Lifestyles of the rich and packin': High-profile celebrities seeking gun permits

[mrreynolds]

J.Lo and her 2-year-old twins can rest easy at night: Daddy is packing heat.

Singer Marc Anthony is one of dozens of celebs, millionaires and high-profile athletes authorized to carry a concealed weapon in the city, records show.

And the number of A-listers who have guns is growing.

"We have seen an increase in celebs seeking their own permits," said John Skylar Chambers, a lawyer who has helped New Yorkers get gun permits for more than 20 years.

[LINK]

[Al Norris]

I realize that this may be apparent to the OP, but (humor me), can you state what the legal or civil rights issue is?

[SIGSHR]

The well to do and well connected have always been able to get gun permits in NYC. Conversely under Giuliani many people who had had permits for years-William F. Buckley, Joan Rivers, the publisher of Black Enterprise Magazine suddenly had their permits taken away. I read the number of permits to carry was halved under Giuliani.

[maestro pistolero]

I obviously don't speak for the OP, but if celebs or the rich are given preferential treatment with regard to their ability to exercise their 2nd amendment right to self defense, then we clearly have a civil rights issue; an equal protection issue, and a problem that the issuance is likely arbitrary and capricious.

[blume357]

I don't think it is anybodies business.

How would you like it if the local media published that you carried?

Personally I don't mind if folks know that I carry but I can see how each person has a right to their privacy and a right to choose on this.

Gun laws have always been about money and power... not about crime... this is so obvious that I'm amazed at how many normal people are snowed over by this.

[Kreyzhorse]

I obviously don't speak for the OP, but if celebs or the rich are given preferential treatment with regard to their ability to exercise their 2nd amendment right to self defense, then we clearly have a civil rights issue; an equal protection issue, and a problem that the issuance is likely arbitrary and capricious.

+1. While we will never know who was issued and or denied permits, I would guess that a "celebrity status" would certainly help someone who is trying to obtain a gun permit.

To Al's point, I'm not sure where the thread will actually go however without any facts to back it up.

I can state that I don't believe that the media should be able to publish who has a CCW permit regardless of their status as Blume 357 pointed out.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

There was a story that the devils of Wall Street - Lehman; Goldman, Sachs applied for permits as they feared an American version of the Terror afte the populist revolution caused by their financial shennigans.

I would have liked to see Wall Street protected by Ruger 380s and combat yuppie Masters of the Universe.

Is this a civil rights issue? Well, do rich people have the differential right to be protected from the proletariat?

Le Guillotine !

[Al Norris]

This is why we have imposed the "No Drive-By" rule.

Without something more, in what direction does this thread go? The OP gives us no real direction. If there is one (hidden in the opening text), is it political? Legal? Civil Rights?

There are some good comments already. But what was the purpose of the OP? All we can do, at the moment, is guess at Mr Reynolds meaning.

[MLeake]

... but I would have thought it would have gone along one of two lines:

1) Inequality of protection under the law; or

2) Hypocrisy of the Hollywood (etc) elite, who are generally in favor of strict gun control, except when it affects them.

Interesting interview I saw last year (or maybe it was in 2008?) - Bill O'Reilly interviewing Rosie O'Donnell, and the topics of guns came up. Rosie conceded to Bill that she, and very likely other anti-gun celebrities, employed bodyguards who very likely were armed with handguns.

O'Donnell conceded to O'Reilly that perhaps individuals who can't afford private security might have a real interest in being able to own handguns for personal protection.

She's still anti-gun, but apparently less violently.

[blume357]

If we look close enough we will always find the hypocrisy....

In my state of S.C. as long as you are not a convicted felon or your spouse has not claimed you struck them or you have not had too many speeding tickets... and the list grows... then it is pretty easy to get a concealed weapons permit... just takes a day of class, which you have to pay $50-$100 for... 50-100 rounds of ammo, another $50 to the state and a wait of 3 months.... so simple... unless you are a working stiff trying to make ends meet and have very little time for anything other than work and family...

Most poor people can't manage all this......

Of course Rich Celebs can get things that common folks have to really struggle for .... they have the ways (lawyers and politicians) and means (money) to do it.

[oneounceload]

Of course Rich Celebs can get things that common folks have to really struggle for .... they have the ways (lawyers and politicians) and means (money) to do it.

So?

If they have the means, why shouldn't they?

If you had the means to to do things better and differently, wouldn't you?

Now, is it OK for them to get those permits and you are not able to because you aren't one of them? That's a different thing altogether.

[Tennessee Gentleman]

Originally Posted by Al Norris

If there is one (hidden in the opening text), is it political? Legal? Civil Rights?

I think in a nutshell this shows the unfairness (and perhaps unconstitutionality) of May Issue CCW. No objective standards, you get a permit if you are connected and rich since everyone "knows" they are much more likely to be victimized by crime!

Al, isn't there a case on such in CA now?

IMHO I have always thought May Issue CCW creates a Moral Hazard for CLEOs.

[MTT TL]

I have a theory.

I think many celebs have been packing all along. They are just going legal now. As a celeb some personalities think the laws don't apply to them. After Plaxico Buress (among others) was fired and sent to prison it served a little wake up call. Since there is now an option to follow the law they are sucking down their hypocrisy and going legal. Not all are hypocrites either. Angelina Jolie for example has no problem telling it how it is.

"If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them." That's Angelina Jolie, revealing her up-with-the-Second-Amendment maternal instincts to Britain's Mail on Sunday.

And, as an added warning, the protective mom of Maddox, 6, Pax, 4, Zahara, 3, Shiloh, 2, and the still-baking, Brad Pitt-spawned double buns in her oven, points out that she "bought original, real guns of the type we used in 'Tomb Raider' for security."

"Brad and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one," acknowledges Jolie, who is out stumping for the soon-to-be-released thriller, Wanted, in which she plays a weapons-wielding assassin. "And yes, I'd be able to use it if I had to. I could handle myself. I think there are certain combat skills that would come out. I tend to want to throw an elbow."

Says the goodwill-promoting earth mother, "There's a side to me that people know is humanitarian, and there's a side to me that's a mommy. But there's also the side that likes to get down and dirty and run and jump around and fire guns."

[blume357]

discriminate against the poor and less fortunate.

[Al Norris]

... As I stated earlier: This is why we close drive-by threads.