ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607220039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
THE CONCEALED-WEAPON LAW lets virtually any adult in Virginia who has received some gun-safety training receive a permit.
Steady.
That's how the flow of business and paperwork has been since last year's relaxed concealed-weapon permit law was enacted, according to some entrepreneurs and police.
Vic Owens teaches classes at On Target, a shooting range on Shenandoah Valley Avenue Northeast. He said business has been steady since an initial rush last July, with lots of people signing up for gun safety classes.
"Going armed in public is possibly the greatest responsibility a person can have - except for having children," Owens said. "We make sure they understand it's not like the movies; it's not like TV."
He advises permit holders to take the same class prospective security guards are required to take.
"We feel this is the minimum amount of training a person should have," Owens said. "Just having a gun doesn't mean you can protect yourself."
Target ranges across the state are reaping the benefits of the concealed-weapon law that took effect July 1, 1995. The law allows just about any Virginia adult who has received some gun-safety training and does not have a felony record or mental illness to receive a permit.
Judges formerly issued permits only to people who demonstrated a need to carry a gun, such as security guards.
Virginia circuit judges issued 37,629 permits - an average of 2,940 a month - from July 1, 1995, through June 30, according to the state police record management division. There has been a steady flow of permits for state police to enter into the Virginia Criminal Information Network database, as required by the new law.
Salem Councilman Harry Haskins, who recently obtained a concealed-weapon permit, says he doesn't carry his weapon all the time.
The retired police chief and former state trooper says he got the permit only as a precaution. "Hopefully, I'll never, ever need it."
"Through the years - after 38 years in law enforcement - you make some enemies," Haskins said. Two murderers he helped convict are still in prison, he said.
With the law making it easier for people to carry guns, Haskins sees potential dangers.
"More weapons on the street doesn't make for a safer community," he said.
The new law has had a two-fold effect on law enforcement officials, who process background checks and do their jobs knowing more people are carrying guns.
Capt. Bob Strickler of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office says personnel have handled a steady stream of permit applicants, with a noticeable spurt right after the law took effect.
Strickler says Franklin County officers haven't had any incidents in the past year where a concealed-weapon permit holder used a gun in a crime.
In Montgomery County, a 60-year-old Christiansburg man shot his estranged wife, her male friend, then himself at her Blacksburg townhouse in February. He got a concealed-weapon permit in January, but there's no evidence it had anything to do with the crime. The double-homicide-suicide is believed to be the only case in which someone with a concealed-weapon permit committed a homicide in the state during the past year.
Most of the people applying for permits are "law-abiding citizens," Strickler said.
People who carry concealed weapons - doctors, retired police officers, store owners, older folks living alone - say they do so for personal protection.
Owens, the gun safety instructor, has had a permit off and on for 30 years. The 50-year-old former police officer doesn't like carrying a gun, but he says it's a necessity.
"It's just like having insurance," Owens said. "You don't particularly like writing the check, but you sleep better at night knowing you have it."
CONCEALED-WEAPON PERMITS
ISSUED BY CIRCUIT COURTS Jan.-Dec. 1995* Jan.-June1996
Bedford/Bedford County 247 159
Botetourt 141 88
Franklin 180 132
Montgomery 90 134
Pulaski 122 73
Radford 25 16
Roanoke 176 54
Roanoke County 262 202
Botetourt 141 88
Salem 63 32
* New law took effect July 1, 1995
Source: Virginia State Police
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart: Concealed weapon permit. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB