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Gun rights activists boast that issuing more concealed-carry permits drives down crime and protects even non-gun-owners. Dukes’ lesson: If you’re not prepared to kill, you’re not prepared to carry. Dukes asks us what we’d do in that situation, and one of my classmates, who has already committed to moving to Texas to escape Maryland’s gun-grabbing government, says immediately that she’d pull the trigger. We listen to a 911 call from a Utah woman whose husband had just killed a home invader. You don’t have to do the hokey pokey and then turn yourself around.” In 1994, Utah was one of the first states to adopt a so-called Stand Your Ground law, the expansive self-defense doctrine now on the books in dozens of states and made famous after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin.
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He walks us through the verbal warnings we should give before using lethal force, but ends with a caveat: “In Utah, you’re not obligated to do that. “The gun industry should send me a basket of fruit,” said a top NRA lobbyist who pushed for concealed-carry laws.ĭukes’ presentation focuses mostly on the law, or lack thereof, in Utah. Dukes concedes that not everyone is a fan of the NRA’s politics, but in his view the group puts together smart training programs and its aim is true-”320 million people a year are being saved by guns, because they’re not being killed,” he tells us. It costs just $35 to sign on with America’s top gun lobbying group, and membership comes with $2,500 of insurance in case anything happens to your piece. Across the room is a table with a paper invitation that will be his first topic of discussion: “Join the NRA.” A black-and-white portrait of shotgun-pumping Hatfields-icons of responsible gun ownership if ever there were-sits in the corner. He’s ready for battle in cargo pants, a black polo, hiking boots, and black-rimmed hipster glasses that match his gray goatee. My instructor is Kevin Dukes, a 20-year Army veteran who runs Dukes Defense World with his wife, Jenny. One, Mid-Atlantic Firearms Training, boasts “No Firearm Qualification Needed” another, Semper Fidelis Consulting, touts its NRA ties and its convenience. Maryland alone has 33 Utah-certified instructors. As of June, nonresidents held more than 60 percent of Utah’s 473,476 valid concealed-carry permits. The result has been a boom in out-of-state residents seeking permits and the birth of a cottage industry catering to them. They just have to take a class on firearm safety and pay a processing fee (approximately $50) and some of the cheapest renewal fees in the business (as little as 75 cents every five years). Licensees don’t need to demonstrate proficiency with a handgun, and they don’t even need to set foot in the Beehive State. That means it grants concealed-carry permits unless it has a compelling reason (such as a felony record) not to do so. In April, the Senate came just three votes short of passing a measure that would have mandated reciprocity for concealed-carry permits-including the ones Utah so freely hands out-nationwide.Īs part of a National Rifle Association-backed movement to roll back concealed-carry restrictions, in the mid-1990s Utah became a “shall issue” state.
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It typifies a new era of arming Americans in public: 40 states now recognize some or all out-of-state permits, and 8 have made it legal in all or some circumstances to carry a concealed handgun without any permit at all. Over the last two decades, Utah’s concealed-carry permit has emerged as a de facto national ID for handgun owners. Sixty days after my application is processed, I’ll be able to carry a concealed weapon in no fewer than 32 states. After four hours at Dukes Defense, I have a completed application and a snazzy graduation certificate for my wall. And in distinctly un-Utahn fashion, I’m nursing a hangover. I’m a resident of Washington, DC, a city that holds concealed handguns in roughly the same esteem as working escalators. My achievement doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. Toward the back, next to a pawnshop and White Trash Matt’s tattoo parlor, is the global headquarters of Dukes Defense World, a mom-and-pop firearms instruction shop certified by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification to teach nonresidents firearm safety as a prerequisite for obtaining a concealed-carry permit.
#CARRY IT EASY FREE#
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