Contrary to what some may have you believe, the Second Amendment (2A) is alive and well in America. It is certainly under vigorous attack from the gun control left, but normal Americans cherish their Constitution and they cherish the Second Amendment.
Part of what the 2A provides is the right of self-protection for an individual citizen and his or her family. One way that right is realized is through the ability to be legally armed outside the home.
Historically it has been impossible for the average citizen in San Diego County to obtain a concealed carry (CCW) permit. Citizens were denied the ability to protect themselves. Two years ago, that changed. San Diego County Gun Owners (SDCGO) led a successful effort, supported by many others, to convince the San Diego County Sheriff to issue CCW permits to qualified, law-abiding citizens.
Today, almost two years later, over 3000 citizens in San Diego County have CCW permits. About 120 new permits are issued each month. Those numbers will continue to grow as more people learn that CCW permits are now available. SDCGO offers CCW workshops somewhere in the county almost every week explaining the process. The workshops are hosted by various gun ranges and shops around the county.
So, what is the concealed carry situation across America? The following is from the paper on Concealed Carry Permit Holders in the United States 2019 by Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center:
- There are currently 18.66 million CCW permit holders in the U.S.
- The number of permit holders grew by 1.4 million last year
- 7.3% of American adults have permits. Outside the restrictive states of CA and NY the number is 8.75%
- In 13 states, more than 10% of adults have permits
- 4 states have over 1 million permit holders
- 16 states have adopted constitutional (no permit required) carry
- Women account for 26.5% of permit holders in the 12 states that collect data by gender
Lott’s paper is fairly long but it’s an easy read and the information is fascinating and very encouraging. I highly recommend you take the time to check it out.
With the exception of a few backward states, gun rights are fairly solid across America. Unfortunately, California is one of the backward states when it comes to the 2A. If you are a voter in California, the blame rests squarely on you. We continue to elect terrible people, they continue to pass terrible laws, and we all pay the price. The only way to correct the situation is to elect good, honest people to office and the only way to do that is through an informed and engaged electorate. Your path is clear.
In the meantime, we are all safer with more armed citizens in our community. We now have that ability so I would suggest the following (paraphrased from the words of Michael Schwartz):
- Legally purchase a firearm
- Get training
- Get your CCW
- Carry wherever you are legally permitted to do so
- Commit to regular training, practice, and shooting
The right to self-defense is a basic human right. Gun ownership is an integral part of that right. If you want to keep your rights defend them by joining San Diego County Gun Owners (SDCGO), the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), Gun Owners of California (GOC), and Gun Owners of America (GOA). Join the fight and help us restore and preserve our second amendment rights. Together we will win.
©2019 Joseph T Drammissi
Comments 17
3,343,000 residents in San Diego County. 3,000 CCW holders is .0009 of 1%.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/California_CCW_Issuance_Map.png
Correction…. 3000 CCW holders is .0009% of the County’s residents. https://www.gunstocarry.com/concealed-carry-statistics/
Lou,
Try .09 of 1%.
You could also say 1 in 1,114 residents has a CCW.
It is a small number. That doesn’t seem to be the point however. Despite the small number, what SDCGO is saying is that the Sheriff is now issuing. At 120 per month, if such a number were to continue, that would be a significant increase comparatively.
Still wrong Lou. To make it simpler, let’s round the number of county residents down to 3 million. 1% of 3 million is 30,000. That means 3,000 would be 1/10 of of one percent or .1% of the county residents. Since there are a little more than 3 million residents, .09 percent is more accurate. You are off by a factor of 100. If your number was correct, it would mean that only 30 residents had a CCW.
The lack of CCWs is no longer because of the sheriff’s policy. If you want one, apply because generally, people can get one.
We are proud of the change we made happen.
Thanks Thor’s assistant. My “point” is that Gore has been very stingy with CCW’s, (even 120 a month, if true, is only a little over 1400 a year). In San Diego County those issued have gone to judges, lawyers, campaign contibutors (including jewelers), gun store owners and the occasional school board trustee threatened by someone….oh, and maybe even gun organization presidents. The rest of us have been out of luck. There’s really only one true solution and that’s for Gore to change or be replaced. We all know that.
Lou, look at the good cause examples on our website. His policy changed two years ago. He is issuing.
The one and only reason the numbers are low is because people aren’t applying because they believe the policy is still the same. Yes, 120 a month (give or take). That number would be 1,200 a month had ten times the applications come in.
The policy has changed. It changed (it being the policy). El policio has changederino. Things are different. The policy was one way two years ago, but now the policy is a whole nother way and that new way is good. We know because we helped changed it. Go apply. Take your friends and family with you. If you can pass the background check and the required class, you will get a CCW. Why? Because the policy changed. Changed.
C-H-A-N-G-E-D. Changed. Meaning different now from what was.
It’s what can be done via activism.
Lou, on a serious note, if you need help with your CCW application, email me. Michael@sdcgo.org
Also watch the video we made: http://www.SDCGO.org/ccw
It looks like we found a bottom. ALMOST anyone can get a CCW in San Diego.
Lou is apparently the one guy unable to figure it out, despite clear, step-by-step instructions.
A friend’s grandmother bought her gun and got her CCW just months ago, but Lou can’t. I know a guy who dropped out of high school who was able to follow our directions, but not Lou.
OK. Maybe it’s for the best. I mean if you can’t handle the application process…you shouldn’t carry.
It’s a right and it’s an enormous responsibility.
It’s still based on a ‘good cause.’ No matter what SDCGO says they have done, the majority of ordinary citizens do not have something the sheriff considers good cause. Yes, they have tons of examples on their website for things, but those aren’t average citizens that can show paperwork to show a “need.”
Until “self defense” is accepted (because every citizen deserves this), MOST people are wasting their time. Vote out Gore. Or take up residence in Riverside county where they’ll issue for about anything.
John D. Bingo!
So Lou Russo,
Are you going to apply for one? Or just dream of a new Sheriff and in a new state?
Apply and let the SDCGO know how they can help.
Lots of us have CCW’s, with this Sheriff Gore, in this county, good statewide, even in San Fransicko!!
Apply Lou!
Orange, Riverside, and San Diego have identical standards on what is acceptable to fulfill the state’s requirement of proof of good cause.
I personally have taught hundreds of classes teaching people how to get a CCW in San Diego and how to write their good cause statement. Others from San Diego County Gun Owners have taught dozens more.
We have yet to find a person who doesn’t have good cause and the ability to prove it.
John D and Lou either refuse to understand or are unable to understand, the change that SDCGO is responsible for in the sheriff’s CCW policy is this simple: if you can’t get a CCW in San Diego (or Irange or Riverside), it’s your own fault.
It used to be blocked by the sheriff. Now it’s not. If you can string together a few sentences showing you could be the victim of attack due to something you do for work, as a hobby, as a lifestyle, etc…and you pass the background check and proficiency class…you get a CCW in San Diego.
Ask any CCW instructor in town and they’ll happily share with you that their classes have increased 10 fold thanks to our hard work and getting the policy to change.
Honestly, John D and Lou…if you can’t follow directions and figure it out like THOUSANDS of others have, don’t apply. The responsibility of carrying a firearm outside of the home for protection is complicated. You’re not ready for it.
Let’s be honest and open. Conditions are NOT the same here as in other Counties in California. Here is the latest map for California CCW: http://baggss.us/ IF San Diego County were as you say, it would be dark green, as Riverside, and 35 other counties are. San Diego is NOT. (This map is Spring 2019…NOT two years ago.) Now, I DO have an application sitting at SDSO…bought and paid for (along with the two interviews, picture, livescan, etc.). I was assured by SDSO that IF the situation changed, they would resurrect it (free of charge). SO, tomorrow I am going to call the SDSO, tell them that SDGO/Michael Schwartz/Scott Hasson/et al have told me that “things are different” and to pull it out of the stack and reinsert it in the queue. My situation has not changed, e.g. I am under no greater or less threat than before (and I don’t carry diamonds, etc.), BUT, I’m being told that things are different now. (I did NOT use “self defense” as my “reason”). Let’s let it travel the process and see, if indeed things are different. There is something I will NOT do, and that is make up some kind of story to exercise a right. Anyone who does that is no better than they are. I have already filled out the application for a FL and AZ nonresident CCWs (neither require “good cause, neither require listing the weapon(s) to be carried, neither require interviews and neither require training if one presents a DD-214.) They aren’t “legal” in CA, but only 11 states (and DC) don’t accept AZ/FL. (as opposed to 19 (plus DC) not recognizing a CA CCW). As to “not being ready” to carry outside the home, I guess those 20 years I carried outside the home (and all over the world) as a Marine officer, plus all that time I carried with a FL CCW all over the US don’t count. Let’s see where this leads. As to Gore not being able to be beat at the polls, there is no such animal. As to CA not changing, if the country was forced to accept same sex marriage and the abolishing of segregation policies, then CA can be forced to change also.
Lou,
-Here’s an old version of that map that showed San Diego as red before Sheriff Gore’s SDCGO changes: https://www.friedmanhandguntraining.com/images/CCW_map_large.jpg
Look for it to turn light green within the next year. The change to yellow happened about 6 months after the policy change 2 years ago.
-The applications submitted during the Peruta case were all trashed after Gore won in court. You have to re-apply.
-They are implementing software called Permitium to run the process because they are processing so many applications since the change 2 years ago. Because of the backlog, when you call tomorrow, they will give you a date for your first appointment that will around April. Don’t worry. Take the appointment. You won’t have to wait that long.
They will contact you much sooner when they have an opening. The feedback I am getting from the hundreds of our members who have been approved is somewhere around 3 months.
-It isn’t free. It’s $106 for your background and fingerprints. The $51 to get your permit after your background check and training class.
-In Orange, Riverside, and San Diego, you have to express what about your life (work, hobby, lifestyle, etc) puts you in a higher risk category than the general population. You also have to have some kind of minimal proof of your good cause.
Saying you might get mugged won’t cut it. In all 3 counties you have to explain what you do that could make you the subject of a specific attack. At least, that’s what each sheriff told me when I met with each and that’s the feedback I’ve gotten from hundreds of people in each county who have CCWs.
I know a woman who got her CCW because she runs a mobile spray tan business. Another got his because he hikes/camps in the back country. Another whose doctor said the excercise so she walks at night and in the morning in her rural neighborhood. I know people whose good cause was based on being a veteran and their information was compromised so they ate therefore a target.
Again, if you follow our instructions and pass the background check and required proficiency class, you will get your CCW.
Nobody is asking you to make something up. But until the “good cause” requirement is eliminated from the California Penal Code, Sheriffs Gore, Barnes, and Bianco will continue to comply with state law and require proof of good cause.
There are still hoops to jump through, but SDCGO made the hoops big enough for people to fit. That was not the case before.
Lucky for you, Lou…there’s no math test on the application.
Good luck.
From last night’s Republican Central Committee meeting:
“There were more CCWs issued in San Diego in the last two years than in the prior 10.” — Duncan Hunter
I have personally qualified the following people for their San Diego CCW permits:
– An unemployed full time college student
– A few stay at home moms raising children
– Several barbers, hairdressers, and estheticians
– Dozens of retirees
– Over one hundred regular working men and women with blue- and white-collar jobs ranging from retail to service to professional work, some even in offices with no-firearms policies.
Against this backdrop, a person who still insists that it is impossible for the general public to get a CCW in San Diego probably lacks the reasoning skills to safely carry a firearm in public, and it is right and proper that they should continue to be unarmed, for the public good.