The law is the product of years of controversy in the state. In the Christmas shopping rush of 2015, a man walked into the Connecticut Post mall in Milford exercising his Second Amendment right to carry a firearm.
However, this led to widespread alarm and ultimately several police officers descending on the shopping facility ready for combat.
Authorities complained they were unable to force a person to produce their permit to prove they legally could carry a weapon. The new law makes open carry a criminal activity while allowing for concealed carry.
It must be noted that criminals do not open carry. Even where it is illegal, it is plain and common sense that lawbreakers will simply carry concealed and ignore the law.
Law enforcement had an issue with alarmed residents breathlessly calling with worries over individuals exercising their right to keep and bear arms.
The head of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, Paul Melanson, said the new statute should cut back on a persistent problem where people call law enforcement over being frightened or intimidated by a person displaying their weapon.
“As far as open carry versus concealed, it makes our job easier in that, when we are called for a person open carrying, we can now identify them and confirm they actually have a pistol permit, where in the past they could refuse to identify themselves and refuse to produce their permit.”
Melanson said this conundrum frustrated law enforcement.
He added that most state residents who carry already choose to have their firearm concealed, so the new “will not make officers more or less safe.” The effect will be just on calls from alarmed citizens.
This hardly seems to be a justifiable reason to suppress a law-abiding citizen’s Second Amendment rights.
