As I promised, here is the review of the concealed carry class offered in the Otero county region…

Overall, the class was very informative about a number of issues regarding firearms laws in New Mexico, many of which are quite draconic but that is to be expected in a state with such a low population and large area. My personal ‘favorite’ being you cannot carry anywhere that ‘dispenses’ alcohol, which the state court has determined means by the bottle or by the drink. As a result of this you cannot carry into Walmart or any convenience store, not to mention restaurants, regardless of if you’re there to purchase alcohol or not. I sort of expected that one, just by what I had been told, but the extreme nature of the implications caught me by surprise. The instructor told us a story of how a group of legally open-carrying individuals were arrested as they walked in the door of a small mom and pop’s gas station because there was a small corner well in the back of the store where alcohol was on the shelf, these individuals claimed in court they didn’t know alcohol was sold there and it indeed wasn’t posted either, they’re serving time now apparently. This, of course, is second hand information so you shouldn’t absolutely trust me on it, but I’ll look back and see if I can find a news report on it. If it is true, that sounds more like the liberal north-east then most southern states I’ve visited.

There was a state requirement to teach proper firing safety and technique, which is always a good idea for these classes. Granted, everyone in the class was an experienced shooter and some were even competition shooters or military personnel, but refresher courses are something I’ll never complain about. Safety, as a topic, is something I feel can never be over-emphasized.

Then there’s the qualification itself, which was mainly an excuse for me to go out and shoot a couple hundred rounds of ammunition, something that’s always fun. You have to hit an 11×18 inch piece of paper 70% of the time, firing 15 rounds at 3 yards and another 10 at 7 yards. It was quite easy, and I only missed perfect scores on a few borrowed revolvers, the DA trigger pull was much stiffer than I’m used to, everything else was just fine.

The class also raised some notes about a bill presently attempting to pass through the state legislature. They’re proposing to reduce the age for concealed carry to 21 to bring it in line with other states and allow reciprocity, along with removing the caliber restriction as it is. For now, you must fire all calibers you wish to carry, both in semi-automatic frames and revolvers. Under the proposed change, you would be able to fire any caliber in lesser diameter to the one you qualified with for the class, so you’d really only have to fire your two biggest. They also want to change the renewal time from 2 years to 4 years, though the initial 2 years will not change.

The course cost was $140 plus tax, which worked out to about $150ish, about what I’ve paid for classes elsewhere. The licensing fee though is quite steep, an additional $100 and it’s only valid for 2 years.

Posted in uncategorized on February 18th, 2005 by Fox | RSS 2.0 |