The Last Gun (19 page)

At the same time, the Florida legislature attempted to preempt the subject of gun regulation, wiping out the ability of counties and cities to issue sensible regulations. Local waiting periods and other laws and ordinances were intended to be erased, overriding
the expressed will of local voters. However, some localities persisted in regulating guns, such as forbidding their carry in public buildings and parks and on beaches, and requiring trigger locks.
⁴⁸
The NRA and some citizens filed lawsuits to stop the local regulation, which according to Hammer was a case of “gun haters” flouting state law.
⁴⁹
In 2011, the legislature complied with NRA demands that the law be tightened, and enacted a sweeping measure that imposed the penalties of fines and removal from office on any local officials who dared regulate guns.
⁵⁰
In the wake of the new law, cities and counties gave up and effectively abandoned gun regulation.
⁵¹
“We just want local public officials, elected and otherwise, to quit violating the state law and stop trampling the rights of Florida's law-abiding gun-owners,” Hammer wrote in an e-mail supporting passage of the law.
⁵²
Regarding concealed carry in particular, the Florida law states that the legislature “finds it necessary to occupy the field of regulation of the bearing of concealed weapons or firearms for self-defense to ensure that no honest, law-abiding person who qualifies under the provisions of this section is subjectively or arbitrarily denied his or her rights.”
⁵³

Such cant about self-defense rights, and its obtuse division between “honest, law-abiding” people and criminals is typical of the gun lobby's close-minded arguments. In 1987, Hammer dismissed concerns about the risks of vigilantes killing innocent people—such as would allegedly happen in the notorious Trayvon Martin case in 2012—or being shot with their own guns as “hysterical, emotional. If an individual is responsible for protecting himself and his family, he's entitled to have the proper tools.” In a similar vein, the NRA ran “huge” newspaper ads in Florida, one of which portrayed “a blurred face menacingly encased in a stocking cap and, in bold black type, the question: ‘SHOULD YOU SHOOT A RAPIST BEFORE HE CUTS YOUR THROAT?' ”
⁵⁴

But this equivalent of sticking one's fingers in one's ears and shouting rude noises does not change the reality about the
consequences of pumping guns into public spaces, a reality that was apparent within months in Florida. It turned out that in its frenzy to pass the shall-issue package, the legislature had inadvertently made the open carrying of guns legal. This caused an uproar. Another legislative battle ensued under the watchful eye of Marion Hammer and the NRA. The
Washington Post
provided a picturesque glimpse of the Gunshine State's shooting scenery in 1987:

In just the days in which the legislature debated closing the open-carrying loophole, a Miami jitney driver was killed by a passenger who argued over a 75-cent fare, a 17-year-old Miamian was severely wounded walking to school by a shot meant for another man, a purse snatcher opened fire at 11
A.M
. on a crowded street before police shot him, and a man walked into a suburban restaurant with a gun in his waistband, fought with another customer and shot him to death. In rural Marion County, an 8-year-old was shot in the head by a 10-year-old friend showing off his parents' pistol. And a 5-year-old was shot dead as his father tried to grab the gun his child had taken from the car.
⁵⁵

This week of gun carnage was merely the precursor of years to come. The NRA's argument in favor of relaxed concealed-weapons laws rested on three articles of faith: criminals do not apply for concealed-carry licenses, criminals do not receive concealed-carry licenses, and concealed-carry-license holders do not commit crimes. Yet a 1995 review of records obtained by the VPC from the Florida Division of Licensing and the state's Board of Executive Clemency revealed that hundreds of criminals, convicted of crimes ranging from firearm violations to kidnapping and aggravated rape, applied for concealed-carry licenses in Florida, criminals did succeed in getting concealed-carry licenses, and concealed-carry-license holders in Florida did have licenses
revoked or suspended for various crimes, including firearm and drug violations.
⁵⁶

The following year, 1996, Tanya Metaksa, then executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, stuck her rhetorical fingers in her ears and, in another of the NRA's trademark arguments by false assertion, told a press conference in Dallas that people who got concealed-carry licenses were “law-abiding, upstanding community leaders.” According to Metaksa, “These citizens don't commit violent crimes.”
⁵⁷
Mounting objective evidence proves otherwise. The VPC has tracked non-self-defense deaths since May 2007 involving private citizens legally allowed to carry handguns. As of June 29, 2012, VPC's Concealed Carry Killer project found that a total of 462 people had died in such non-self-defense incidents.
⁵⁸
Of these victims, fourteen were law enforcement officers, like Corporal Michael Roberts in Tampa. Since this data is derived from media reports, the only national source of information available, the actual number of concealed-carry killers is likely far higher. And as the reader has seen in earlier chapters, many concealed-carry permit holders commit crimes of armed aggression short of murder. Moreover, directly contrary to Metaksa's bland assertions about the good character of permit holders, criminal gang leaders “have learned how to structure their crews so that at least one of them can be legally armed. One member of a crew will have a concealed weapons permit, allowing them to be armed.”
⁵⁹

These cautionary facts were swept aside as Florida became a national incubator of gun death and injury. Relaxed concealed-carry laws swept over America's legislatures. The real force behind this wave was not a citizenry clamoring to lawfully pack heat. It was the gun industry, a force that has never been deterred by the mayhem its products wreak on others. This was evident in Florida within months of the concealed-carry law's passage. Praising Marion Hammer as “a real American,” John Katon, the owner of the Tamiami Gun Shop, enthused in 1987 that first-time buyers prompted by the new law had boosted his gun sales
“an overwhelming 50 percent.”
⁶⁰
The NRA's Tanya Metaksa was even more blunt in 1996. “The gun industry should send me a basket of fruit—our efforts have created a new market.”
⁶¹

The gift of a new market was exactly what the industry needed. “As more states pass concealed-carry legislation, we'll see an increase in handgun sales,” Michael Saporito, of RSR Wholesale Guns, said the year before, when industry reports were gloomy about slumping sales.
⁶²
In 1996, Massad Ayoob, a pro-gun writer who specializes in advising dealers on the subject of selling lethal force in the form of handguns, waxed enthusiastic about the gun industry's gift. “A high point for gun dealers, as well as those who believe in freedom and safety,” wrote Ayoob, “was 1995's record number of states passing favorable concealed handgun carry legislation. Persons enabled to carry a concealed weapon in public for the first time are willing to splurge to get the right blend of discretion with speed and power. (Some have been known to buy a new gun just to celebrate the permit!)”
⁶³

The only problem was that the bloodred NRA tide had not yet washed over every state. Greg Griffeth, owner of the Sportsman Den gun shop in Shelby, Ohio, complained to
Shooting Industry
in 2002 that Ohio's lack of a concealed-carry law was holding back his sales of semiautomatic pistols. Griffeth explained, “Smith & Wesson, Taurus and Ruger comprise about 80 percent of my handgun sales, mostly in revolvers. If we could get a CCW law through our state government, our semi-autos would take off.”
⁶⁴
Not to worry. The NRA lobbying machine was on the case. In 2004, pistol sales could “take off” in Ohio after the state's new concealed-carry permit law went into effect. By then,
Shooting Industry
triumphantly crowed, “Self-defense products have been and continue to be the heart of the weapons market. Self-defense sells.”
⁶⁵

Ayoob pointed out another important profit center for gun shops, derived directly from concealed-carry laws. “Remember, too, the first-time gun carrier is a walking cluster of ancillary sales: inside the waistband holster for maximum concealment,
outside the belt high-ride scabbard for waistbands too tight for IWB (“inside the waistband”), fanny pack, spare magazines or speedloaders, a secure firearm storage unit, and of course, the best premium-grade defensive ammo money can buy.”
⁶⁶
In fact, many experts advise that gun shops can make more money from the sale of accessories to “walking clusters” than from guns. “Accessories are where you make your profit,” advised gun store owner Mike Goschinski in 2003. “If you're selling handguns but not selling accessories, you're doing a lot of work for nothing.”
⁶⁷

“Customers who spend several hundred (or, in some cases several thousand) dollars on a handgun are usually willing to drop 40 or 50 extra bucks to buy something extra for their ‘new baby'. . . Now's the perfect time to cash in,”
Shooting Industry
suggested to retailers.
⁶⁸
By 2003, Ayoob noted a marked change in gun enthusiast garb. “For generations, retail firearm dealers have found hunting clothes and other outdoor garb to be a profitable sideline,” he wrote. “Today's gun clothing has been augmented by garments expressly designed to discreetly conceal defensive handguns.”
⁶⁹
In 2006 the same monothematic writer suggested that “many of your customers may not realize their ‘wardrobe of firearms' should include a ‘winter ensemble.' If that's the case, do them a favor by bringing it to their attention. And, since you are their ‘gun-wear store,' you'll be helping your bottom line, also.”
⁷⁰

Another profitable sideline for gun store owners was mandated by the relaxed concealed-carry laws the NRA husbanded through compliant state legislatures. This was the requirement for training by—no surprise here—NRA-certified instructors. In Roseburg, Oregon, Curly Jensen, a certified NRA instructor and owner of the Gunner's Club gun shop, offered such classes and told
Shooting Industry
in 1996 that “a high percentage of those taking the classes buy a handgun, or at least ammunition and accessories, like holsters.”
⁷¹
As usual, Ayoob had advice on the subject. “Firearm training is something your customers want and need, even if you or your staff don't have the time or the facilities,” he wrote. “Likely, there are competent trainers within driving distance of
your store. They'll do the training and be happy to pay a commission to you for the referrals or give your customers a discount.”
⁷²

An idea of how much fresh blood concealed-carry laws have pumped into the anemic gun industry is demonstrated by Florida's experience. Before the new law, 16,000 Floridians were reported to have concealed-carry licenses.
⁷³
As of August 31, 2012, Florida had dispensed 1,151,537 gun licenses, of which 963,349 were run-of-the-mill concealed-carry licenses. The remainder were for various specialized occupations, such as private investigators.
⁷⁴
Add to this growth the increased sales in all of the forty-one states that as of February 2012 have shall-issue laws similar to Florida's, and it's clear that the NRA's gift to the gun industry was a big one, a gift that keeps on giving profits to the industry while taking innocent lives.

If this boom from the NRA's concealed-carry push made gun retailers happy, gun manufacturers and importers were tickled pink. Designing and marketing new lines of small but powerful “pocket rockets” in high calibers for the new concealed-carry market boosted manufacturers as well. This factor explains why the industry has never thrown its weight behind the “open-carry” movement. Just about any gun will do for open carry. A handgun can be stuck into a waistband or shoved into a holster. A long gun can be slung over the shoulder. No special gun size or design is required for carrying a gun openly, no accessories are needed, and no specialized clothing need be worn. Thus, open carry offers few new, if any, profitable marketing ploys to tempt Ayoob's “walking cluster” gun buyer.

A Brazilian handgun manufacturer, Taurus, was one of those who caught the new wave. (Many foreign gun manufacturers export to the United States guns that they cannot legally sell to civilians in their own countries.) Taurus “began seriously pursuing the U.S. firearms market in 1982” and within two years “had established a beachhead in the American market.”
⁷⁵
In 1998 the company announced its Millennium handgun series, “notable for its extremely compact size that almost literally fits in the
palm of one's hand.”
⁷⁶
Two years later,
Shooting Industry
's self-promotional “Academy of Excellence” gave Taurus its Manufacturer of the Year Award.
⁷⁷
And in 2001 the company's 45 caliber Millennium model “joined the family . . . a signal achievement of firearm design and engineering, placing 10 man stopping rounds of .45 ACP into a pistol that is more compact than most 9mm handguns.”
⁷⁸

In 2009, Humberto Delgado shot Corporal Michael Roberts to death with a single shot from a Taurus “signal achievement of firearm design and engineering.” Corporal Roberts, however, was not the first police officer to have been shot to death in the United States by a palm-sized 45 caliber Taurus Millennium with its “10 man stopping rounds.”