Fear + Money = Conceal & Carry

Just what is State Sen. Jeanne Combs (Dist. 32) so scared of that she thinks Nebraskans need to be carrying around concealed weapons? Yesterday's World-Herald attempted to answer:

She came to believe that people couldn't count on police for protection after her home was burglarized - twice - while living in Southern California.

She purchased her stainless steel Smith & Wesson revolver when she was a home health-care and hospice nurse in Jackson County, Ky., 11 years ago....

"In that culture, everyone has a gun," she said. "They carry them clipped to their belt, like people around here do a Vise-Grip..."

Since moving to Nebraska nine years ago, Combs has stored her gun in a locked box in a closet. She's no longer in a job where she feels she needs a firearm. Until recently, she hadn't gotten the pistol out for more than a year.

But if she needed it, Combs said, she'd like to be able to legally stow it in her purse or glove compartment. In Nebraska, she said, it's not socially acceptable - though it's legal - to carry a gun in the open.

"I'd be the talk of the town to walk around with a gun on my hip," she said.

Has Combs considered maybe that's for good reason? Seems to me that this entire push for Conceal & Carry, even according to Combs, is an attack on Nebraska's peaceful way of life. It's an attempt to change our culture to make it more accomodating to a gun-obsessed fringe group, so - God forbid - they're not "the talk of the town."

Is that really how laws get pased in this state? Good grief. The OWH article goes on to mention Combs run-in with California gang members in the middle of a turf war. How nice that she's now doing her part to bring that kind of fear to us in Nebraska.

More troubling even that that, however, is the revelation that Combs is getting a free trip to Front Sight Resort in Nevada, which describes itself as the "World's Premier Resort for Self Defense and Personal Safety Training."

The training, which normally costs $900, is being provided by the Michigan Legislative Sportsmen's Foundation. Combs is a member of the Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation.

The Front Sight course is accepted for concealed-handgun permits in 23 states. Combs wants to be able to describe, first-hand, the training typically required for obtaining a concealed-weapon permit.

Look at that - guess who wants to see Nebraska become the 24th state to allow this expensive training? Ha...Republicans - they cloak their gun crap as a big civil rights/2nd Amendment issue, but in the end, as expected, it's all about the money.