No, There is a law that allows one to carry a handgun and there is a law of concealed carry. They are two different things. In Nebraska we allow for the carrying of a handgun, but we do not allow concealed (or hidden) carry. I have spoken with our local expert (who is in favor of concealed carry) and he tells me that there are only three states that does not allow visible carry. You can have a holster and carry a gun as long as you have a permit for that gun (in this state). There are, however, lots of places you can not take a gun in with you, and lots of places you can.
Yes, crime happens and you have the right to be prepared. You take me wrong. I do not like the idea of concealed, that's my opinion, but I do believe in your right to bare arms. In Nebraska we do allow a person to carry a gun, visible. We do not allow brandishing which would be more of a waving around and threatening display. Do they not allow a normal carry of a gun in your state? Here you could have a gun right next to you on your car seat and be in no trouble if it is not concealed. So, here at least, I see no reason to have a concealed carry. One thing though, for safety reasons, the gun needs to be unloaded while in the car. If you are not allowed visible carry, but only concealed carry, then you have no choice and I would not dispute your concealed carry.
Also I should add that my opinion could be swayed with very strict rules to the concealed carry. The reason I could be swayed is that you are totally correct about the drop in crime. I will not get into some of the rules I would like to see due to the debate it may cause. I do like the forced education, a very good idea.
My experience (and some studies) show that you are wrong about where criminals get their guns. I take many reports every year involving stolen weapons. In almost everyone of these reports, but not all, the owners have left the guns in unsafe locations, ie bedroom draws, and did not have the serial numbers recorded. Many times we retrieve the guns. Once we retrieved guns that had not even been reported stolen yet, because they were used in a driveby shooting witnessed by myself and several other officers that happened to be working under cover in the area. That was one incident, there were many. We are constantly taking guns off of the criminal and sending them to the ATF for tracking to eventual find out they were stolen. The process is long. (In my last department) We even had an ex-officer have over 20 firearms stolen. He did not lock them up, but he did have serial numbers. I also know that specific homes have been hit because they housed guns. Come on, it's cheaper than buying. Criminal want guns they go were they can get them. Houses are cased. They get information about the owners and when they are expected to be gone. It is not that difficult to obtain information. Guns are going for two eight-balls on the streets here right now. An addict will do almost anything to get his next hit. Also guns are bought on the 'black market', but where do you think they come from. Arms manufactures are not selling to street punks. Now dangerous Goverments, that's a different story. That does not mean that people should not own or carry guns though.
You do take me wrong. I see no reason for a person not to have a gun (or carry it), but they must take responsibility for the gun. The gun must be secured when not in use. Also, I do not carry when off duty, but I have no problem with those that do. I should correct that there have been times when I did carry off duty. Those were times I knew I was going into a bad area, but had to.
My main idea in my last post is to point out that if choose to carry you must take the responsibility of your choice and you must be ready to face the consequences.
Nothing changes the fact that if you choose to carry a gun
1. You must be ready to use it.
2. You must be ready to take responsibilty for your actions.
3. You must keep others (but those you allow) from using your weapon (don't get it stolen)
Simple. I hope this does not offend. That is not my purpose and as I said I can be swayed about concealed carry. One thing I would like to see is that people can not carry while intoxicated. That may sound odd, but we did just have that college girl killed at a party by being shot in the throat accidentally. He meant to shoot someone else.