Unrestricted vs. "Shall Issue"

[iamhunter]

What is everyone's opinion on the "Shall Issue" policy vs. a straight, unrestricted policy?

I was recently considering a move to Alaska, and did some research on their CCW laws only to find out they have unrestricted carry laws....

Seems pretty awesome to me. And even in lieu of this, they have fairly low homicide rates.

Take a place like DC... with no gun ownership period, and it has the highest homicide rate by over 200%.

Seems to me like the whole permit thing really doesn't accomplish that much...

Discuss.

[Irving]

I think part of the idea behind permits is to be able to bust punks and thugs who were up to no good while carrying a gun. Kind of like how you can get pulled over here with pot in your car and more likely than not, the PD will just throw your weed away and let you go. However, if you are a known gang banger, they'll use the weed to trump up your charges, or detain you, that kind of thing.

Also, be careful comparing a place like Alaska to a place like D.C. It is like comparing the murder rates of the Pawnee Grasslands and the most dense part of Aurora.

[Batteriesnare]

I wish this whole country was unrestricted in carry, especially in places like LA, DC, NY ect...

[TFOGGER]

Alaska is unique in that the state does not require permits, but will issue them to allow reciprocity with other states. Permits do tend to keep every Tom, Dick, and Harry from packing heat with no training, but overall, I think that a system like Alaska's is preferable to either a fully permitted system (Colorado), or a wholly unrestricted system(Vermont). Alaska law does have a number of restrictions on where you can carry, so it might be worth taking a state specific carry class, just so you know the law.

[Jumpstart]

Un-restricted carry. Un-restricted concealed carry. F T Paperwork.

[iamhunter]

I think part of the idea behind permits is to be able to bust punks and thugs who were up to no good while carrying a gun. Kind of like how you can get pulled over here with pot in your car and more likely than not, the PD will just throw your weed away and let you go. However, if you are a known gang banger, they'll use the weed to trump up your charges, or detain you, that kind of thing.

Also, be careful comparing a place like Alaska to a place like D.C. It is like comparing the murder rates of the Pawnee Grasslands and the most dense part of Aurora.

The idea behind permits is nothing. Punks and thugs don't GET permits. They just break the law and carry without.

And Believe it or not the population of Alaska exceeds that of washington DC... so it's not all that strange of a comparison. Anchorage has a 300,000 person population... and is enough of a "city" to make it comparable.

DC has the lowest gun ownership, and yet the highest incident of violent crime.

Australia banned guns a year or so ago. And violent crime shot up over 300%.

Switzerland has near 100% gun ownership, and yet the lowest violent crime rates om the world.

See the correlation?

[iamhunter]

Alaska is unique in that the state does not require permits, but will issue them to allow reciprocity with other states. Permits do tend to keep every Tom, Dick, and Harry from packing heat with no training, but overall, I think that a system like Alaska's is preferable to either a fully permitted system (Colorado), or a wholly unrestricted system(Vermont). Alaska law does have a number of restrictions on where you can carry, so it might be worth taking a state specific carry class, just so you know the law.

Alaska's restrictions are schools, courthouses, and domestic violence shelters.

Not all that far-reaching.

[Irving]

What I was trying to point out, is that as population gets more dense, crime goes up. I think even in a perfect world, that will always hold true.

[iamhunter]

What I was trying to point out, is that as population gets more dense, crime goes up. I think even in a perfect world, that will always hold true.

I agree, but the point I was making is that relative to it's population density, Anchorage's homicide rates are average/low.

While given DC's population density, it's homicide rates are atleast THREE TIMES normal.

Given that Alaska has unrestricted carry, and DC has pretty much a no-weapons policy,

it would seem that Unrestricted carry isn't the great evil many would have us believe.

[Irving]

Sorry to go in a different direction with your thread, but another thing to consider is how close D.C. and Anchorage are to other cities. A lot of the reason that Denver doesn't have a large gang problem, is because it is 600 miles from the next town near its size. It's not like the midwest where another major city is just a few hours drive away. Anchorage is probably the same thing.

As far as what you are actually asking, I think it wouldn't change much of who carries. It is still going to be gun owners who are aware of, and active about their rights, and thugs. The middle ground Fudds who just hunt once in a while or something aren't going to carry either way.