![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pixiecrinkleToday is an odd day. I keep discovering that I am talking aloud as I'm typing. Not a terrible thing when I'm coding, but when I am writing emails and such....not so great.
We got a mass email here at work today about Ohio's Concealed Carry Law, which goes into effect next week. We are, as a quasi-government agency, allowed to keep guns out of our building, apart from the Sheriff's deputy in the lobby. How we are to know if someone carries one in is not clear to me.
I hadn't really thought about this at all before, because it's so out of my realm of understanding to even come up with the desire to carry a gun while doing something as mundane as running errands or going to work. (I have enough trouble juggling keys/wallet/cellphone/ipod/laptop without having to worry about a potentially deadly item as well.)
This is especially worrisome too, since one of our sister agencies did have a person show up with a gun to their office a few years ago because of a denied disability case. I can't imagine what people who work in more "controversial" lines of work are thinking. They had a piece on the news a few nights ago about all the new training emergency medical personnel are having to take when dealing with a patient with a concealed weapon. That never occured to me either.
I'm wondering, if so much of this never occured to me, how much of it actually occured to the people who thought this was a good idea in the first place??
I've got the househunting bug again I think. I've been mulling over the idea of a condo for the past few years, but after living in my current apartment, which is a townhouse, for several years now, I think I might be better served by a small house. I did find something cute today, but it's on the upper end of my price range. Found a second cute one in the same area too, but it's so far on the lower end of my range that I fear it could be a total dump.
I may take a drive this afternoon and try to find both of them. Both are qualified for some of the programs they have to get people to move downtown in Columbus (convenient, since I have no desire to live elsewhere in the city) but the one in particular I actually have too much income to qualify for. I was closer than I expected to their limit though, so I might be able to find another program that works for me. The good thing is, that even if my financial situation makes it impossible for me to buy a place, I still love the apartment I live in, so I'm happy where I am.
Am going to see The Company tonight with K & S. I already told them I'd probably miss dinner because I thought I'd have to work late, but now I'm thinking I'll get out of here at a decent time, and may use that time to drive by these places instead. Hmmmm.....wheels are turning.
We got a mass email here at work today about Ohio's Concealed Carry Law, which goes into effect next week. We are, as a quasi-government agency, allowed to keep guns out of our building, apart from the Sheriff's deputy in the lobby. How we are to know if someone carries one in is not clear to me.
I hadn't really thought about this at all before, because it's so out of my realm of understanding to even come up with the desire to carry a gun while doing something as mundane as running errands or going to work. (I have enough trouble juggling keys/wallet/cellphone/ipod/laptop without having to worry about a potentially deadly item as well.)
This is especially worrisome too, since one of our sister agencies did have a person show up with a gun to their office a few years ago because of a denied disability case. I can't imagine what people who work in more "controversial" lines of work are thinking. They had a piece on the news a few nights ago about all the new training emergency medical personnel are having to take when dealing with a patient with a concealed weapon. That never occured to me either.
I'm wondering, if so much of this never occured to me, how much of it actually occured to the people who thought this was a good idea in the first place??
I've got the househunting bug again I think. I've been mulling over the idea of a condo for the past few years, but after living in my current apartment, which is a townhouse, for several years now, I think I might be better served by a small house. I did find something cute today, but it's on the upper end of my price range. Found a second cute one in the same area too, but it's so far on the lower end of my range that I fear it could be a total dump.
I may take a drive this afternoon and try to find both of them. Both are qualified for some of the programs they have to get people to move downtown in Columbus (convenient, since I have no desire to live elsewhere in the city) but the one in particular I actually have too much income to qualify for. I was closer than I expected to their limit though, so I might be able to find another program that works for me. The good thing is, that even if my financial situation makes it impossible for me to buy a place, I still love the apartment I live in, so I'm happy where I am.
Am going to see The Company tonight with K & S. I already told them I'd probably miss dinner because I thought I'd have to work late, but now I'm thinking I'll get out of here at a decent time, and may use that time to drive by these places instead. Hmmmm.....wheels are turning.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-04-06 03:44 pm (UTC)I know you and I think very differently about guns, but I thought I'd offer up some perspectives from someone who *is* familiar with and an advocate of concealed-carry rights. I agree with you on the above, to an extent. I plan to get my permit (Kentucky has offered it for some time), but I don't think I will actually carry a gun very often. Like you said, it is a BIG responsibility. When you're carrying one, you always have to know if, when, and how you would or wouldn't use it. Sometimes having one can be more complicated than *not* having one, when you think about the decisions you might have to make. I don't *always* want to have to think about that - but there are times that I will. In my own home, I would have *zero* trouble using a gun, I can tell you that right now. I've given it quite a bit of thought. Out in the community is another matter.
My dad always owned guns and was an adamant NRA member, and my husband also collects them and enjoys shooting, as does his family...so it's something I've always been comfortable around. I got a .22 semiautomatic for my 18th birthday. I'm used to both my dad and my husband carrying guns in their everyday lives...to the store, in their cars, whatever. I also trust them both implicitly with regard to gun safety, or I wouldn't allow them near me while carrying - I'm freakishly careful about that. My dad has more of a reason to carry than my husband does - he manages some properties in downtown areas and has to visit them late at night when there are disturbances. My husband doesn't have so much of an actual need to use one, but he carries because he can. We have a family friend who used to be a tall, healthy, athletic basketball coach and teacher. Now he's in a wheelchair and can't move anything below his neck, because he was carjacked and shot at a McDonald's in Columbus a few years ago. Would he be able to walk now if he'd been able to protect himself more? Maybe. The guy who shot him didn't think twice about carrying a gun - so it would have been nice if David had had a fair chance to defend himself too.
"They had a piece on the news a few nights ago about all the new training emergency medical personnel are having to take when dealing with a patient with a concealed weapon. That never occured to me either."
Frankly, it's not the people with legal concealed carry permits you have to worry about. People who go to the trouble of following the law and registering for their permits are way less dangerous than most people who commit crimes without any regard for gun laws. Criminals don't care about the law - that's why they're criminals. Know what I mean? I've known since I was a teenager what to do if I was stopped with a gun in the car - place my hands on the steering wheel and calmly tell the officer that he/she should know there's a gun in the glove compartment or wherever. Trust me, following the rules, my family and I aren't dangerous. We might even be able to help you. The main reason I see for allowing concealed carry is what I said above - criminals don't care at all about obeying the law and the rights of others. If they're not going to disarm, why should we?
(comment continued below - it got too long for LJ to accept - that's a first for me!)