It has occurred to me that it might be possible to do away with discretionary issue for CCW permits in some states by using the Federal anti-discrimination laws.
Consider...Could it be that in states like NY where some people are granted CCW licenses and others are not that a pattern of discrimination might show up if someone were to examine the requests for permits in various counties of NY state and NYC? Discrimination that would be illegal under current civil rights legislation? As I under stand these laws it is not necessary to prove that a particular instance of discrimination has occurred based on race, sex, religion, national origin or such but only necessary to prove that there exists a pattern of such discrimination.
If so then it could be argued that the discrimination is a result of the discretionary nature of the current laws regulating the issuance of permits and that the only way to eliminate the discrimination would be to eliminate the discretion. Thus make the laws apply exactly to everyone who applies; you meet the requirements, you get the permit.
One potential problem is that the sate could get around the issue by simply doing away with CCW all together as in Illinois today. However, I think this would be unlikely because of all the important, politically and socially connected people who already have these permits and would be unwilling to loose them.
Consider...Could it be that in states like NY where some people are granted CCW licenses and others are not that a pattern of discrimination might show up if someone were to examine the requests for permits in various counties of NY state and NYC? Discrimination that would be illegal under current civil rights legislation? As I under stand these laws it is not necessary to prove that a particular instance of discrimination has occurred based on race, sex, religion, national origin or such but only necessary to prove that there exists a pattern of such discrimination.
If so then it could be argued that the discrimination is a result of the discretionary nature of the current laws regulating the issuance of permits and that the only way to eliminate the discrimination would be to eliminate the discretion. Thus make the laws apply exactly to everyone who applies; you meet the requirements, you get the permit.
One potential problem is that the sate could get around the issue by simply doing away with CCW all together as in Illinois today. However, I think this would be unlikely because of all the important, politically and socially connected people who already have these permits and would be unwilling to loose them.
Last edited: