Monday, September 9, 2013

"Iowa grants gun permits to the blind"

"Here's some news that has law enforcement officials and lawmakers scratching their heads:"
Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.
No one questions the legality of the permits. State law does not allow sheriffs to deny an Iowan the right to carry a weapon based on physical ability.
The quandary centers squarely on public safety. Advocates for the disabled and Iowa law enforcement officers disagree over whether it's a good idea for visually disabled Iowans to have weapons.
Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere said. "I'm not an expert in vision,"

"Training the visually impaired"
In one Iowa county, blind residents who want weapons would likely receive special training.
Wethington, the Cedar County sheriff, has a legally blind daughter who plans to obtain a permit to carry when she turns 21 in about two years. He demonstrated for the Register how he would train blind people who want to carry a gun.
"If sheriffs spent more time trying to keep guns out of criminals' hands and not people with disabilities, their time would be more productive," Wethington said as he and his daughter took turns practice shooting with a semi-automatic handgun on private property in rural Cedar County.
USA Today



"Blind Shooting"

15 comments:

edutcher said...

In the name of diversity.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I'm okay with this so long as we emboss all the bad guys with braille.

KCFleming said...

"In the name of diversity."

It's the diversity in Iowa that forces the blind to feel so unsafe they need to carry a weapon.

In Dubuque, violent crimes increased from 42 (per 100K) in 2001 to 572 in 2010.

And many of these folks are "legally blind", meaning they do have some sight.

From Iowa.gov:
"Legal blindness occurs when a person has central visual acuity (vision that allows a person to see straight ahead of them) of 20/200 or less in his or her better eye with correction. With 20/200 visual acuity, a person can see at 20 feet, what a person with 20/20 vision sees at 200 feet.

In determining legal blindness, visual field (the part of a person's vision that enables them to see what is happening to the side of them) is also considered. A visual field of 20 degrees or less is considered to be legally blind. Eye care professionals can assist in diagnosing legal blindness.
"

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The funny part of the video comes at 5:10, with a segment called 'Action Plan New York Reload.'

"My friend David K was asked why do you carry 3 guns and he said, because 4 would be ostentatious."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The video is after the jump.

Icepick said...

These are good, but the really fun story of the day is that the Administration is going to send out Susan Rice, yes, that Susan Rice, to make the case for attacking Syria.

Yeah, no credibility problems there!

Second most fun story is that THREE SEPARATE NFL games yesterday featured the score 2-0 at some point. THREE!

edutcher said...

Pogo said...

In the name of diversity.

And many of these folks are "legally blind", meaning they do have some sight.


I know about legally blind, but the story has the feel of the kind of Affirmative Action story that inundates us anymore.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There are blind people who compete at marathon running and bicycle racing.

They have guide runners for the former and they ride tandem for the latter.

I suggested treadmills and exercycles but I got shouted down.

KCFleming said...

@edutcher

Aye, it does.
I'm not thrilled with it, myself.

Why they feel they need it is my concern.

All those vibrant youths from Chicago have changed Iowa. Now even the blind want weapons.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Your better blind jokes bypass the concept of propriety, altogether. LINK.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More president Treyvon / blood on the hands of the entire pro-democrat hack liar media- fallout. Random hate crimes seem to be on the rise. nah must be my imagination.

Methadras said...

Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere said. "I'm not an expert in vision,"


Tell that to the majority of law enforcement that could hit the side of a barn with their side arm from 5 feet away.

ricpic said...

Old white guy was fishing from the riverbank in Des Moines. Beaten to death by three filthy black thugs. Oh, you didn't know that? That's because official establishment MSM America doesn't want you to know the literally THOUSANDS of black on white attacks yearly that are not reported. They are spiked. Deliberately. Better that we be picked off one by one than that we wake up. Oh, that old man? That old man is ME. Not you if you're a mainstream beautiful person whose motivation in life is above all to be respectable. Then stay respectable as your neighbor, your friend, your mother, your father, your CHILD is picked off. Think the government will protect you? Think the government cares? Time to be a vigilante.

Leland said...

My first problem is needing a permit to own or carry a firearm.

Second what is the statistics in terms of gun violence and the legally blind that makes this an issue? I read the story, and other than the assertion that the law is dumb (not because requiring a permit is questionable, but that if having a permit should the blind get one), I see nothing else that prompted the discussion.

Third, if the blind shouldn't carry firearms, can we disarm the LAPD? Afterall, they shouldn't have shotup the pickup with those two women, but if they are going to shoot, shouldn't they at least hit their target once?

Synova said...

There are self-defense situations where an entirely blind person would be at no risk of hitting the wrong person... The blind daughter, for example... if she's attacked by a rapist she at least has a chance of reaching her weapon and shooting him point-blank. Without a weapon she's got no chance at all.

There are other situations where being armed wouldn't help a blind person, but is that any reason to deny them the right to self-defense in the situations where being armed might save their life?