An early December Associated Press story out of Atlantic City caught my eye. "Prostitutes arm selves as body count rises," read the headline.

"Selling sex on the streets of this gambling capital is a dangerous pursuit," began AP writer Wayne Parry. "Streetwalkers have been strangled, smothered, slashed and set ablaze.

"So far this year, six prostitutes are believed to have been killed in or near Atlantic City, a seventh survived after her throat was slashed. Countless others are believed to have been assaulted but chose not to report the crimes to police."

In November, the bodies of four women, aged 20 to 42, were found face-down in a ditch behind a string of seedy motels just outside town.

"The violence has prompted Atlantic City hookers to arm themselves," Mr. Parry reports.

I scanned the whole story, interested to find out how easy it's proving for the East Coast ladies of the evening to arm themselves for their own defense. Way down in the ninth paragraph, I read of "Christine, 37, who works out of a cheap motel on Pacific Avenue near the entrance to several casinos," who "bought a canister of pepper spray after the bodies were found in the ditch."

That's it? A can of pepper spray?

I called Scott Bach, an attorney who practices in New York, New Jersey, and D.C. Mr. Bach serves on the board of the National Rifle Association and also as president of New Jersey's NRA affiliate, the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs. He's also an auxiliary lieutenant in the New York Police Department, though he made it clear he was not speaking officially as a peace officer.

Attorney Bach actually started laughing before I could finish my question.

"Forget the criminal record," he replied. "Let's just start with your garden-variety, upstanding, law-abiding citizen: It is virtually impossible in New Jersey for even certified law-abiding citizens to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm. New Jersey has a 'may-issue' statute, but it's really a de facto 'no-issue' standard.

"New Jersey has some of the toughest, most restrictive, extreme anti-gun regulations in the nation that prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their rights. The way things work here is everything is forbidden and then there are specific exceptions, instead of starting with everything being allowed. ...

"The process in New Jersey if you want to get a handgun is that you need a Firearms Purchaser ID card, and you need a permit to purchase each handgun that you want to acquire. ... You fill out these very obtrusive forms, you pay a fee, you get fingerprinted, they do a criminal background investigation and mental health check, you have to provide references. ...

"So anyone who has a criminal record is not gonna get either form (approved.) Serving your time does not relieve you of the fact that you're a felon under federal law, so anyone that's been convicted of a felony, unless convicted and pardoned, is a prohibited person.

"All I'm talking about so far is acquisition of the firearm. ... As for (a) carry (permit) ... it's virtually impossible to get; it's a harder standard than New York City or Los Angeles. For instance, routinely carrying huge sums of cash or jewelry as part of your work do not qualify you for a permit.

"The first hurdle is, you have to get your local police chief to agree to issue it to you. You fill out a form, you explain the reason. If you overcome that hurdle and the police chief agrees, then a local judge has to review it, with the county prosecutor given a chance to oppose it. Only then, if the judge concurs, is it issued. If issued, it's only good for two years. And they can put restrictions on it. For instance, if you're an armored car employee they can restrict it so you can only carry in pursuit of your duty.

"It's the platinum card. Most people don't even apply because they know they're gonna be turned down, and then you carry that denial on your record. For the rest of your life you're going to be asked 'Have you ever been denied?' and you're going to have to explain that. So folks like me don't even bother, and I'm a law enforcement officer. ...

"The standard for acquiring carry permits in New Jersey is the same standard you have to meet in order to use lethal force --- you have to be in fear of immediate loss of life or deadly force. So in other words, by the time you'd qualify you'd be dead.

"The New Jersey Supreme Court has a bias against guns and gun owners. In a famous decision they said, 'When it comes to firearms, the citizen acts at his own peril.' That was a case in which the court found a citizen guilty of possession of a Marlin Model 60, which holds 22 rounds in a tubular magazine, and New Jersey has a limit of 15, so in New Jersey that's an assault rifle and the citizen went to jail."

For possessing a boy's .22 rifle -- a plinker that fires a single round each time you pull the trigger?

"They threw the book at him. ... I hold eight non-resident concealed carry licenses from other jurisdictions but I can't qualify to get one here."

New Jersey judges and prosecutors have an automatic right to carry concealed weapons, attorney Bach explains. But "I carry a gold shield because I'm a lieutenant in the NYPD auxiliary and it doesn't qualify me to carry. New Jersey arrests out-of-state cops if they're carrying illegally. It's an unforgiving place for gun owners, even passing through.

"We have a couple of litigations pending here. We had a gentleman from Utah passing through, a Utah concealed-carry holder on his way to Pennsylvania who was detained by a baggage error" (at the airport). "When he went back in the next day and declared his firearm in the check-through luggage as required by federal law, he spent five days in jail despite a federal law called the Gun Owners' Rights Act, which says that if the gun is legal at your point of departure, and it's legal where you're going, the local authorities can't do anything to infringe your right to transport that firearm where you're going.

"The prosecutor withdrew charges when he saw the law. So we, in company with this gentlemen, have a lawsuit pending for $3 million in damages. ...

"So, if you think a prostitute who's been convicted is going to get a license to carry a gun, good luck. Good luck trying to get a permit to purchase a gun. It's not gonna happen. If someone with a conviction gets a gun it's gonna be illegally acquired and illegally carried. If you've never been convicted, you can get the permit to acquire the handgun, but once you have it, in order to get a permit to carry, it's not gonna be sufficient to say, 'My friend was attacked and I work in the same place they do.' You're gonna have to show you were attacked."

So the New Jersey ladies are going to have to settle for pepper spray?

"There's no course required for pepper spray, like there is in California. But there is an ounce limitation."

Is that why the crime rate is going up over there?

"Absolutely."

So: Come to Nevada, ladies. Your trade is legal in all but two counties; arrests for prostitution in Las Vegas resort hotels are about as frequent as arrests for trapping beaver out of season; very few of our fallen angels end up face-down in a ditch; thousands of "concealed carry" permits are issued here without anyone ever being asked "why they need one"; and (for that matter) it's perfectly legal to simply strap a holster to your thigh and walk around with a gun on your hip, without any kind of permit, whatsoever.

Plus, the tips are better.

Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal and author of the novel "The Black Arrow." See www.LibertyBookShop.us.