Concealed carry law will boost tourism

So concealed carry has passed again. Won't you feel safer when when you don't know who might be carrying a gun?

Maybe Gov. Jim Doyle wouldn't be so quick to veto it again if he realized what a boon the new law would be to tourism.

This from a brochure by the Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association:

The number of permit holders in each state is typically small (on average about 1.7 per cent of the population), but even a small number of permit holders serve as a deterrent to violent crime. This deterrent is a collateral benefit realized by all citizens, whether they carry a gun or not. When concealed carry is legal, the criminal has no idea whether the potential victim is armed or not. To protect their own life, they must assume everyone is carrying a weapon and trained to use it.

This change in criminal behavior was very evident in Florida in 1988, after passing a concealed carry law; criminals knew that Florida citizens might be armed. Rather than risk their own lives, they turned their criminal attentions to tourists in easily recognized rental cars. The criminals knew the tourists would not be armed and able to defend themselves.

You'll be happy to know that Florida got rid of the special license plates that identified rental cars. And now there's a new Shoot First law, which would be next on the NRA agenda for Wisconsin if concealed carry becomes law here.

---

Paul Soglin roasts the Democrats for their role in concealed carry.

UPDATE: I've found now that the Wisconsin law would allow licensed gun-toters from Florida, Texas or other states to bring their weapons when they visit the Badger state. I guess they'll have to stash the guns in their checked baggage, not carry them on the plane. So anyone planning on victimizing them would have to do it on the way to the baggage claim area.