Graphic: LA Times, 08.31.14
Even with a $1.5 million budget bump and a staff increase to 16 from 1, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has managed to approve only “1,058 permits since the February ruling, compared with 408 all of last year” per the Los Angeles Times yesterday.
The Times reported:
To keep up with demand, the sheriff allocated $1.5 million and beefed up staffing to 16 from one to process applications. At one point, some employees worked nights and met with applicants on the weekends to catch up, said sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock.
Photo: OC Weekly
We’d think, rather we’d expect that the Sheriff could be moving a lot faster with these new resources — so is she telegraphing her disdain for the “federal court ruling in February led the sheriff to grant permits to those who simply state a desire to carry weapons for personal safety rather than requiring a documented justification”? Or is she simply backhanding the Second Amendment that protects the right of individuals to keep and bear arms?
Of course, there’s a third possibility that our tax money is just being wasted in a county bureaucratic exercise she’s created to slow down the legal carrying of firearms by those OC/US Citizens that wish to — whether or not Sandra believes they really need them. We’d also point out that the Constitution and Bill of Rights say nothing about gun registration, serialization, personal interviews, filling out forms or payment of fees — all forms of infringement.
We’d also suggest to the Sheriff that her fears of an armed citizenry might just work in her favor: Chicago crime rate drops as concealed carry applications surge.
We’d love to see just how she’s spending $1,500,000 and producing so little, so slowly — the Board of Supervisors needs to ask. And here’s a hint, Shawn — start with the union overtime.