{"id":96,"date":"2004-01-11T04:44:00","date_gmt":"2004-01-11T04:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=96"},"modified":"2012-05-22T16:11:07","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T22:11:07","slug":"96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=96","title":{"rendered":"Bang, Bang, You’re Legal"},"content":{"rendered":"

>Instead of writing or working on spring-semester syllabi, I spent Saturday immersed in gun culture, taking the required pistol-handling course so that I can apply for my concealed-carry permit. (Colorado is a “shall issue” state, meaning that the county sheriff must give you the permit if you pass the course, pay the fee, and are not a convicted felon, mental patient, or otherwise fail the pro forma<\/em> background check.)<\/p>\n

At 10 a.m. I reported to the Cactus Flats shooting club with two small-caliber pistols (I was indecisive up until the last moment about which to bring), protective ear muffs, shooting glasses (rose-tinted lenses that turn the sky Martian indigo and the arid landscape almost Martian orange), and ammunition.<\/p>\n

My four fellow students were all in their fifties or sixties–one man probably over 70–and all of us lifelong shooters. (One man had had a concealed-carry permit in Seattle already.) Consequently, the morning instruction session was, shall we say, leisurely, conversational, and fairly cursory, although I picked up a minor point or two. After lunch we demonstrated that we could all hit the silhouette targets at short range, and we learned some useful things about practicing for “the gravest extreme,” to use Massad Ayoob’s<\/a> phrase. When the class certificate arrives, I can do the paperwork for the permit.<\/p>\n

But why? Other than when hunting, I do not normally go around armed. Once in twelve years in this house–just last month–did I strap on a revolver for the night-time dog walk up through the woods and down a dark road, because I had seen a mountain lion here the night before and<\/em> a prison escapee was possibly in the area (he was captured elsewhere in the county). Rationally, therefore, I could say that I want the permit primarily for when I have a pistol in the truck when traveling, especially in other states that honor Colorado’s permits. (New Mexico just passed its own >concealed-carry law<\/a>, so maybe they will sign a reciprocity agreement soon with us.) The permit adds a layer of legal protection.<\/p>\n

And it is also because an armed citizenry bothers the bejesus out of authoritarians of all political stripes. (Do I think that George W. Bush really endorses the Second Amendment in his heart anymore than Senator Joe Lieberman does? No, I don’t.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

>Instead of writing or working on spring-semester syllabi, I spent Saturday immersed in gun culture, taking the required pistol-handling course so that I can apply for my concealed-carry permit. (Colorado is a “shall issue” state, meaning that the county sheriff must give you the permit if you pass the course, pay the fee, and are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,26,32],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado","tag-culture","tag-new-mexico"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-96","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":193,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=193","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":0},"title":"Accommodating polytheists . . .\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 31, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Accommodating polytheists . . . and who else? This commentary from USA Today got under my skin. When the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye won its court case a few years ago, I was pleased overall, although the \"leaving dead chickens under bushes\" part seemed pointless to me. A\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":76,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=76","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":1},"title":"Pueblo’s Hipper Image","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 4, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Pueblo, Colorado, where I am employed, has seen its reputation slowly changing. While this column by Colorado Springs Independent columnist John Hazlehurst is actually a reproof of his own city, with Pueblo playing the role of \"noble savage,\" it's part of a trend. As the northern Colorado Front Range region\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1323,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1323","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":2},"title":"The City Dionysia in Colorado Springs.","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Just when you thought you knew what Colorado Springs was all about,\" commented a poster on one of the Colorado Pagan email lists.It was the City Dionysia festival, complete with a performance of Euripides' The Bacchae.There is, of course, a Facebook page, where you can see some photos.I missed it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6720,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6720","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":3},"title":"La fiesta de los zombies","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"What do New Mexico zombies eat? Brain tacos, of course. 2 lbs. brains 6\u20138 tortillas 1 fresh tomato, sliced 1 small onion, diced, shredded lettuce 1 teaspoon salt 1\/4 teaspoon garlic powder salt and pepper to taste Cover brains with water in saucepan, add salt and simmer 15 minutes. Drain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"scholarship\"","block_context":{"text":"scholarship","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=scholarship"},"img":{"alt_text":"better off dead","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/better-off-dead-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":783,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=783","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":4},"title":"Culture notes from the road","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Suddenly, I am an expert on Christmas culture in Pueblo, Colorado. (Link may expire.)I think that the writer found this questionnaire on my web site. It was given to me by a student a few years ago (some of the questions are now outdated), and so she just assumed that\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1208,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1208","url_meta":{"origin":96,"position":5},"title":"Can’t Stop Chuckling…","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"... about the prospect of riding with the other volunteer firefighters in a nearby town's \"Pioneer Days\" parade tomorrow. How long since I was in a parade?","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4255,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/4255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}