Concealed Carry License

1 October, 2006

Dear President Bush,

I have noticed that some states do not recognize an Alabama Concealed Carry License for one main reason, that being a national agency check for criminal history is not done by Alabama. I cannot fathom why this is not done in Alabama. It seems prudent. Additionally, some states like South Carolina do not allow persons under the age of 21 to carry concealed weapons. I am not sure people under that age should be carrying concealed weapons. I think a special permit for those Alabamians who really need a concealed carry permit under the age of 21 years old could be handled with a special permit of some sort.

I know the foregoing is not specifically your problem, but it demonstrates one of mine you have in your power to remedy. I spent much of my Navy service outside of the US and I travel around this country a lot since I retired from the Navy, but I do not like being a potential victim while I travel with my family. I devoted 30 years of my life to defending this country and it is a painful and insulting slap in the face that I cannot defend myself in every state. That should not be. I did not sacrifice for only the states that permit me to carry a concealed weapon and honor Alabama's CCW license. I sacrificed for all 50 states and the territories. The Second Amendment does not recognize any state authority to infringe upon it, but many do and they do not all have the same rules.

Retired military people held high positions of trust and responsibility for many years in service to this country yet this nation does not grant them very basic Second Amendment rights on a national level. I cannot fathom the reasoning. When we were young, we perhaps had an opportunity to physically fight off an attacker. Now that we are older, that option has diminished and continues to diminish every day while our vulnerability increases as older people are considered easy pickings. It is not in our mental make up to run from trouble, nor could we now because of physical limitations. Military veterans, above all others, should be able to defend themselves and their families anywhere in America. By our blood and tears, we have earned that right. Many in the House and Senate have been designated "Federal Marshals" to permit the carry of a concealed weapon for protection. Is the service of a politician, safe at home, more deserving than that of the veteran who dodged the bullets or bled and cried for fallen comrades on foreign soil? Nor are we provided the luxury of trained body guards who would gladly give their lives for us as we would have for our country.

I carry a pistol in my RV for personal protection, but I cannot enter the Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville to go to the commissary. What do veterans who carry weapons in their vehicles and travel to other states where their weapons license is recognized do if they need to go on base for some reason, including medical? Bases do not "hold" weapons for you while you are on base for maybe an hour or two to shop or fill up with gas. Honest people are forced to lie since there is no place they can store a pistol to comply with base regulations. I checked with the Huntsville Police. They would not. This is grossly unfair and wrong and lying went out of vogue with the previous administration.

President Bush, will you propose a national concealed weapon carry law for military veterans and include in that right military bases as that is where campgrounds, commissaries and exchanges are located or make it so with the stroke of your pen? Fingerprints and National Agency Checks are readily available for military veterans so this is not a problem. We have also trained with firearms. I dare day that a 60 year-old veteran is as safe and trustworthy with a loaded pistol in his vehicle or on his person as the 19 year-old gate guard with a loaded M-16.

Enacting such legislation is cheap, but would likely sit well with retired military families and they would make their approval known at the ballot box. Remember, every military veteran killed by some crack-head thug is a Republican vote needlessly lost forever and dead Republicans often vote Democrat.

Thank you.

William Fortner, LCDR, USN (Ret.)