Should gun owners have to show they know how to use a gun safely before being granted a concealed-carry permit?
A just-passed Colorado law says yes and has banned online-only training for permits. Some other states say getting trained online is just fine.
The issue is the latest example of disagreement among states in the gun-control debate.
Most states require some form of training for an individual to be issued a carry permit, according to Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney for the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an organization that tracks state gun laws and advocates for gun control. At least six states, including Alabama and Pennsylvania, require carry permits but do not require any training, according to the center.
In Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming, people can carry without any type of permit or license, according to Gary Slider, creator of handgunlaw.us.
Colorado’s law, which took effect in June, requires that a portion of firearm safety training for a carry permit be done in a physical classroom with an instructor present. It outlaws a firearm safety course completed solely online as an eligible training option.
Colorado state Sen. Lois Tochtrop, a Democrat, sponsored the bill. She voted in favor of the 2003 law that outlined the original firearm safety training requirements but never considered the impact of the Internet.
“Back then, the Internet was still in its infancy, and no one knew what could be done with it for education and training,” she said. “The purpose of the (original) legislation was to ensure proper training, but these (online) courses do not adequately teach how to safely handle a gun.”
Oregon has a similar measure sitting in its Legislature’s rules committee. That bill, which originally required a live fire provision for firearm safety training, has been amended so it is simply an outright ban on online firearm safety training.
“With classes over the Internet ... you do not have the connection between the use of the weapon and the responsibility of the weapon,” said Democratic state Sen. Floyd Prozanski, the bill’s sponsor.
A 2009 Virginia law explicitly permits online courses as adequate training tools for concealed-carry permits.
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