Arkansas began issuing Enhanced concealed carry permits!
Arkansas recently became the first state to require active shooter training for a gun permit.
The state began issuing “enhanced concealed carry” permits earlier this year. The law creating the new permits, which passed last spring, allows enhanced carriers to bring guns into what the state calls “sensitive places,” including public university campuses, bars, churches and the state Capitol.
To get the new permit, applicants have to pass a live-fire exam and take a course that covers what to do in an active shooting. That’s on top of the five hours of training required for a basic concealed-carry permit in Arkansas.
The first step of the permit process is two hours at the shooting range. Applicants have to hit a static paper target — a bull’s-eye superimposed on a silhouette of a human torso — 70 percent of the time. If they pass, they move on to a six-hour classroom session.
In a training session earlier this year, instructor Nathan House told the applicants that even if they are armed, their first response to a shooter should be to run — and to help others escape — to try to avoid a confrontation. But, he said, having that weapon gives you a last resort if you need it.
“Make them come to you,” House told the class. “If that active shooter decides that they want to come into that room where you are at, then you are prepared to defend yourself.”
House instructed the applicants to be careful to not shoot the wrong person, and then after firing, to put their gun away, so police don’t think they’re the shooter.
Katrina Allen took the course. She is married with grown children and said she is a regular at the shooting range. Allen is not enthusiastic about using her weapon in a confrontation, but she said she’ll stand up to a gunman if she has to.
“When I decided to start carrying, I understand that I have a responsibility,” she said. “More than just protecting myself, if I ever find myself in an active shooter situation, I do realize that I will take on the responsibility of protecting whoever is around me.”
Her classmate Seth Mikkelsen, a 26-year-old retail worker, said he won’t hesitate.
“The point of…