Also, there's a fellow named Sebastian Sassi, (progunprogressive.com) who lives in Baltimore. He's quite active in his community, both in combination with the Baltimore Police, and the Guardian Angels. He works with them cleaning up crackhouses and stash spots in the neighborhood, and routinely reports drug dealers and neighboorhood thugs to the police.
For this, he's been threatened constantly, followed, and been generally menaced by the criminals who live in the same neighboorhood. He's even came across a five gallon bucket of acid that one of the thugs had stashed, very possibly to be used against him at some point.
Anyway - he's been fighting for his CCW permit, citing the threats he's recieved from known criminals in his midst. The MSP initially gave him the cold shoulder, but he persisted, and now he's got his permit.
He's not rich, and he's not politically connected. Yes, he is a public figure, but only because of the community activism he takes part in, which any one of us could (and should) do.
Will it help to be rich and politically connected to get a CCW here? Absolutely, but I hear being rich and politically connected with make things easier for you anywhere in this country. But believe it or not, that's not the only way one can obtain a permit here. Yes, it's still a long-shot, but there are ways.