ghosttwofive
Custom
Arkansas is 2A friendly as far as purchasing and carrying handguns go. We're moving toward a state wide constitutional carry stance. The county I live in, Washington County, has a very 2A friendly Sheriff who has publicly stated he supports constitutional carry. As far as purchasing a handgun in Arkansas, my concealed weapons license does cut down on the paperwork required to purchase a handgun. Any time I've bought a rifle or handgun, the first question from the clerk is "Do you have a valid concealed carry license?" If you do, the paperwork takes literally about five minutes to fill out if that, it's just the basic information sheet along with the questions about if I've ever renounced my citizenship, etc.
Here's my main concern in Arkansas about concealed carry. I got my enhanced concealed carry license last year. I've had my concealed handgun license in Arkansas since 1999 but last year they started issuing the ECCL and I very much wanted to get mine. There were about 15 people in the class, 13 of them didn't bring a handgun to the class???? The course description clearly states to bring your handgun of choice. Of those 15 people, 10 of them failed the shooting course. Mind you these are people who already have a CCL, but they were going for their enhanced CCL. The instructor had a .22 semi-auto he kept in his truck. He had his associate go to the store, this is pre covid ammo availability times, to pick up a couple of boxes of ammo. He told me on the side later he's used to one or two people not having a weapon but he was a bit shocked that 75% of the class showed up without a handgun...lol The instructor stayed and let the ones who did bring a weapon go ahead and qualify.
Here's the shooting requirements for the Arkansas Enhanced Concealed Carry licensing. The target you use is a standard B-27 target. All you have to do is put each round in the 7-ring (the outer ring) for the shot to be considered a hit. It's a 50-round course.
1. Stage 1: 3 yard line – 20 Rounds
a. 5 shots fired in a “one shot exercise” – 2 seconds allowed for each shot;
b. 10 shots fired in a “two shot exercise” – 3 seconds allowed for each 2 shot sequence;
c. 5 shots fired in 10 seconds;
2. Stage 2: 7 yard line – 20 rounds
a. 5 shots fired in 10 seconds
b. 5 shots fired in 2 stages
i. 2 shots fired in 4 seconds;
ii. 3 shots fired in 6 seconds;
c. 5 shots fired in a “one shot exercise” – 3 seconds allowed for each shot;
d. 5 shots fired in 15 seconds
3. Stage 3: 15 yard line – 10 rounds
a. 5 shots fired in 2 stages:
i. 2 shots fired in 6 seconds
ii. 3 shots fired in 9 seconds
b. 5 shots fired in 15 seconds
This is NOT a difficult course. I'm not William H. Bonney or Doc Holliday, but I put every round on target easily. There is plenty of time between shots. You go to the low ready position until the instructor tells you what you're going to be doing then says "Shooter ready?" "Fire." then you're timed. If you have any proficiency whatsoever with your handgun, and I believe you should if you're carrying it on you all the time, then this course is not difficult. I felt like I had had ample time to get on target and fire each round. I scored 50/50, and did not feel like it was much of a challenge. The two people who shot before me failed the course...miserably. The first guy kept missing the whole damn target completely. You have to hit 35 out of 50 shots to pass, he scored something like 22. The next person scored 30 if I remember correctly. I passed, the next person passed, then there were several after that that failed shooting the instructor's .22 cal handgun. I started doing some numbers in my head as I watched. You figure if 2/3 of our class didn't pass the enhanced class.......are they more of a liability carrying their handguns out there in public? I watched several of them have to be shown by the instructor how to load the .22 handgun he let them use and to be honest, several of the people looked uncomfortable handling the handgun, like they didn't handle a handgun on a regular basis. My long drawn out point is that I'm all for concealed carry but if you're going to take the Barney Fife approach to handling your handgun, I'm not sure if you should be trusted to put a bad guy down in a worst case scenario. I've taken several defensive handgun courses over the years and worked in LE for several years, so I've been fortunate to be able to learn how to carry a handgun both physically and what to consider mentally when carrying a firearm. What I saw at my enhanced class were several people who seemed to be uncomfortable with a firearm, unprepared for the class, and unwilling to listen to instructions given by the instructor in order to pass the course. I always try to balance my ardent support of the 2A with the fact that many people in my state carrying a firearm need a lot more training to do so proficiently. It's a double edged sword I suppose but I got the feeling at my class that most of the students would be that guy who, in a worst case scenario, would end up hauling iron and shooting everyone but the bad guy, due to lack of training and familiarity with their weapon. That's always on my mind when I'm sitting with my family in crowded restaurant or some other place with limited exits. I'm all for concealed carry, but you need to have the right mindset as well as the right tools if the worst case scenario happens. Life isn't like the movies when it comes to gunfights, but I get the feeling too many of my fellow Arkansans have seen too much Hollywood to understand the actual conditions that will most likely exist during a shooting scenario.
Oh yeah almost forgot, a few weeks ago, I was at our local Bass Pro Shop looking for a hand stop for my rifle, overheard a guy at the gun counter ask the clerk if the 9mm handgun he was looking at "would also fire 10mm rounds?"........not kidding. The clerk was very diplomatic when he told the potential buyer that "No. Absolutely not, sir." but it's worrisome who is buying handguns nowadays....lol
Here's my main concern in Arkansas about concealed carry. I got my enhanced concealed carry license last year. I've had my concealed handgun license in Arkansas since 1999 but last year they started issuing the ECCL and I very much wanted to get mine. There were about 15 people in the class, 13 of them didn't bring a handgun to the class???? The course description clearly states to bring your handgun of choice. Of those 15 people, 10 of them failed the shooting course. Mind you these are people who already have a CCL, but they were going for their enhanced CCL. The instructor had a .22 semi-auto he kept in his truck. He had his associate go to the store, this is pre covid ammo availability times, to pick up a couple of boxes of ammo. He told me on the side later he's used to one or two people not having a weapon but he was a bit shocked that 75% of the class showed up without a handgun...lol The instructor stayed and let the ones who did bring a weapon go ahead and qualify.
Here's the shooting requirements for the Arkansas Enhanced Concealed Carry licensing. The target you use is a standard B-27 target. All you have to do is put each round in the 7-ring (the outer ring) for the shot to be considered a hit. It's a 50-round course.
1. Stage 1: 3 yard line – 20 Rounds
a. 5 shots fired in a “one shot exercise” – 2 seconds allowed for each shot;
b. 10 shots fired in a “two shot exercise” – 3 seconds allowed for each 2 shot sequence;
c. 5 shots fired in 10 seconds;
2. Stage 2: 7 yard line – 20 rounds
a. 5 shots fired in 10 seconds
b. 5 shots fired in 2 stages
i. 2 shots fired in 4 seconds;
ii. 3 shots fired in 6 seconds;
c. 5 shots fired in a “one shot exercise” – 3 seconds allowed for each shot;
d. 5 shots fired in 15 seconds
3. Stage 3: 15 yard line – 10 rounds
a. 5 shots fired in 2 stages:
i. 2 shots fired in 6 seconds
ii. 3 shots fired in 9 seconds
b. 5 shots fired in 15 seconds
This is NOT a difficult course. I'm not William H. Bonney or Doc Holliday, but I put every round on target easily. There is plenty of time between shots. You go to the low ready position until the instructor tells you what you're going to be doing then says "Shooter ready?" "Fire." then you're timed. If you have any proficiency whatsoever with your handgun, and I believe you should if you're carrying it on you all the time, then this course is not difficult. I felt like I had had ample time to get on target and fire each round. I scored 50/50, and did not feel like it was much of a challenge. The two people who shot before me failed the course...miserably. The first guy kept missing the whole damn target completely. You have to hit 35 out of 50 shots to pass, he scored something like 22. The next person scored 30 if I remember correctly. I passed, the next person passed, then there were several after that that failed shooting the instructor's .22 cal handgun. I started doing some numbers in my head as I watched. You figure if 2/3 of our class didn't pass the enhanced class.......are they more of a liability carrying their handguns out there in public? I watched several of them have to be shown by the instructor how to load the .22 handgun he let them use and to be honest, several of the people looked uncomfortable handling the handgun, like they didn't handle a handgun on a regular basis. My long drawn out point is that I'm all for concealed carry but if you're going to take the Barney Fife approach to handling your handgun, I'm not sure if you should be trusted to put a bad guy down in a worst case scenario. I've taken several defensive handgun courses over the years and worked in LE for several years, so I've been fortunate to be able to learn how to carry a handgun both physically and what to consider mentally when carrying a firearm. What I saw at my enhanced class were several people who seemed to be uncomfortable with a firearm, unprepared for the class, and unwilling to listen to instructions given by the instructor in order to pass the course. I always try to balance my ardent support of the 2A with the fact that many people in my state carrying a firearm need a lot more training to do so proficiently. It's a double edged sword I suppose but I got the feeling at my class that most of the students would be that guy who, in a worst case scenario, would end up hauling iron and shooting everyone but the bad guy, due to lack of training and familiarity with their weapon. That's always on my mind when I'm sitting with my family in crowded restaurant or some other place with limited exits. I'm all for concealed carry, but you need to have the right mindset as well as the right tools if the worst case scenario happens. Life isn't like the movies when it comes to gunfights, but I get the feeling too many of my fellow Arkansans have seen too much Hollywood to understand the actual conditions that will most likely exist during a shooting scenario.
Oh yeah almost forgot, a few weeks ago, I was at our local Bass Pro Shop looking for a hand stop for my rifle, overheard a guy at the gun counter ask the clerk if the 9mm handgun he was looking at "would also fire 10mm rounds?"........not kidding. The clerk was very diplomatic when he told the potential buyer that "No. Absolutely not, sir." but it's worrisome who is buying handguns nowadays....lol
