[UA] Explain American laws to me

[Eric Christian Berg]

On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, John Tynes wrote:

> Just about anyone without a crimi nal record can get a concealed-weapons 
> permit issued by the state they live in. This allows you to carry a 
> firearm concealed, under your clothes or whatever. Permits still have 
> some restrictions. In Washington state, for example, you can't carry your 
> concealed weapon into any establishment that serves alcohol, or into 
> banks. Probably not government offices, either.

This is incorrect. The laws are highly variable. In many places (most
large cities I've looked into), you have to have an extremely good reason
in order to get a concealed weapon permit. Self-defense usually gets your
application a spot in the circular file. Other places will issue them as
you suggest, to pretty much anyone without a criminal record.

A good example of how much this can vary, in the San Francisco Bay area,
Oakland and Sausalito are extremely liberal about issueing CCWs while San
Francisco itself is draconian (the quote I heard was that they'd issued
something like two in four years). 

-- 
Eric Christian Berg
System Administrator, Comptek Amherst Systems
(716) 631-0088 ext. 199
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