A Bit of the Old West

Many law enforcement leaders correctly support tougher restrictions on guns, and it is disappointing to note that Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona is not one of them. Instead, he has been making good on a campaign promise to grant permits to more people.

In campaigning for the job in 1998, Carona said he would be more liberal in granting permission to carry concealed firearms than his predecessor, Brad Gates. So his decision hardly comes as a surprise. He had promised to give permits only to those who could show they had no criminal record, would undergo 16 hours of training and could give a good reason for needing a weapon.

As of early December, the Sheriff’s Department had signed off on 482 concealed-weapons permits for the year, compared with 308 given out by the end of 1998, Gates’ last year in office. Carona also has increased the number of denials, rejecting 319 of the applications received, making some observers comfortable with his policy. But others properly note that the overall result surely will be an increase in the number of concealed weapons on the streets. As Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden observes, police officers increasingly have to confront people carrying handguns.

Though some police chiefs are not bothered by the policy, others believe the fewer guns on the street the better. There are legitimate concerns that relaxed standards might lead to a surge in illegal shootings. Three departments in the county have taken back their authority to issue concealed-weapons permits, which they had yielded to Gates out of confidence he would be strict in deciding who could carry guns.

Carona would be better off following the strict policy of Los Angeles County, which has issued only 48 permits among its nearly 10 million residents. Instead, he is going in the direction of San Diego County, which has about the same population as Orange County but has issued 1,500 permits.