Commentary; Posted: 6/4/03

Carry and conceal, 2 a.m. bar closing cause bad vibes for sheriff

Jim Frank
Guest Columnist

As the elected Sheriff of Washington County I feel duty bound to express my total dismay with the irresponsibility of our current legislature. I have contacted legislators personally, and via e-mail, to convince them not to change the law on issuing permits to carry concealed guns.

Two years ago, a Washington County elected representative did not know what ìcarry and concealî meant. Now she is a champion of the cause. Another agreed that the people he represented didnít support the law change but stated he thought it was the right thing to do.

My advice does not come in the form of a campaign contribution, but rather from 34 years of law enforcement experience. Money talks and dead people donít.

I turn my attention and plea to those of you that are contemplating purchasing a gun and applying for a permit to carry it. Most everyone now has that ability under the recently enacted Personal Protection Act.

Guns do not kill people. People kill people with guns. Within months an estimated 80,000 people will be issued permits to carry guns. The vast majority of them will be law-abiding, but many will have convictions for crimes such as witness tampering, fifth degree criminal sexual conduct, second, third or fourth degree driving while impaired, procuring alcohol for a minor, trespassing, ìwindow peekingî and a number of theft and stolen property related crimes.

However, I am not as concerned about the law-abiding people, as I am about the sheer number of new guns that will be in circulation. There will now be more guns for people to kill people with. I am not talking about road rage or out-of-control sports fans.

I am talking about children who get their hands on permit holder guns.

I am talking about heavy-duty criminals who steal permit holders guns.

I am talking those ìunloadedî permit holders guns that will kill people.

I am talking about suicides that will be committed by permit holderís guns.

The vast majority of new permit holders didnít have a need to carry a gun before the law changed. What changed except the law?

Please spend a lot of time thinking and weighing the options. Your life and others depend on it.

I will make the prediction that more lives will be taken than those saved under this new law.

Let me move on to criminal gangs. They are on the increase and so are the crimes they commit. The legislature recently all but shut down one of the best tools law enforcement had to combat them, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force.

Again, one of our elected representatives from Washington County sat on a committee that dealt the fatal slash of funding. Gangs are responsible for a large majority of the violent crime. They use illegally obtained guns to do this and obviously wonít apply for a permit to carry a stolen gun.

Our representative never contacted me even though I am a member of the State Wide Gang Oversight Council that monitors, directs, and coordinates enforcement. I was involved from the inception of the nationally acclaimed model of gang enforcement.

Bar closing time will be extended until 2 a.m. and as a result 50 additional troopers will be hired. I am not sure how they tie together.

The state gets the money from the increased license fee and the cities and police departments where the bars are located get nothing, but just the headaches.

There is a need for more troopers that is certain. Are they going to answer the calls to the bars or did the legislature decide there would be more drunks and accidents on the road for them to handle?

I wonder if somebody already received his or her gratuity.

Special interest groups obviously are what make things happen. When they talk, or put up their money, our current legislature listens and acts. Extremists seem to control both parties.

The public good is missing and needs to be put back in the formula either by our representatives or the voters this fall.

Writer Jim Frank is sheriff of Washington County.

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