Not All a Gun Risk

I read the article Oct. 16 about the concealed-weapon lawsuit with great interest. I wish I had the finances to take on the system like Douglas Hickman has.

I’m an insurance adjuster-investigator, NRA instructor, hunter, reloader, ex-Army. My criminal record consists of two warning tickets in over 30 years of driving. Sometimes I have to look for witnesses, without an appointment, after dark, alone, in any part of town the job takes me.

Hickman hit the nail on the head. What is a multimillionaire celebrity, who can afford the best security money can buy, doing with a concealed-weapon permit when someone who needs one to safely do his job can’t even get an application to fill out?

I asked a retired cop in our office about the celebrity protection business. He thinks about one-third of the people in that business are retired cops, immune from the permit system. One-third are off-duty cops and one-third civilians.

In other words, two-thirds have a lock on the lucrative business and are protecting it for themselves.

The official police line--that only officers can be trusted with guns--is bull. The cops have a higher than average divorce rate, alcohol misuse rate, higher suicide rate and because of their code of silence, maybe a higher rate of many other problems that the general public doesn’t know about.

If they can be trusted with carrying a concealed weapon off duty, many trained, responsible citizens should not be any greater risk to society. One armed customer in that Texas restaurant might have saved a few lives.

I’ll be watching that lawsuit, wishing Hickman the best of luck.

RON BJORNBERG, Calabasas