Understandably, a lot of them started talking to me about certain carry guns they might look into.
I was more right than I ever wanted to be when I told some of them that these places were gonna find every way possible to make concealed carry permits as expensive, and as useless, as they possibly could.
For perspective, I spent about four hours and a couple hundred bucks to get my permit in Arizona, where I technically don't even need it. Even with it, I'm still substantially restricted in regard to where I can carry. It's still a felony if I accidentally carry within a certain distance of a school. I can carry at the Grand Canyon; but, I can't carry in the bathrooms -- the Grand Canyon is controlled by the state; but, the bathrooms are federal. That's in a constitutional carry state.
Surely enough, especially metro areas just passed harsher penalties for carrying guns on the...well...metro. Even with the Bruen decision, New York can require sixteen hours of in-person instruction, and charge people up the ass, and it's still a minefield regarding where you're actually allowed to carry even if you have the permit.
I had to tell people who I know are rape victims, and survivors of other violent crimes, that this wasn't as big of a leap forward that they thought it was.
The decision was a step forward, in that places like New York, DC, and Boston (etc) couldn't continue to keep people in the grinder to legally carry even if they've gone through the processes. It just wasn't a leap.
The average single mother, working two jobs, who has to take the bus home at the middle of the night in a dangerous area, still can't get a gun in New York City for a lot of the same reasons. She doesn't have the time to complete the courses. She doesn't have the disposable income to pay the fees. Even if she did, she'd be facing years in prison if she carried the gun on the metro or a bus to and from work.
My permit is almost useless where I am. Most of the places where I work would get me fired if I carried. I spend a lot of time on Indian reservations, and they get to make their own laws -- most of them aren't fond of people carrying. I'm not gonna leave a gun unattended in my car while I'm working for eight hours or more; so, even when I'm working off of the reservations, I'm under pressure to leave my guns at home whenever I go to work.
That's in fucking Arizona.
If you make one mistake carrying in New York, or DC, or any of these freaking blue territories, you're in prison for a lot of years even with the permit.
If you're a woman who carries a gun in your purse, in case you need to defend yourself against a rapist, it's still possible that you'll get railroaded for simple possession of the gun in Arizona. If you're in New York, even if you established innocence, immanence, reasonableness, proportionality, and avoidence from an attacker, they can still throw you in prison for years just for having a gun in the wrong place, even with the permit.
That's fucking insane.