The above was splashed across the local paper’s front page on November 3rd as if LR was suddenly being invaded or subject to some type of terrorist’s conspiracy or supremacist’s plot.
The report’s details later revealed that since January 2010 to date that 16 folks were arrested for attempting to board with a handgun out of 4 million passengers in that same time. My calculator can’t carry out that many decimals, but it is a very, very small percentage. Of course the paper made a big deal out of the fact that three folks in one month during this period was significant to something or other. Implications, who knows what they were trying to stir up, but a little research just may explain the sudden up-tick.
In early 2011 the Arkansas legislature passed into law that non-violent felons will no longer go to prison; they will be put back out onto the streets of Arkansas. Folks, that’s another 6,000 to 10,000 felons per the state’s own numbers that will be just wandering around loose among the rest of us. That alone is sort of scary to some.
Add to that the fact that this spring the LR city directors were traveling around the city espousing support of the new sales tax vote by revealing that it took police 5 to 10 minutes on average for the police to answer a “Shots fired” call and up to 20 minutes in west LR. Not information from our civic leaders to exactly makes us feel more secure. After passing the tax increase it is hoped that the average response time, after a 911 call is placed, for a “shots fired” incident will be 5 to 10 minutes. So on average you will only have to entertain the miscreant for 5 to 10 minutes until the police show up.
These two facts alone may help to explain why more and more citizens have secured Concealed Handgun Carry Licenses. In fact 108,000 Arkansans now have such a license. Turns out, that’s GOOD news for you and me. Why, you ask? Well in the UK where handguns are banned, the majority of home break-ins occur while the occupants are at home. Why, you ask? Because the crooks in the UK know that the homeowner won’t be armed but will be available to point out all of their secret hiding places under duress of threats and actual torture.
Not so here in Arkansas. Per statistics recited in David Kopel’s book The Samurai, The Mountie, And The Cowboy, a study of US criminals revealed that they were more frightened of encountering an armed homeowner than a cop. Ergo, they try to break into your home when you are away.
Sad to say, that doesn’t excuse the action of the LR Sixteen. All were arrested, their handgun confiscated, their CHCL confiscated and sent to the State Police, and they were probably fined. Per Ms. Martha Moore, one of The Sixteen, $1,500.00. There is an old “Shootist” proverb: “Stupidity should be painful.”
To their credit, all of The Sixteen expressed embarrassment at their forgetfulness and the stupidity of what they did. No attempt to blame their upbringing, parental abuse, lack of economic opportunity, etc. Nope, they stepped up and admitted their act was stupid and that forgetful isn’t an excuse before the law. And since all were CHCL holders, all had attended a class where such “non carry” places like churches, courthouses, schools and airports were covered.
Despite their pain, monetarily and reputationally, you have to be sort of proud of them. First for arming themselves to help make the new Arkansas safer for all of us, and secondly for ‘fessing-up’ and taking their punishment like a man. That’s probably why they passed the police background check in the first place; they are good solid folks that we can depend on to be responsible for their own actions, and they will probably never be forgetful again. We can only hope that the state police will be forgiving and after a short time reissue their CHCL.
