Conceal and Carry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conceal and Carry - Essay Example Statistics related to crime, hand gun related crime, and attempts to circumvent the law will be balanced to determine if the law has had an effect positive or negative on the state following passage. In the final view, it will be clear that the changes in legislation that make it easier for a person to receive a license to carry a concealed firearm are beneficial in: â€Å"In Minnesota, a person may not carry a pistol in a public place unless they are in possession of a permit to carry. Exceptions to the permit requirement include law enforcement officers and other defined instances (Minnesota Statutes, section 624.714). In 2003, the movement to change the permit application process from may issue (discretionary) to shall issue succeeded with the passage of Laws of Minnesota 2003, Chapter 28, Article 2. The shall issue application process limits the local law enforcement discretion provision and requires the granting of permits to all applicants who meet minimum requirements. Efforts to change Minnesota from a may issue to a shall issue state took place over several years.† (Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, 2009) It is important to recognize that there are two main issues in this case. The first is the constitutional debate over the validity of requiring permits for carrying concealed weapons. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear firearms, so it is questionable under what authority government can take away that right by requiring concealed weapons permits. The legal basis for the argument is as Justice Harlan writes in Terry vs. Ohio, namely that â€Å"concealed weapons create an immediate and severe danger to the public.† (Cornell, 2010) This is debatable under the traditional response that â€Å"guns don’t kill people, people kill people†. For example, are non-concealed weapons, openly worn or brandished, less dangerous than concealed weapons? Concealed weapons