Niamh Shackleton
A blind man said he sought out a firearms license to 'prove a point'.
Indiana resident Terry Sutherland is visually impaired, and uses a seeing-eye cane to help him live as independently as he can.
Sutherland was using his cane when he entered his local city council building to apply for his firearms license.
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He needed to get his fingerprint taken to apply for the license, and reportedly chatted to a handful of staff members there who knew that he was blind.
Despite his disability, Sutherland's license application was approved – something that came as a shock to him.
Speaking to news outlet WISH-TV, the 58-year-old said of the experience: "It just went very smoothly and normally, and nobody seemed to think anything about it. It was mind-boggling.
"It shocked me more than I expected. I thought at the last second somebody would go, ‘Wait a minute,’ and it just would not get approved. I’d get a letter that explained, ‘Listen, you can’t aim a gun or put a bullet where it’s supposed to go, so we’re not going to give you this permit.'"
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Sutherland, who lost his sight as a teenager, had learned how to safely use a gun before becoming blind; but he's raised concerns about how he was able to get a permit even now that he's visually impaired.
With this in mind, Sutherland is calling for people to have to have a competency test at a gun range before being allowed to carry a gun in public.
"I think competency with a lethal weapon is the bare minimum we can do," he said.
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Going on to discuss the matter with The Washington Post, Sutherland branded it 'an absurd notion' for him to have a gun.
He said: "It’s just an absurd notion, common-sense wise, for me to have a gun that I should be able to use for personal protection, when I’m more likely to shoot someone who’s not involved — shoot an innocent person — than I am my own attacker."
But lawyer Guy Relford, a second amendment advocate, has argued that such tests could be seen as 'a ploy to go out and establish an argument for restricting constitutional rights'.
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Relford also noted that as of 2022, the state of Indiana has had constitutional carry, meaning if you're over the age of 18 and do not have criminal record, then you do not need a permit to carry a gun.
There are limitations on where you can carry the gun, however.
Sutherland insists he isn't against the Second Amendment, but simply wants there to be tighter restrictions on who can bear arms.