Sheriff Backs Relaxing Rules on Concealed-Weapons Permits

Although he has seen his younger brother and fellow officers die from gunshot wounds, Ventura County Sheriff Larry Carpenter told a group of National Rifle Assn. members Thursday that law-abiding citizens should have the right to carry concealed weapons.

“I’ve seen the results and misuses of firearms and have yet to adopt the stance that firearms are evil. They are a tool that can be used for good or bad,” Carpenter said at the meeting in Thousand Oaks.

Calling himself a strong advocate of liberal “right-to-carry” laws, the sheriff fielded questions from about 100 members of the east county chapter of the NRA about the recently passed Assembly bill that would relax California’s restrictions on issuing permits for concealed weapons.

Carpenter is not the only law enforcement official in the county backing the bill. In October, Mike Markey, a Thousand Oaks councilman and Compton homicide detective, came out in favor of loosening restrictions.

Though in favor of the bill, Carpenter said the proposed legislation does not require enough training in firearm safety.

“It does not prepare you to carry a concealed weapon in a public place or in a hostile environment,” Carpenter said. “It doesn’t tell you what to do in an airport when you’re carrying, or when you’re carrying a concealed weapon in a movie theater.”

Now, concealed weapons permits are selectively handed out by top law enforcement officials in each jurisdiction. Those officials, typically police chiefs or county sheriffs, decide whether an individual has just cause to carry a weapon.

Carrying a loaded concealed weapon without a permit is now a misdemeanor.

If the Assembly bill becomes law, any resident who is 21 or older, has a clean record and can also demonstrate competence with a firearm may be granted a license to carry a concealed weapon.

Foes of the law argue that it will lead to higher crime rates.

Florida passed the nation’s first liberalized concealed weapons law in 1987. Twenty-eight states now have relaxed concealed weapons laws, many of them modeled after Florida’s law. Since that law went into effect, Florida’s homicide rate has dropped 22%, while the national rate has risen by 15%.