Carrying Concealed Weapon Class

On Saturday I went to a CCW (carrying concealed weapon) class that my defense lawyer teaches. It’s not mandatory that she teach the class as part of her job. She does it by contract as another way to supplement her income. The purpose of the class is to teach people convicted of carrying a concealed weapon why that’s wrong in the view of the law. The program was dreamt up by a Judge Griffin (this Judge was the man that put me in connect with my lawyer for Senior Project), social workers, and a few defense lawyers. These convicted people usually are made to take this class as part of their sentencing/parole requirements. This means they’re very unpleased to be there bright and early on a Saturday morning.

So, I got to the Justice Center (downtown) early on Saturday, and met my lawyer and all the other people who were taking the class. I first handed out the packet, pencils. This seems like no big deal. However, individually meeting each guy by name and handing out the packet was a nice way to break ice for me. I’m the nicely dressed young white girl, so it was a good way to at least start off and show that I’m not going to go hide in the corner the entire time and be judgmental. This class was mostly young African American males (under 20), one white man, and one African American woman. In a group setting like this it’s easier to see the racial / gender/ economic divides in the criminal justice system. My lawyer was discussing the other day about how the fact that 80-85% of all cases in her area are committed by male offenders. There really are clear divides, and in a group setting like this it was easy for me to see that. The biggest divide that I have seen really is economics (income). It seems to make the greatest impact on whether or not a person ends up in the system.

After I met everyone, we sat in a circle (very AA like) and each guy shared who he was and why he was here (what he was charged with, why did he do it, would he change anything). There was a wide range of stories. One older gentlemen was a teacher, and he accidently left his gun in his car when he went to school. A kid broke into his car and stole the gun. Since, he isn’t legally allowed to have his gun at school even if it’s in a car, he got in trouble and thus went to court etc. and got charged with a CCW. Thus, he is in this class. He got his teaching license suspended and it’s a huge mess. He actually did have a license to carry, but because he wasn’t following the law (even if you have a license you are not allowed to have a gun in school property) he was charged. He was older, took responsibility for his actions, and actually had a license to carry. So, that is one side of the spectrum. The other is a man who had 4 previous cases involving guns. He was carrying for self-protection. He has young kids, and lives in East Cleveland. He witnessed a man robbing his car and shot at him. He missed, hence why the robber isn’t dead and why this man isn’t in jail. Anyway, so he was required to take this class as part of his probation. Universally, the reason for why these men (and woman) carried guns was for self-defense. They lived in East Cleveland or Euclid or worked in those areas. Considering all the cases I’ve heard over the past two weeks, I’m really not surprised that they wanted guns for protection. It’s completely logically from my point of view. Despite my views on gun control in general, I certainly believe that these guys need for a gun was legitimate. However, if you are under 21 you cannot get a license. Many, in this class were around 18-20 and couldn’t get one. There were some older guys mid20’s – early thirties who should have gotten a license, but they’re lazy and didn’t get one. Plus there is a large mistrust with the law, and going into a police station is not something these men are going to feel comfortable doing. There is a lot of race tension between cops and civilians. Really if they are old enough and don’t get a license its there own fault, they should just go get a license. Many of these guys get caught with a CCW charge when they got caught for something else, or pulled over for some reason and the cops searched their car and low and behold there was a weapon with no license.

So after they shared with the group, my lawyer discussed the law with them. Basically she went through the exact laws and explained it to them. She also discussed how to get a license.

The class was really interesting. These men were already sentenced and they felt more free talking about how the felt about the charges. There was a lot of anger, resentment, especially towards the police. One guy felt that he was caught because the police felt it was a “bag a (N word) day.” The hostility towards the police, especially in East Cleveland was tangible. I felt I got more of a perspective of how these guys live day to day in some difficult parts of Cleveland. I think it was insightful for these guys to witness other people in the same situation, and maybe discuss that yea they can have a concealed weapon they just have to get a license. Many probably won’t, but the statistics from the class (they track each person who takes it) show that the people who take this CCW class are way less likely to reoffend in anything. I can’t remember the exact numbers but they were really shocking. I didn’t realize that this one little class that seems like a waste of time actually can have a seriously large impact on keeping people out of the system. The biggest thing learned though was people are going to carry in these neighborhoods if the situation presents itself where they feel like they need to carry for protection. The greater problem is really the general poverty and lack of social services that lead to crime to begin with. People in East Cleveland for instance are for sure going to carry weapons as long as they feel they need to. So in order to fix the problem they need to address the root of the issue. Until then, sadly, there will be many more people who take this CCW class.