Why is the state of Iowa issuing gun permits to the visually impaired?

because the mentally impaired already all have guns. they need more

There’s a macro picture and a micro picture.

The macro picture is that the NRA sees any attempt to restrict any gun anywhere as an assault on the their supposed right to gun ownership. Even when the potential gun owner is blind or mentally deficient, the NRA sees that as a potential threat to gun ownership in general (the slippery slope) so their strategy is to oppose gun control from the very start.

The micro picture is that not all visually impaired people are totally blind. You may have bad, uncorrectable vision, but you can still see some shapes and colors. So the argument is that even a person who doesn’t have perfect vision should still have the ability to defend themselves at home, [Note: I am somewhat sympathetic to this argument.]

Population control?

The blind leading the blind, to be sure.

I would like to see a link to understand what degree of impairment they are referring to. You can be visually impaired and still have 20/20 vision or close to it with corrective lenses. I know because I am blind as a bat and I can see better than 20/20 with contacts on.

@jca

Des Moines Register – Sep. 8, 2013 – Iowa is granting permits to acquire or carry guns in public to people who are legally or completely blind.

the argument is that even a person who doesn’t have perfect vision should still have the ability to defend themselves at home

No, that is not the argument.

Completely blind people are being given permits to carry guns in public.

When I click on that link, @jaytkay it brings me back to this Fluther page.

That’s pretty scary. I was always taught you never fire until you are 100 percent sure of what you are firing at. Kind of reminds me of the hunter that got shot this past season. He had got a deer, and put it on a cart to haul it out of the woods. Another “hunter” saw the deer on the cart, started shooting at it, and nailed the poor guy pushing the cart. Maybe an IQ and a vision check with each license?

Blind justice? No – it’s because the gun laws in America are totally idiotic.

@jca – that is what, in the library world, is known as a “blind cross reference”. How fitting.

Des Moines Register

Because the visually impaired and blind have constitutional rights. Besides, visual impairment is corrected with optical aids and the blind can be trained to use guns safely. There are many example of this link Hell, the lady with no arms can shoot well.

Fluther wrecks the link to the Des Moines register

Try this.

http://goo.gl/0M8emN

@Adirondackwannabe Your idea of not shooting until 100% sure is way out of date. You can tell by the legally permitted shooting of unarmed civilians by police departments and the standards set forth in “Stand Yoru Ground” laws, where you can start shooting by only feeling threatened, not actually being threatened.

Blind get to shoot first at anything they perceive as moving.

@zenvelo LMAO. I am a dino after all.

I’m schizo-affective and I have a rifle. I’m in California mind you.
IMHO this is wrong, they need full auto.
Some blind see shadows, as long as it doesn’t penetrate the walls of their home, it’s good.

Now how about some serious answers for a change. If you really want a sensible answer to your question and you weren’t just asking it for snark value, read my link at the bottom. If you want to know about blind people and guns, then it would make sense to ask a blind person who is a qualified marksman, wouldn’t it?

I also can’t believe that I’m the first person to state the obvious. Hasn’t anybody ever heard of laser sights ? I mean, you see them in enough movies where the red dot appears on the guy’s forehead or chest, right?

There are also ones which emit sound when centered on target so it’s not as if it’s the most unthinkable thing in the world for a blind person to be using modern technology. Blind people also play golf and do a whole bunch of other activities aided by sound only.

They can even play musical instruments :)

But seriously, I’m not in favor of all the laxity of US gun laws especially those allowing the proliferation of assault weapons so I’m certainly not a blanket gun apologist.

However, the link below is to a guy who has been blind since age 10 and is fully qualified for multiple gun and carry permits.

If you click the first link at the top, it takes you to a list of all the questions and sensible answers you could ever think of on this entire subject.

And I would feel a whole lot more comfortable being around this guy carrying a gun than I would someone like Adam Lansa or the nutcase who shot up the theater in Colorado or the other nutbar who almost killed Gabby Gifford.

I have no problem with THIS guy having as many guns as he needs and if you take a serious read-thru of his Q and A page, I would be amazed if you did either.

www.careymcwilliams.com

Not all guns require 20/20 eyesight to be effective. A person with questionable eyesight would still be able to employ a sawed-off shotgun with extreme efficiency.