Tell me if I'm wrong, please. Seems that every time I read an article, letter to the editor or cartoon decrying concealed weapons, the writer or cartoonist conveniently forgets to differentiate between legally concealed weapons and illegally concealed weapons.
There is a big difference in my mind. A person who is legally carrying a concealed weapon has had safety training and a thorough background check by various police agencies; this person carries the weapon for a perceived need of defense of family, self and/or property. A person who illegally carries a concealed weapon does so without the authorization of any police agency and for only one conceivable purpose, to do something illegal (i.e., commit a violent crime).Whether at church, at school or anywhere else (yes, even an Olympic venue), I'd feel much safer with a whole stadium full of legal concealed weapons carriers than I would in a place where weapons are banned all together and only one person with an illegal concealed weapon manages to enter.
Simple statistical probability suggests that some day, somewhere, a legal concealed weapon carrier will use the weapon wrongly (the media will have a field day). Meanwhile, every day in Utah and across the nation, thousands of illegally concealed weapons continue to hurt and intimidate, their illegal carriers making other humans scared and miserable.
Milton A. Maughan
Brigham City