CCW CLASS #11

“To be, or not to be–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them.”

This last weekend, I was inspired by sixteen ordinary citizens who made a decision to push forward against unknown odds.

Sixteen people who had decided that they were going to take responsibility for their own safety, and not be slaves to those who misguidedly feel that if good decent people remain unarmed, the evil that exists in our world will behave itself. 

You see… if a criminal wants to carry a firearm in public they… well,… they just carry a firearm in public.

If a law abiding citizen wants to carry a firearm in public, they are required to jump through a multitude of hoops of bureaucratic regulations. 

In then end, if they are not able to successfully navigate this byzantine regulatory scheme, they usually give up and remain unarmed…. or they have a revolution… but that is another story.

(If you have arrived here from our email continue reading here:)

Having a CCW in California has been close to impossible for most, for many years. The case of Peruta v. San Diego changed that… at least for residents of Orange County. 

The Peruta decision stipulated that a “general interest in self defense” was sufficient good cause to receive a CCW. The Sheriff of Orange County immediately altered her CCW policy to reflect the change.

Virtually all other urban sheriffs refused to accept the dictates of Peruta claiming it was still unsettled law.

The flood gates opened and literally thousands of applicants in OC began to receive their CCW based on “a general interest in self defense”. 

At Artemis, we had the honor of training over a hundred of them in our sanctioned CCW training classes. 

Then on Thursday of last week Peruta was granted an En Banc review. (Basically a redo hearing in front of the entire 9th Circuit)

In the memorandum from the Court, the 9th Circuit… specifically stated that Peruta cannot be used as precedent until the final outcome has been adjudicated. 

The OC Sheriff on Friday issued a statement seeming to reverse herself and go back to the original standard of “Good Cause”.

I was disgusted.

Not from an economic loss as our business model was developed well before CCW licensing ever was even a thought.

In my mind, the “bearing of arms” is a fundamental right. 

Just like freedom of speech or religion… it can only be restricted at the most minimal of levels… and not by content… only “time, place and manner”.

If the bearing of arms through concealed carry is regulated through time place and manner than fine… as long as open carry is legal, I have no problem.

But open carry is not.

The ONLY way to legally carry a firearm in public is through the use of a CCW and if the burden to get a CCW is too high, than the State has usurped a fundamental right…. and when that happens, I get really really upset.

So… It’s now Saturday morning… and I find myself in front of 16 citizens that have done everything that they were told to do… and now were sitting before me to satisfy the training requirement set out by Orange County Sheriffs Department. 

I must tell them… there is now a possibility that they will not be issued one.

I tell them what I suspect has taken place… and what the potential outcomes will be… but honestly, I didn’t know for sure. I had to tell them I didn’t know whether this action on the part of the Sheriff was a well thought out plan, or a “seat of the pants”, based on liability and/or political agenda. 

I told them that I was at a loss for direction… as they stared at me for guidance.

The only certainty that I could guarantee them was that… should they decide to exit the process… that Artemis would refund them 100% without repercussions… I then gave them a 10 minute break… to figure what they wanted to do… 

I had no idea what to expect…

What I got were 16 students.

Actually 17, one of them was me. 

That day… I was taught something by these people: 

To shirk in the face of adversity… especially when a right that is granted by a power far higher than the State is abrogated by that State is unacceptable. 

To perceiver even against unknown odds is more than heroic… it is the definition of human. 

These students were not prepared to go gently into that good night… they were prepared to fight for their natural rights and would do the work necessary to achieve it.

Later the next day at the range, I was introduced to a Sheriff Background Investigator that explained to me that the policy of the Sheriff had not really changed. 

It was now her position that she could not use the Peruta decision as controlling legal authority for issuance of CCW’s… that did not mean that she had to revert to the older almost insurmountable burden of “good cause”.

Quite the contrary… 

This investigator told me that the Sheriff’s dept. is committed to the premise that those who want CCW’s should get them… they just need to articulate “something” other than a “general interest in self defense.” 

This could be anything from “I come home late at night” to “I wear expensive jewelry.”

When our students heard this, they were both thrilled and relieved.

They had made the correct decision and continued to persevere. 

They would all qualify with their weapons that day and will soon become our counties newest armed citizens.