In Florida and Illinois, concealed-weapons debate lays bare the politics of gun control

usnews.nbcnews.com ^ | 13 December, 2012 | M. Alex Johnson

[marktwain]

Two states, two takes: Even as Illinois officials are lamenting a court order requiring them to let state residents carry concealed weapons, Florida officials are boasting about just how many hundreds of thousands of state residents are carrying concealed weapons.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam happily announced Wednesday that some time next week, Florida would become the first state with more than 1 million residents holding "active" concealed-carry permits. That's proof, said Putnam — whose agency administers the permit program — of Florida's "strong tradition in upholding Second Amendment rights."

As Putnam spoke at a news conference Wednesday, anguished officials in Illinois, including Gov. Pat Quinn, were strategizing how to respond after the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered state lawmakers to write a law legalizing concealed carry to uphold Second Amendment rights.

It's quite a dichotomy: Illinois for the moment is the only state where you can't legally carry a concealed weapon (the court gave Illinois lawmakers 180 days to come up with a law legalizing it).

By contrast, Florida is quite proud of being the most heavily armed state, at least in terms of concealed weapons permits.

[marktwain]

We are winning, when even NBC realizes that there are two sides to the debate. We will have won when the MSM recognizes that the debate was a fraud perpetrated by "progressives" to disarm the population.

[V_TWIN]

“Florida is quite proud of being the most heavily armed state, at least in terms of concealed weapons permits.”

And I am proud to say I am one of those Floridians with a CCW.

My cube mate at work and his wife just took their CCW class
last week, he reports there were atleast 90 people in his class.

[JimRed]

...the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered state lawmakers to write a law legalizing concealed carry to uphold Second Amendment rights.

That mindset is a big part of the problem. They don't need to "write a law", they only have to rescind the laws that infringe on the right.

[umgud]

So, a FL resident can be trusted with 2A rights, but if he moves to IL, he can’t be trusted?

[Elderberry]

Since Florida will issue permits to people living in other states, I wonder how many of the “1 million” don’t live in Florida.

[bigbob]

And I don’t remember hearing of murderous rampages in the streets of Tallahassee...

[Pollster1]

And I don’t remember hearing of murderous rampages in the streets of Tallahassee...

That's because you're not listening to the official narrative from four hours southeast of Tallahassee - a young, unarmed, African American boy bringing skittles and iced tea home to his little brother was gunned down in cold blood by an armed white Hispanic CCW holder who stalked and murdered him.