The Firearms Coalition – Mandatory Training?.

The idea of mandatory training stems from the huge and disturbing assumption that the people have no common sense of their own and must be led to sensible behavior by the government. The error of that assumption is proven every day in states that do not require training; Alaska, Vermont, Washington, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and other states where training is not required do not have higher rates of accidents or erroneous shootings than states with strict training requirements. Washington State has had a “shall-issue” concealed carry permit, with no training requirement, since 1961 and Vermont has never had any requirement for training and requires no permit to carry a firearm. Alaska removed their permit requirement several years ago and there has been no increase in crime or accidents. Arizona requires several hours of classroom and range instruction for a concealed carry permit, but open carry is virtually unrestricted and has been common in the state for decades. Arizona’s legal open carriers are no more accident or error prone than their “highly trained” concealed carrying counterparts. As a matter of fact, lawfully armed citizens – in states requiring training and permits and those which do not – typically have lower firearms “incident%E