(GunReports.com) — John Romano, columnist for the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, recently attended concealed carry classes in the Florida city and produced an even-handed account of the people at the classes and their motivations for taking the class. Excerpts:
…Chances are, someone in your neighborhood carries a gun. Chances are also good that you will come across a stranger carrying a concealed weapon at some point today. More than 900,000 Floridians are licensed to carry a concealed weapon, including more than 100,000 residents in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties alone. In the bay area, that works out to about one out of every 25 people. If those statistics come as a surprise, then you’ll want to pay attention. Because the numbers are growing. Daily. Rapidly.…
…And you may be interested to see who is sitting in those [concealed carry class] seats. Men, yes. But almost half of the class in April was female… It wasn’t that long ago that Rose Alonso had no interest in guns. Would have never even considered owning one. Alonso, 40, is a recruiter for business professionals and has seen firsthand the impact the economic crisis has had on middle class life. And it has left her a little spooked.…
…[I]t was good that the volunteer instructors at the CWP class went to great lengths to explain that, despite the ease in acquiring a permit, it is not a license to kill. There were a handful of shoot-first-ask-questions-later types among the students, but the majority seemed more interested in learning how to avoid conflict.…
…The overwhelming majority of concealed weapons permits still belong to men in Florida. In particular, middle-aged men. But one look at the folks gathered at the Wyoming Antelope Club, and it’s probably fair to say that the demographics are changing.
Read more at www.TampaBay.com.
