As states expand gun rights, police object

Conservative state lawmakers around the country are pressing to weaken an array of gun regulations, in some cases greatly expanding where owners can carry their weapons.

In more than a dozen states with long traditions of robust support for gun ownership rights, and where legislatures have moved to relax gun laws during the past year, the local police have become increasingly vocal in denouncing the measures.

“We are a gun society, and we recognize that, but we should be writing gun laws that make us safer,” said Leonard Papania, police chief in Gulfport, Miss., who opposes part of a new state law that creates exceptions to the rules for concealed-carry permits.

Police departments have insisted that gun owners be required to receive training, as their officers do, and that people with violent histories, who are more likely to clash with the police, be blocked from obtaining weapons.