We’ve been here before. Back in October 2013, TTAG reader MD Matt took Jimmy Kimmel to task for making fun of sight-impaired shooters in Blind People with Gun? Get Over it.) Three days ago, it was Defensive Gun Use of the Day: 92-Year-Old Blind Woman Chases Off Burglars. But that didn’t stop South Carolina’s WSPA from launching a hysterical report headlined Investigation: Shooting in the Dark. Like this: “Johnny Horton, former Army gunner and card-carrying member of the National Rifle Association, love his firearms and doesn’t go anywhere without his pistol. He says South Carolina’s concealed weapons permit law terrifies him . . .
The law forces the state to issue a permit to anyone who passes a CWP course and shows either proof of 20/40 vision within 6 mont5hs or a valid driver’s license.
You need 20/40 vision to get a driver’s license, but gun instructors say just because you have one doesn’t mean you have good enough eyesight to safely handle a gun. That’s because the state only requires drivers to update them every 10 years.
“They are shooting in the dark,” Horton explains.
He says he knows there are people out there who aren’t qualified; those who have lost their sight within the last 3 years and have a CWP.
Duh duh DUH! Disarm the vision impaired! Because . . . guns!
There’s no way a visually impaired person could responsibly exercise their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. The blind Oklahoman who did so in the story referenced above could have shot someone! I mean, the wrong someone. Kinda like the New York City police. Anyway . . .
Warren Sanders, a CWP instructor, didn’t lose his eyesight, but ran into some serious problems with his vision a while back.
Sanders knew he had no business handling a gun at the time, but under state law, he could still carry a concealed weapon.
“I personally have had cataract surgery,” he says. “My vision deteriorated. I saw the need for corrective lenses and took care of it.”
Sanders says his concern is people like him who have vision problems, but don’t tell anyone and use a valid driver’s license to take advantage of what he calls a loophole in the law to get a concealed weapons permit.
“A person may make a decision based on faulty vision and it may cost someone else dearly,” he adds.
There’s no way to know how many people out there don’t meet the vision requirement, but are carrying guns. But Horton says there’s one thing we do know: they’re out in public with the rest of us.
“The last place you want to be is in the grocery store and catch a stray bullet while you’re buying a loaf of bread,” he says.
As opposed to? Seriously folks, remember this morning’s Quote of the Day, where President Obama vowed to keep “chipping away” at our gun rights? Like that. Rust never sleeps and neither do the proponents of civilian disarmament. Which is easy to see if you keep your eyes open.