A Solution to Too Much Paperwork

Gun enthusiasts said it would deter crime. Gun-control advocates said the measure would increase it, spawning needless deaths.

But Minnesota's permit-to-carry handgun law appears to have done neither, according to an analysis of state crime statistics. Instead, it has accomplished something else entirely in the five years since it was enacted: It's kept clerks at sheriffs' offices hopping busy with paperwork.

So we can stop with the forms and fees and dispense with this permission nonsense, right?

Now that it's been proven (yet once again) the Dodge City scenario is a lie, we know peaceable armed citizens don't need supervising. And those who aren't peaceable don't get permits anyway.

As for crime not being deterred, I don't see where the data sets they're citing would show that one way or another. But here's what we do know: we don't need to demonstrate how many fires are deterred by equipping buildings with extinguishers and sprinkler systems to know that they'll be in a better position to remain standing should one break out.