[GunSlut]

In the United States the history of modern concealed carry started with Georgia. In 1976 that state's governor, Zell Miller, introduced what became the model for later laws. His effort was inspired by an NRA director and former border patrolman, Ed Topmiller. The heart of the law was that the job of administering the shall issue permit process was given to a non-law enforcement, elected official.

Georgia joined a handfull of other states allowing concealed carry, including Vermont, where no license is required; New Hampshire, with a 1923 law; Washington, which made issuance almost mandatory in 1961; and Connecticut, where in 1969 a Handgun Review Board was established to minimize arbitrary denials.

The Indiana Sportsmens Council, assisted by the NRA-ILA, passed a mandatory issuance law in 1980, then had to sue the state police and other agencies and elected officials into compliance.

A trend started, with CCW laws passed in Indiana, 1980; Maine and North Dakota, 1985; and South Dakota, 1986.

The national media ignored these until 1987, when Marion Hammer tackled Florida. The anti-gunners were horrified. Obviously concealed carry would turn Florida into another Dodge City. Blood would flow in the street. Fender benders would turn into firefights.

The fight was tough, but the Unified Sportsmen of Florida succeeded. The dire Predictions? A year later the president of the police chiefs association, who had opposed the bill, was asked if he had kept track of all the problems the law caused. "There aren't any," he said.

That opened the way. CCWs swept through Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, 1989; Idaho and Mississippi, 1990; Montana, 1991; and Alaska, Arizona, Tennessee and Wyoming, 1994. Then came 1995, with Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia. In 1996 Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Carolina passed CCCW laws, and West Virginia passed it again, their state supreme court having struck down the first one. Alaska, in 1998, had to override a governor's veto to remove restrictions from their law.

Passing CCW laws was never easy.