[doconix]

I've been searching this morning to learn the history of concealed carry. What's frustrating is all the articles and pages I find start from Georgia and Florida passing laws in the 90's supporting concealed carry. They assume that the USA started with concealed carry being illegal -- from the beginning.

I can't imagine that is the way we started, even though it is an assumption in almost everyone today. When the USA started, there were no gun laws except the 2A, which obviously gives the right to carry arms. It seems that pro-CCW people start arguments from a position of disadvantage (that we need to prove why CCW should be allowed) when in reality, we should be at the advantage (default is CCW is allowed, people need to show why it should be outlawed).

Pages on the history of gun laws go one of two directions: 1) they trace regular (mostly rifle) laws starting at the 2A, or 2) they start with making CCW legal in the last 20 years.

So, at some point in our history of of state or federal law, some law went into effect that made it *illegal* to carry concealed. Anyone know the circumstances surrounding it? Why and what was passed?

 

[divegeek]

Google turned this up. I found it really interesting. Basically, it says concealed weapons laws came from the southern states, where they were a response to the problem of dueling. Duels were common, and deadly, so the legislatures outlawed them, which resulted in men attacking and killing with a concealed weapon, rather than engaging in a duel. So, concealed weapons were banned. None of it worked, though, because the juries refused to convict. But the concealed weapons laws remained in effect.

It doesn't address how the laws came to be adopted in the north and west.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I believe that Kentucky decided to change their state constitution to say that the right to keep and bear arms would not be infringed, but that this did not justify the carrying of weapons concealed. This was after the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned a conviction because of the state constitution. I guess that they wanted people to carry openly.

A little searching turned up the following:

Kentucky Bill of Rights : Section 1

Seventh: The right to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the State, subject to the power of the General Assembly to enact laws to prevent persons from carrying concealed weapons.

Attorney General Opinion:

The case of Bliss v. Commonwealth, 12 Ky. 90 (1822) led to the addition of language in the 1850 Kentucky Constitution which expressly permits the General Assembly to enact laws to prevent the carrying of concealed weapons. This language was retained when the present Kentucky Constitution was ratified.

Notice that this change was made in 1850.

I think that it was because of that case that many other states also put in a qualifier in their respective states' constitutions. For example, the Utah Constitution has a qualifier:

Article I, Section 6. [Right to bear arms.]
The individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self, family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the Legislature from defining the lawful use of arms.

(emphasis added)

 

[nxiv]

There was a VT State Supreme Court ruling in I believe the early 20's which affirmed that the State Constitutional right to bear arms included concealed and open carry. This is why VT is a right to carry without a license or permit. The only prohibited areas in VT str State institutions, K-12 schools and court houses.