A Law Unto Himself, Continued

Doug Hester is all over Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s dubious record at issuing/renewing legal concealed carry permits, in part three of a series (parts 1 and 2 here):

As one can see by examining the tables, Ramsey County has consistently denied more than 11 percent of the handgun carry applications it has received, more than four times the rate denied by Hennepin County, which has the largest population in the state, and more than 11 times the rate of St. Louis County, which generally has a comparable number of applications. The question that immediately comes to mind is: Why is Ramsey County’s handgun permit application denial rate so much higher than comparable counties, or even counties with a higher population and presumably a much higher crime rate?

Read the whole thing.

10 thoughts on “A Law Unto Himself, Continued

  1. I’ve been given the privilege of a heads-up on the fourth installment, and it’s amazing. I’m not going to spoil it, but even I wouldn’t have believed that Fletcher couldn’t — well, you’ll all see.

  2. Mitch,

    I’ll assume the story is true – i.e. not question the facts, and then say that I think ‘shall issue’ is fine – except for the stupid “XYZ Bans guns on these premises” requirements in the statute. It doesn’t lower crime, it doesn’t make it worse.

    A question – If you want to carry a gun and your sherrif wont issue you a permit to carry a concealed weapon (and I agree he/she should without reasonable justification), wearing a holster is always a solution, is it not?

  3. wearing a holster is always a solution, is it not?

    Absolutely not!

    To clarify; the Minnesota permit to carry is NOT a “concealed carry” permit; it is in fact a permit to carry, regardless of whether it’s concealed or open. (Social grace pretty much forces a non-police carrier to conceal the firearm).

    If you have no permit, you may not carry a usable firearm outside your home or place of business at all (transporting firearms has conditions, the big one being “can’t use it”; secured in a case, in the trunk, not loaded, etc) under Minnesota law. It’s a non-trivial misdeanor.

  4. Thanks for the clarification. Actually, i knew this answer had I thought about it. I know the transport rules, but I guess I thought if you weren’t in a vehicle, you had certain liberty. The rules for having a weapon in a vehicle (a privelege) aren’t necessarily the same as carrying on your person NOT in a vehicle. Clearly i can carry a weapon to hunt, where does that line stop?

  5. I’m not familiar with hunting rules; as former governor Ventura notes, once you’ve hunted human, nothing else compares.

  6. Yup. There are some states — Arizona and New Mexico come to mind — where you need a “conceal and carry” permit to, well, conceal and carry, but can lawfully carry a handgun sans permit as long as it’s not concealed. (In fact, in Arizona, as long as a sliver of the holster is not concealed, the gun is not concealed.)

    Minnesota isn’t one of those states.

  7. As to the social graces thing, I think it depends. I’m going to be speaking to Sisters in Crime tonight — 7:30; Once Upon a Crime — and I intend to be carrying openly there, and don’t expect it’ll be any kind of a problem. I never walk into SLPPD carrying other than openly; I wouldn’t want anybody I don’t know there to spot a bulge and worry about it.

    Shopping at the Wedge? Different matter.

  8. I’ve spoken about carry issues with a coworker who is located in Phoenix. She said it is not at all uncommon to see people walking down the streets with a holster completely unconcealed, in broad daylight, just like a cop would carry. I told her that a person doing that in Minneapolis would cause a veritable panic stampede with multiple people calling the cops, even though it is completely and technically legal according to state statute. And that the carrier would likely get approached by police, if not AGGRESSIVELY approached by the police. Her response was:

    “*rolls eyes* Good lord. You people are a bunch of PUSSIES up there!”

  9. Pingback: Progress We Can Live With | Shot in the Dark

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