[NFBMT] FW: Blind man gets gun license to protest Indiana firearm laws - The Washington Post

Fri Feb 7 16:02:32 UTC 2025

Nice job Jim.

On Fri, Feb 7, 2025 at 8:50 AM Jim Marks via NFBMT <nfbmt at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
>
>
> Below is a Washington Post article about blind people and guns.  The
> reporter interviewed me yesterday.  It makes me sad and a little angry when
> other blind people express low expectations.  Blind people are whole human
> beings with the same rights and responsibilities any first class citizen
> holds.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Jim Marks
>
>  <mailto:Blind.grizzly at gmail.com> Blind.grizzly at gmail.com
>
> (406) 438-1421
>
>
>
>  <
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/06/blind-people-gun-laws-indiana>
>
> https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/ubYCCYEl4ztLRkRkH0fLTxIRsK?domain=washingtonpost.com
>
>
> To protest Indiana’s gun laws, a blind man got a handgun license
>
>
> Terry Sutherland stirred debate about blind people’s right to carry
> firearms after he obtained a handgun license to make a statement about
> Indiana’s gun laws.
>
> February 6, 2025 at 9:21 p.m. ESTYesterday at 9:21 p.m. EST
>
> By Kyle Melnick <https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/kyle-melnick/>
>
> When Terry Sutherland argued about gun laws with family and friends over
> the years, he would often joke about whether he — a legally blind man —
> should get a gun permit.
>
> Everyone would laugh. Sutherland didn’t think it was possible.
>
> “But eventually it kind of started weighing on me,” Sutherland told The
> Washington Post. “And I started thinking, ‘I wonder if it’s actually
> possible, and what would it mean if I could?’”
>
> So last fall, Sutherland applied for an Indiana license to carry a
> handgun. He expected someone to stop him at some point in the application
> process, he said, or at least test if he could shoot at a target.
>
> A few months later, Sutherland received his permit, as Indianapolis news
> channel WISH-TV first reported <
> https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/blind-man-indiana-concealed-carry/>
> . He put it in a clear case and wears it on a yellow lanyard around his
> neck in hopes of starting conversations about Indiana’s gun laws, which he
> said are too lenient toward blind people. Sutherland hasn’t changed
> anyone’s opinions, he said, but some people have been shocked that he
> received the license.
>
> Whether blind people in the United States should be allowed to carry guns
> has been debated for decades. Some blind people, like Sutherland, say they
> can’t aim at a target. Others say blind people should be allowed to own and
> use guns under the Second Amendment <
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/03/gun-rights-activists-remade-2nd-amendment-over-last-40-years/>
> , and note that many blind people use their guns to hunt with the aid of
> unimpaired friends.
>
> Sutherland, who said his family members taught him how to use a gun as a
> teenager in northern Indiana before he lost his vision, said all visually
> impaired people shouldn’t be prohibited from carrying guns. But he said
> Indiana should test if applicants can shoot a target accurately before
> approving licenses — a policy some states enforce.
>
> “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,” said Sutherland, 58.
>
> The license might not make a difference in Indiana, where residents 18 and
> older can possess and carry guns without a permit <
> https://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/files/Gun-Owners-Bill-of-Rights_Web.pdf>
> . Hoosiers only need an Indiana license to carry guns in some other states.
>
> The National Federation of the Blind says <
> https://nfb.org/about-us/press-room/national-federation-blind-comments-gun-ownership-blind-individuals>
> that blindness “has no adverse impact on a person’s ability to exercise due
> care and good judgment” and firearms shouldn’t be denied “solely on the
> basis of blindness.” While many states prohibit convicted felons and people
> with severe mental illness from carrying guns, most have aligned their
> regulations with the National Federation of the Blind’s views on firearms
> and vision impairment, attorneys said.
>
> “Legislatures, and I think rightly so, are reluctant to deprive people of
> available options for self-defense,” said Alex Ooley, an attorney based in
> Borden, Indiana.
>
> Instances of blind people shooting others are uncommon, attorneys said,
> but have occurred. A legally blind man in Spokane, Washington, accidentally
> shot his friend in the leg last month while trying to kick out his
> roommate, according to the Spokesman-Review <
> https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/jan/10/man-who-is-blind-accidentally-shoots-friend-while-/>
> .
>
> Jim Marks, a 67-year-old who is legally blind, said he owns about 10
> firearms in his Helena, Montana, home. Growing up on ranches near Townsend,
> Montana, Marks said guns and hunting were always staples of his life. He
> didn’t want that to change because of retinitis pigmentosa, a disorder that
> causes vision loss.
>
> “I don’t see any reason why blind people should be excluded from that
> culture,” Marks said.
>
> Marks said he has a license to hunt. He often visits Montana backcountry
> with friends and family members who can see. They help him aim, Marks said,
> and he won’t shoot unless he’s certain he has a direct shot at a target.
>
> Besides, Marks said he mainly hunts for the camaraderie.
>
> “Blind people are first-class citizens, too,” Marks said. “To exclude on
> the basis of blindness is almost always prejudicial and unfair.”
>
> Sutherland said he started having vision problems when he was 14 — needing
> to move closer to the chalkboard to see in school and pressing books
> against his face to read the words. As a 15-year-old in 1981, Sutherland
> said a doctor found he had Stargardt disease, a rare eye condition that
> causes vision loss.
>
> He worried that he would never again be able to drive, watch a movie or
> read regular text in books. Sutherland certainly didn’t expect to
> accurately shoot a target with a gun again.
>
> He tried once in the early 1990s, he said, when a friend took him to a
> shooting range after buying a 9mm pistol. Sutherland said he held the gun
> well but never came close to hitting the target.
>
> In September, Sutherland completed an application on the Indiana State
> Police’s website for a handgun license. Sutherland expected a question to
> ask if he could see a target while shooting, he said. He went over the
> application multiple times — his computer read the words aloud — but he
> said he was only asked to fill in basic information about himself. He
> cleared a background check and visited a third-party vendor to record his
> fingerprints, he said.
>
> In October, he took an Uber to the City-County Building in Indianapolis so
> state police could take his fingerprints. Carrying his five-foot-long white
> cane, Sutherland said he asked multiple officials where to go to take
> fingerprints for his gun license application.
>
> After doing so, Sutherland said he asked two officials who took his
> fingerprints: “Hey, do either of you think this was weird or normal?”
>
> They told him it was typical, Sutherland said, and his permit would come
> in the mail in a few weeks.
>
> As he processed how easy the tasks had felt, he said, Sutherland called
> his wife, Pamela. Blind people can’t obtain driver’s licenses, so he needed
> a ride home.
>
>
>
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-- 
Dan Burke

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Legislative Co-chair

"Blindness is not what holds you back.  You can live the life you want!"

My Cell:  406.546.8546