Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun?
Derrick D. Mitchener
PHI210
Dr William Stone
April 21st , 2021
The topic I choose was should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun. As a responsible owner with a concealed carry license, I feel it is important to have and use this right. I don’t carry a weapon for a show, I carry it cause I can as an American. I’ve been to many wars had a handgun and rifle and had to use them many times. I’ve done countless hours of firearms training while in the military and with the local authority. I hope by the end of this paper you will see why and maybe be more subjective to why I feel adults have the right to carry concealed weapons.
The three premises I chose from the website pro/con website are:
1. Permitting concealed handguns increases crime.
The interesting or helpful about this view is that it is a good form of logic. Peter Elbow says” We can use logic to strengthen arguments for or against the claim, but we cannot prove or disprove it.” This point of view of crime increasing I tend not to believe is true because of carrying a concealed handgun. Carry a handgun comes with many responsibilities, and being a product of producing more crime is not one of them. If I was on the other side of this debate, I would be looking for people who carry concealed weapons, looking at what their intention is. I would be living in a panic mood all the time, afraid someone carrying a weapon was going to commit a crime. I might tend to believe this if the statistic showed more about concealed carry crimes. More understanding of why you feel and understand from your point of view, looking more at it from an unbias position.
Concealed carry application requirements and background checks do not prevent dangerous people from acquiring weapons
What's interesting about this view is that this has been proving to be true. We’ve seen a situation where incidents have happened where people have been hurt and killed. These incidents have nothing to do with concealed carry. These incidents were done to purposely hurt people with powerful rifles. As Peter Elbow states” The widespread veneration of “critical thinking” illustrates how our intellectual culture venerates skepticism and doubting”. I would believe this if I didn’t know the difference between the type of carries in the state. The requirements and lengthy background check for a concealed carry license. We have to be better educated in the process and laws and what it takes for this type of license and just not generalize everyone in one group. This might be true if the statement was worded differently, Concealed carry application requirements and background checks do not prevent dangerous people from acquiring handguns. The word weapons mean any type of weapon. As stated before you we tend to put everyone in one big group.
3. Public safety should be left to professionally qualified police officers, not private citizens with little or no expert training.
What's interesting about this point of view is no one is trying to do the polices job. What does this have to do with concealed carry? As far as training concealed weapons carrier training is required to get your permit to carry concealed. I would notice if I believe the view would be everyone coming out there homes shooting at strangers in the neighborhood trying to protect their homes. I understand what they're trying to say, but believing that statement is just hard to do. This statement could be true if we had an increase in home shooting with concealed gun owners shooting in their homes. Having an increase in homeowner incidents while on patrol during there neighborhood watch program.
In conclusion, concealed carry will always be an issue that is surrounded by controversy. As a responsible gun owner, we must understand some of the statements against concealed carry. As a gun owner being honest with myself and how people feel about certain issues. This is no doubt a hot issue throughout the United States, that people need to be more flexible and willing to look at this from all perspectives. I understand some people will firm and stand there ground, but some will listen and opinion starts to change through listening and understanding something more different. Peter Elbow states” both sides in an argument are often right; or that both are right in a sense; or that both positions are implicitly pointing to some larger, wiser position that both arguers can agree on.” I hope by looking at things with a more open mind you may now be more subjective to understand why I believe in concealed carry for an individual with the correct credentials.
References
1. Elbow, P. (2012). Vernacular Eloquence: What Speech Can Bring to Writing. New York, NY: OUP USA.
2. Soomo Webtext Critical Thinking.
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