I was at a relative’s house for Memorial Day today. After we got through with all the barbecuing and cleaning up, I discovered someone was watching some series called “The First 48″ on Netflix. Come to find out, it’s an original series on A&E, about real homicide cases and the pressure cooker that big city homicide detectives are under in order to get as much done in the first 48 hours after the reported homicide, because the statistics supposedly show that the chances of clearance go way down after two days.
One of the episodes was from Miami, and a murder on the lawn of some housing projects that are known colloquially as “Pork and Beans.” Miami Homicide was able to catch up to two suspects, one of whom was 17 years old. A big part of the reason why they were able to get enough evidence to convince a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest is that during the tense 48 hours, the young man’s older brother was brought in because Miami P.D. caught him carrying a handgun without a CCW permit. It didn’t say directly, but the clear implication was that the older brother was at least 21 (IIRC, he was exactly 21) and didn’t have a felony record or another sort of criminal history that disqualified one from owning firearms.
On July 29 of last year, I said this in this space:
Lost in the hubbub over [Arizona SB] 1070 is that Constitutional Carry goes into affect in Arizona today, meaning that CCW is considered a fundamental right (i.e. does not need a permit) for those 21 and older who aren’t legally prohibited from owning concealable firearms (“handguns”). What I’m about to say isn’t going to go over too well in certain circles. I don’t think it’ll be a disaster, but I would have been more comfortable with the state reducing the permit cost and/or lengthening the time validity of a permit and/or reducing the number of hours of training. I think there are just times when a card permit in hand while carrying a gun is technically and physically safer for everyone. And I think it’s got to do with race, especially black and Hispanic.
Surprisingly, I didn’t get any grief from the 2nd Amendment purists from that opinion. In fact, one of my secret squirrel sources, this one in Arizona of all places, said that he agreed with me and wished that Gov. Brewer would have vetoed Constitutional Carry for that reason. (Had the state legislature passed it this year instead of last, she actually might have, judging from her veto of guns on campus several weeks ago). He relayed to me this story from the NBC affiliate in Tucson, (posting its entirety here in case it goes stale soon):
UA football player suspended for team violations
TUCSON – Wide receiver and senior-to-be Delashaun Dean has been suspended by Head Coach Mike Stoops.
Tucson Police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco confirmed that his suspension stems from a concealed firearms violation that occurred Saturday morning at the IHOP, 4187 North Oracle Rd.
According to police, a customer say Dean flashing a gun inside the restaurant and called police. Police responded immediately, but found no gun in Dean’s possession.
Police say they then found two guns underneath Dean’s vehicle, parked outside the restaurant. Dean claimed ownership of one, but said the other was not his, according to Pacheco.
Dean was cited with a concealed weapons violation, a class one misdemeanor, and released at the scene.
Tom Duddleston with the Arizona Athletics media relations told News 4 “Dean has been indefinitely suspended from the team due to a violation of team rules.”
Then secret squirrel said this:
Now, this is the kind of guy who probably shouldn’t be allowed to own a gun, let alone carry one. If you can’t spend the $120 for the CCW class and background check, show up for class, pay attention, and put 10 rounds on paper from 15 feet away, you shouldn’t carry one. The system is so easy that if you have a pulse and a clean record, you can get a CCW permit in Arizona.
Of course, the CCW system doesn’t prevent people from carrying illegally, but it does give law-enforcement the ability to throw the book at black and hispanic thugs who think that walking around with a Glock tucked in their shorts is a good idea (like Plaxico Burress, though he also got an involuntary body piercing as an added bonus).
Had the above UA football player waited until July 29 (the effective date of the concealed carry law) to pull this stunt, he wouldn’t have been arrested — or if he was he couldn’t have been charged with CCW sans permit. I don’t think the CCW permit system we have *prevented* anyone from carrying a gun (when I didn’t have a permit, I just carried openly) but it sure helped the police by giving them a reason to arrest PTBs and such when no other reason would suffice. Come July 29 that tool for law enforcement will be gone.
As an aside, I now think that the Plaxico Burress “shooting” inside that night club wasn’t as much an accident as we’re led to believe. A Glock just doesn’t “go off” for no reason.
Why am I bringing this up now? If Florida would have had Constitutional Carry, then the Miami P.D. would have never been able to bring in the suspect’s brother, and therefore would have never gotten a crucial lead that led to the apprehension of two murder suspects.
If you happen to be a state Governor, and Constitutional Carry gets to your desk, I recommend you veto it. Especially if your state has a lot of blacks and Hispanics. Should you get a lot of heat from the 2nd Amendment purists, then go directly to white voters with the race argument. Or if you’re too chicken to do that, then two words: Dog Whistling.
[...] said in this space during our last national holiday that I would veto ConCarry if I were the Governor of a state with a heavy black or Hispanic population. Wyoming doesn’t seem to be so “enriched,” so no big deal [...]