By now, you probably have heard about the 9 dead people in a beer distribution warehouse near Hartford Connecticut. Here are the facts. 34 year old Omar Thomas had worked there for about 2 years and just was promoted to be a truck driver. After being videoed stealing beer from his employer, his union representatives required a hearing before his employer forced him to quit. This was not the first accusation of theft during the two years he worked there. Omar Thomas Shariff filed for bankruptcy at age 24. He had lost his CDL at a a prior job for speeding tickets. He also used the name Omar S Thornton and Omar Thomas Shariff.
As he was being escorted off the property, Mr Thomas/Thornton/Shariff pulled out a 9mm Ruger handgun from a paper bag he was carrying and started firing. The union shop steward was one of the people killed. He attempted to kill the business owner, but the two wounds were not life threatening.
Despite never having raised an allegation of discrimination or racism, after he opened fire, he called his mother and is reported to have said “I killed the five racists that was there that was bothering me”… and heresay third party claims are now being raised with the usual rationalizations. Mr Shariff is an African American.
So did a climate of anti-gun paranoia contribute to success of this shooting? Why wasn’t the owner or someone present at the building carrying a gun just in case?
On this morning’s show on WELI in New Haven, Vinnie Penn was discussing guns with his sidekick. Vinnie has never heard of Open Carry or a Carry Permit. He assumes that nobody is allowed to carry a gun into a place of work. His coworker used to work in a bad part of Bridgeport doing delivery and stated he had a Conceal Carry permit, but that in Connecticut you MUST conceal the gun – that there is no Open Carry. Vinnie seemed genuinely fearful of the thought that someone other than a police officer might carry a gun on their person. I think that’s a common perception here.
So what is the truth? What does it take to carry a gun in Connecticut? How did Mr Shariff get his? Could other people at work have carried a gun – especially if they were worried about his firing?
So here are the rules for handguns in Connecticut.
You can purchase a handgun and carry it in its original wrapping one time to either your home or your business (a business YOU own). You cannot then have the gun on your person outside of your home/business or in your vehicle unless you first acquire a local or state carry license. You may not have the gun outside your home on your own property or take the gun to or from a shooting range. With the permit, you can transport the gun between your home and business. You can’t carry it onto school property unless you have permission.
You must complete a gun safety course, including live shooting. You apply to your local police chief or First Selectman for a local permit. You have to be 21, a US Citizen or resident alien, no history of domestic violence, no felony convictions, no involuntary confinement to a mental hospital, no drug convictions, etc…. You must pass a criminal background check. and pay $70 and be fingerprinted The local agency can impose additional requirements of their own – like requiring references, writing an essay of why you think you want a gun, pay a bribe or political contributions (haha – I made that up) and convince the local city that you are worthy of carrying a gun.
If the city turns you down or 8 weeks go by without an answer, then you can appeal to a state board in Hartford. Unless you fail one of the state’s statutory requirements, you’ll must be issued a carry permit.
The State Gun Board has said that they strongly discourage people from carrying in a way that the gun is visible or people might be alarmed. So you can “Open Carry” as long as nobody can see the gun.
Sounds like Connecticut has gone just as far as you can push the limits of non-ownership without violating the Supreme Court rulings on “bearing” arms, despite that fact that in the Connecticut Constiution it says
“Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state.” Article 1, Section 15.
A black man murders 8 white coworkers and claims it’s because they were racists (no evidence of that, of course.) Do you think the “hate crimes” advocates will be out marching on this one?
Anyone who examines the FBI crime statistics will find that the Black murder rate (per individual) is 25 times the White murder rate. The Black violent crime rate is 50 times the white violent crime rate.
Murder and violence by Blacks is shared between Black on Black and Black on White, but is biased strongly toward Black on Black. White murder and violence is almost totally White on White. White on Black murder and violence are virtually non-existent.
The Blacks have tried to discredit these statistics, but their attempts have failed primarily because: (1) murder leaves a dead body behind that naturally generates a paper trail, which makes it easy to discredit claims that the number of murders is incorrect. In addition, a murderer is usually well known by the victim (and his friends), and that makes it likely the murderer will be identified.
Since Blacks are unable to discredit the murder and violent crime statistics the subject is never broached. They do complain about the number of Blacks incarcerated, but never try to prove they are not guilty of the crimes they are convicted of. Instead they assert that Whites must be racist, because there are so many times the number of Black in prison than there should be based on the relative populations of Whites and Blacks.
Based just on White murder and violent crime rates, the US would have the lowest murder and violent crime rates of any country in the world.
I forgot to mention that about year 2000 the FBI changed the format of their crime reporting to muddy the Black/White murder and violent crime differences. You have to go back to late ’90s FBI crime reports to get a clear picture of the relative White and Black murder and violent crime statistics.