hands is better and limiting ammunition in the clips of automatic weapons is dangerous.  His thoughts on this were organized around the idea of running out of ammunition, when the bad guy has plenty.

More guns in the 'right' hands  is advocated by the NRA.   Their theory is that an armed populace protects itself against the criminal and the madman by engendering fear in them.  The idea is simple.  If they know we are armed, they will hesitate to perpetrate a crime.  Correspondingly, they advocate the death penalty for murder as a deterrent

Even though Mr. Korwin was from Arizona, he did not realize that two other young men at the site of the horrific crime were in fact armed.  One of them was interviewed on the Parker-Spitzer show at another time.

He was in a Walgreen Drugstore at the Mall, when he heard gunshots.  He rushed outside and tried to assist.  While doing so he saw another person with a gun.  They eyed each other, both with guns near ready.  For some reason, they decided not to fire at each other, but to go about helping the victims and helping to sit on the killer.

Three young men near the same age all with guns.  One guy was  the bad guy and the two gun carrying citizens did not shoot each other or others in the melee.  They did not help in the initial shooting, which happened very quickly.  If the killer had not been restrained by others, it is hard to imagine what would have happened.

The young man interviewed said he always carries a gun and goes to the range often.  What training he has had is unknown.

The Military in the United States and Guns

It's interesting to contrast how guns are handled in the military in the United States.  Here is a brief  summary of gun training and use in the United States Marine Corps:

• In Boot Camp, the recruit goes to the rifle range and does dry practice for at least 3 weeks before firing for record, which takes another week.  This includes all aspects of the weapon including safety, cleaning and proper techniques of fire for effect including hours and hours of breath control and reducing the pulse..  Only after this is the recruit allowed to qualify for the various stages of rifle and gun proficiency.  At the range rifles are issued and ammunition is accounted for round by round.  The drill instructors are very wary of the new recruit regardless of his background as a hunter at home.  In fact the hunters often don't make the highest honour as an expert rifleman because they carry too many bad habits.

• Off the rifle range no ammo is issued to the recruits, ever.  No guns are taken off base on liberty.

• Once the recruit graduates 12 weeks of boot camp, he goes to combat training where he is instructed in all the weapons up to the machine gun and mortar including grenades, anti-tank weapons and hand to hand weapons.  This can include the most dangerous of all hand held weapons the flame thrower.  At each stage, the recruit is managed by an experienced weapons expert.

• Once done with advanced combat training the recruit goes into military specialty training where more weapons training occurs. 

• Training continues throughout their career and each year the Marine must qualify with standard weapons.  This includes all Marines up to and including Commanding Generals.

• Unless on guard duty, training or in a combat zones or on special  missions the Marine does not walk around armed and certainly would not be allowed off base with a weapon unless doing Military Police duty. When in any of these situations, the weapon is never concealed.

 Arizona Gun Laws

The Arizona gun laws have been weakened over the past few years culminating in the July 29, 2010 law change that did the following:

The change is part of a broad weapons law by state Sen. Russell Pearce passed by the state Legislature in April that eases restrictions on concealed carry and stiffens penalties for committing a crime while carrying a concealed weapon.

The law is one of many passed by the state Legislature this past session that go into effect today.

Arizona joins Alaska and Vermont as the only states to allow concealed weapons without a permit.

However, the impact of the law is likely to be different in Arizona than those states because Arizona's population is much larger and because the state has major metropolitan areas.

"It's one thing to carry a loaded weapon in public when your closest neighbor is a mile or 5 miles away," said Brian Malte, director of state legislation for the Brady Campaign, an interest group that lobbies for gun regulations. "It's a very different situation when you're in a densely-populated urban environment."

But that lack of precedent makes it difficult to predict the law's impact.

Opponents say that without permitting and training, individuals might place themselves in situations where they might break the law or hurt themselves and others.

Proponents say that concealed carry is not substantially different from open carry, which the state already allows without a permit, and that the new law simply lets law-abiding citizens carry weapons in whatever way is most comfortable.

The law has already created changes for the firearms community, local businesses and police departments. It has also galvanized gun-rights groups to seek further deregulation.

Source Arizona Repulic

Submitted by Mike Sterling Southampton

 

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011