Today is the day gun-rights advo­cates have had in their sights for a long time.

Start­ing today, Ari­zona res­i­dents at least 21 years old can carry a con­cealed weapon with­out a per­mit.

The change is part of a broad weapons law by state Sen. Rus­sell Pearce passed by the state Leg­is­la­ture in April that eases restric­tions on con­cealed carry and stiff­ens penal­ties for com­mit­ting a crime while car­ry­ing a con­cealed weapon.

The law is one of many passed by the state Leg­is­la­ture this past ses­sion that go into effect today.

Ari­zona joins Alaska and Ver­mont as the only states to allow con­cealed weapons with­out a permit.

My mate emailed me today to tell me about this. Ari­zona is also an Open Carry state where you are allowed to carry a gun in the open. He is in a wheel-chair and is a tetra-plegic, but that doesn’t slow him down. He already car­ries a Sig Sauer, but now with con­cealed carry with­out a per­mit, he can hide that away, though I’m not sure why you’d want to.

Pro­po­nents say that con­cealed carry is not sub­stan­tially dif­fer­ent from open carry, which the state already allows with­out a per­mit, and that the new law sim­ply lets law-abiding cit­i­zens carry weapons in what­ever way is most comfortable.

The law has already cre­ated changes for the firearms com­mu­nity, local busi­nesses and police depart­ments. It has also gal­va­nized gun-rights groups to seek fur­ther deregulation.

In case you didn’t realise, hand­guns are heavy. Even a Glock is heavy when the mag is full. Hav­ing them yank on belts at funny angles and get in the way when enter­ing and exit­ing vehi­cles makes open carry uncom­fort­able. A nice shoul­der rig or pur­pose made bum-bag hol­ster makes car­ry­ing much more comfortable

Pro­po­nents of the new law argue that open carry has not had any impact on pub­lic safety or gun vio­lence and that con­cealed carry with­out a per­mit won’t alter that.

“It’s really just a mat­ter of pref­er­ence,” said Rachel Par­sons, a spokes­woman for the National Rifle Asso­ci­a­tion. “If a woman wants to carry her gun in her purse, she should be allowed to do that as eas­ily as car­ry­ing it on her hip.”

Pre­cisely.

As one astute com­menter notes “I’d rather have one and not need it, then need one and not have one.“

Mean­while here in lit­tle old New Zealand the only reg­u­larly armed peo­ple o the streets are the criminals.

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