Gun in home for protection a hard topic for the policeBy Scott Sexton
Sixty, maybe 70 people crowded into the Bethesda Moravian Church last month to hear what police were doing about a string of burglaries that was plaguing their neighborhood.
The residents wanted answers and reassurance. Some were angry; others frightened.
Then came the question.
"When is it OK to shoot somebody who comes in your house?" one young woman asked. "We're prepared at our house."
An older man followed by asking if he could legally shoot somebody who was climbing in his window or in the yard.
Lt. David Kiger of the Winston-Salem Police Department sighed audibly and paused before speaking.
"I knew somebody was going to ask about that," he said.
The answer is complicated, and different in different situations. The one constant is that you have to be in fear for your life.
"It may be different for a 200-pound man than it is for a 70-year-old grandmother," Kiger said.
Not the preferred methodNobody - police, prosecutors or advocates for crime victims - thinks that firing a gun is the preferred method for dealing with an intruder.
Yet you do have the right to defend yourself. The Second Amendment to the U.S Constitution makes that plain (though the framers included that provision anticipating citizens concerned about the tyranny of their government, and not home invaders).
Members of the N.C. General Assembly believe in the right to defend as well. A little more than 10 years ago, legislators passed a "must issue" concealed-carry law.
Basically, that means that you have the right to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun (provided you pass an eight-hour course on gun safety and gun laws). It also means that it is up to the sheriff to show a reason why you shouldn't have one, rather than you having to prove why you should.
According to statistics compiled by the N.C. Department of Justice, 1,671 permits were issued in Forsyth County between Dec. 1, 1995, (the day the law went into effect) and Sept. 30, 2004. That number ranks fifth, behind Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford and Cumberland counties.
The more surprising number comes when you move over a few tabs on the spreadsheet and see that Forsyth led the state in the number of permit applications that were revoked - 264. The next closest county was Guilford with 76.
So what gives?There's nothing sinister going on, nor does Sheriff Bill Schatzman have an anti-gun agenda. What we had in Forsyth County was a breakdown in paperwork. People who applied for permits might not have sworn their affidavits properly or not signed in the right spot.
"We found that a lot of the record keeping was not accurate and certain provisions in the rules had not been followed," Schatzman said. " We discovered that and sought to rectify it."
Everybody has rightsSchatzman believes that people have the right to feel safe in their own homes. And if that sense of security drives you to legally buy a gun or take the extra steps required to get a concealed-carry permit, then so be it.
"No one in law enforcement advocates the casual use of deadly force, but clearly if there are circumstances where you legitimately fear that you will be hurt or killed you have that right," Schatzman said.
When the concealed-carry law was passed, some gun-control advocates hollered that the apocalypse was nigh and that the streets would turn into shooting galleries. They feared a huge increase in the number of accidental shooting deaths.
That didn't happen. In fact, crime rates in the states with concealed-carry laws are lower than in those with tighter gun restrictions.
It's hard to say if more permissive gun laws have anything to do with that.
One thing is for certain. Law-abiding citizens aren't the ones causing problems.
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