[IrishCop]

This headline caught my eye.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...carry-guns-in-public?Frontpage&nclick_check=1

I personally have known two blind persons that carried on a regular basis, and I have never (at least since the advent of minute to minute world wide news available on the internet) heard of any stories of "bad" shootings attributed to a sightless person.

There are no laws in my state which would allow a sheriff to deny a permit based on disability. I have also never heard of a sightless person applying for a permit locally.

What do y'all think?

 

[stand watie]

IrishCop.

This reminds me of a quote from the old movie, ELDORADO, starring JOHN WAYNE, about a BLIND fellow who carried a double-barreled sawed-off and got himself hanged for shooting a piano player in a saloon.

yours, sw

 

[IrishCop]

Loved El Dorado, especially James Caan and that really really sawed off shotgun he carried.

 

[Ratfink2u]

I first thought REALLY? but after some deeper thinking, I think it makes sense. These people feel defenseless as it is. They need to feel secure within the confines of their own home. They are probably more likely to be victimized than sighted people.
So that being said, I think they have a point here. Would we deny someone with Parkinson's the right to defend themselves? I think as long as their mental capacity is up to par, then go for it. IMVHO

 

[shep854]

Mas Ayoob discussed this in a column a while back. He speculated that a firing blank ammo, which could be pressed against an assailant's body and fired might work, but that there would likely be significant legal hurdles, due to liability issues.

 

[spwenger]

Why a Blank?

Mas Ayoob discussed this in a column a while back. He speculated that a firing blank ammo, which could be pressed against an assailant's body and fired might work, but that there would likely be significant legal hurdles, due to liability issues.

If you're fully blind (legally blind is 20/200 or less in most jurisdictions), you're probably not going to fire until you feel the barrel of your revolver pressed into the guy who's trying to strangle you or dump you from your wheelchair.

I know that Mas is making the point that a contact shot with a blank is going to do some serious damage (think Jon-Eric Hexum) but regular hollowpoint rounds are generally easier to come by than blanks.

 

[stand watie]

IrishCop,

BTW, nearly a half-century ago, when I was a freshman in college in Austin, I knew of a legally blind UT grad student, who successfully defended his wife & himself with an ITAHCA AUTO-BURGLAR GUN. ===> SCRATCH one "home invader".
(TWO loads of 20 gauge buckshot fired at the doorway shortly after it was KICKED-IN was quite effective.)

yours, sw

 

[Skeptic49]

Also remember "legally blind" has it's own variable definitions. There are some folks with good vision who are legally blind because they lack peripheral vision. Life viewed through a soup can. I often wondered if such folks would make the best target shots.
Geoff
Who keeps an open mind, but doesn't have holes in his head.

 

[stand watie]

Skeptic49,

According to the AMERICAN-STATESMAN, Louis B______________ could only tell the difference between light/dark & could see "vague shapes".
Nonetheless, he did in the criminal & the whole of Austin cheered his success.

yours, sw