My interest in carrying firearms began in 2005 when I was living in Scottsdale, Arizona, a town with a shockingly high burglary rate. Because the danger of coming home one day only to confront criminals was very real, I made the decision to get a CCW permit (Concealed Carry of Weapons), and begin carrying a loaded and concealed gun in the event of such an unthinkable situation.

Fortunately, Arizona is a shall-issue CCW state, meaning that I didn’t have to give the authorities a reason why I needed to carry a gun. I simply took the class, passed the background check, and my permit came in the mail about ten days later. I had joined the ranks of millions of other lawfully armed Americans.

(As I write this, Arizona is becoming a Constitutional Carry state, meaning that anyone can carry without the need for a permit.)

Then in 2007, I moved to Newport Beach, California. Knowing that California has a “may-issue” CCW policy, meaning that the authorities are not required to issue a CCW to qualified citizens and have total discretion to issue or not to issue, I began doing my research ahead of time.

Fortunately for me, Newport Beach is located in Orange County, which at the time was under the jurisdiction of Sheriff Mike Carona, an avid supporter of the 2nd Amendment and right-to-carry. However, getting the permit was still no walk in the park.

In order to avoid attracting too much attention from the liberal tyrants in Sacramento who rule California’s citizens, Sheriff Carona had to make the process fairly difficult. After all, if he ran a shall-issue outfit and gave permits to everyone who applied – in a large urban county like Orange – the state legislature would likely ban CCW altogether and go to a no-issue status.

Under California law, a CCW applicant must show sufficient “good cause” before a permit will be issued. Each sheriff gets to decide what constitutes good cause. In Sheriff Carona’s case, valid good cause consisted of being an avid firearms enthusiast who transports guns to and from a shooting range on a frequent basis. The logic behind this had to do with past cases of gang members and other criminals following people home from shooting ranges, only to hold them up in their driveways and steal their guns. In order to prevent those criminals from being able to steal a firearm hobbyist’s guns, Sheriff Carona decided that such people should be lawfully armed.

I went through the tedious and expensive application process, including an in-person interview at the Sheriff’s Department, a training class, qualifying on the range with each individual gun I wished to carry, getting fingerprinted and paying for a background check, and finally, having my carry guns inspected by the Sheriff’s armory.

After all that I picked up my permit and began carrying again in California.

Fast-forward to 2008. Sheriff Carona resigned under indictment thanks to some stupid decisions he’d made as sheriff. The County Board of Supervisors then appointed a new sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, who was previously with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and brought all of the typical liberal, anti-gun Los Angeles hysteria with her. She promptly mailed out letters to Orange County’s CCW holders, myself included, explaining that she intended to revoke our permits.

I objected, and as additional good cause, I pointed out that I as a popular New York Times best-selling author, I have had my share of weirdos show up unannounced at my office, and that I required a firearm for personal protection in the event that a real nut ever showed up.

As a result of my objection, I was allowed to keep my permit and avoided revocation. After all, Hutchens operates under the Los Angeles system where only those who are famous and/or possibly capable of large campaign contributions may have any constitutional rights. I firmly believe that my best-selling author status had a lot more to do with my keeping my permit than with the threat of harm from stalkers.

And that, my friends, is exactly why a may-issue CCW system breeds corruption. It’s been well-known for decades that sheriffs in may-issue states like California and New York essentially sell CCW permits in exchange for campaign contributions. If you want a CCW, you’d better mail a check to the sheriff, and then call in your favor after he or she wins re-election. In the case of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, it appears that she cleared anyone with any high social status or high income to continue carrying, presumably with the hope that those people would reciprocate with a donation to her campaign, and the cycle could continue.

The only fair and equitable way to issue CCW permits is by a shall-issue system. When all citizens who meet basic requirements, including training, passing a background check, and demonstrating safe and proficient shooting skill are granted permits, there is no room for corruption.

For those of you in Orange County, California, Hutchens is up for election this year. Get rid of her in the primary election in June and vote in Craig Hunter, a Republican candidate for sheriff who supports right-t0-carry for all. (Not surprisingly, Hutchens was a lifelong Democrat until she got the job in Orange County and quickly changed her party affiliation.)