Posted on 07/24/2004 7:01:58 AM PDT by Mulder
As horrifying as it is to contemplate, the next gunfight may not be at the O-K Corral; it might be in our own community. Shock and dismay are the emotions most often expressed at recent events either seen or read about in Reston of people walking our streets and dining in our restaurants with pistols on their hips. And it is perfectly legal.
In many of my columns I have talked about a rightward tilt of the Virginia General Assembly. In no area is that tilt to ultra-conservatism more evident than with gun control. The minimal laws that existed in the past at the state level have been stripped away, and local government has been denied the ability to pass gun control measures.
No one that I am aware of has ever proposed registration or limitation on ownership of guns in Virginia. The laws that have been repealed have been reasonable and would have in no way restricted gun ownership for hobbyists, collectors or hunters.
On July 31-Aug. 1, The Nation's Gun Show will be held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. The promoters expect 1,000 tables where guns will be sold. A promotional piece explains why the show is being held in Virginia: This show has been in the planning stages for several years. However, very restrictive laws regulating the purchase of handguns prevented us going to this great area. This year, legislation was passed in Virginia's General Assembly that repealed all waiting periods and permit requirements in Virginia. (Virginia now has total pre-emption.)
Apparently members of the Civil Defense League have decided to demonstrate their right by displaying their guns openly. Police have responded to calls about their presence but are powerless to do anything. How do you know if the person sitting at the next table at a restaurant, entering your place of business or walking on your street with a gun is an emotionally stable, law-abiding citizen or is a psychotic who is about to be the next mass murderer?
There is no way to tell. Hopefully, the police will continue to respond to calls about gun-toting citizens, and hopefully they will not arrive too late. The fanatical gun lover will tell you that is exactly why everyone should carry a gunto defend himself. They may think it is too bad that the people who get shot are often innocent bystanders who unluckily find themselves in the area of gunfire.
None of our constitutional rights are absolute. Not being allowed to shout Fire! in a crowded theater is the most often cited limitation on free speech. And controls on your guns can be imposed that would protect the public but allow enthusiasts to collect guns and to hunt as a sport.
The U.S. Congress has let the ban on assault weapons expire. The pro-gun lobby will continue to push the limits. Reasonable people must make their views known as well. Let your outrage be heard by your congressional, state and local representatives. When reasonable voices are the strongest heard, we will return to reasonable gun control. That is what I continue to support. Let me know your views at kenplum@aol.com.
>>With firearms in mind please explain this logic. We write laws because the people CANNOT be trusted and the people obey the laws because they CAN be trusted.<<
We write laws because the people NEED TO BE CONTROLLED!
----http://www.firearmsid.com/----
He's not too bright IMO.
Seems to be the consensus here. Heh. Oh well. On to bigger game. I expect there will be a barrage of stupid articles like this in the days to come. No telling how many eighth-graders they hired to swamp the net and media with crap like this.
But then I took it further and to my surprise--Imagine:
"You gotta ride in the back of the bus with all the other gun-wearers." or..
"We'll have to seat you in the section of the restraunt with the other gun-wearers."..or
There could be unarmed waterfountains and armed waterfountains. An unarmed ATM, and an armed ATM..etc.
At which point I got to thinking...dang! this doesn't sound too bad.
"I'm not letting my daughter date you because you carry a gun and know how to use it." "I'd prefer someone with a cell phone to call the authorities should she be threatened with rape, robbery, assualt, or carjacking."
I have a concealed carry permit but no radar detector ~ never have seen the need for one.
I love it when somebody uses this example on me.
Shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater is perfectly acceptable, legal, morally correct and even expected.... Providing of course, that the theater is in fact, on fire.
Having and even using a firearm in public is also perfectly acceptable, legal, morally correct and even expected providing that somebody's life is in mortal danger.
Thanks for the link!
"None of our constitutional rights are absolute... And controls on your guns can be imposed that would protect the public but allow enthusiasts to collect guns and to hunt as a sport."
All of our Constitutional rights are absolute. The Constitution is very plain; the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
If you believe that our Constitutional Rights are not absolute then we can shut down all of these anti-American media outlets and put a stop to all of the anti-American protesters. There should not be a free press if the government wants to shut it down. The right of people to partition the government for redress of grievances would stop and the right to be secure in your person would no longer be required. If the rights in the Constitution are not absolute, then we have no rights. By the way free speech in the Constitution was for political free speech not the perverted concept forced on us by left-wing judges.
I feel sorry for the person who does not believe that our Constitutional Rights are not absolute They are ready for the dictatorship of the left like what happen in Europe and Russia in the 1930s.
"On July 31-Aug. 1, The Nation's Gun Show will be held at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. The promoters expect 1,000 tables where guns will be sold. "
I've *got* to get there. Sounds great.
Uh, dude, the OK Corral was in someone's community. The town of Tombstone Arizona to be exact. Did you think that was in Trashcanistan, or maybe on Mars?
Typical gun grabber, dumb as a bag of rocks, if that is not too insulting to the rocks.
There is no law prohibiting you from yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater. In fact, if there is a fire, you are probably morally obligated to make others aware of that fact. There are, however, legal consequences if one irresponsibly yells "fire" in a crowded theater, just as there are consequences if one uses a firearm irresponsibly.
The author appears not to be a deep enough thinker to appreciate this.
But the government can't tape your mouth shut because you might shout fire when there was no fire. If they did, you also couldn't shoult fire when there was one, and thus could not warn the other patrons about it. IOW, no prior restraint is allowed on free speech. Only abuse of free speech can be and is punished.
And controls on your guns can be imposed that would protect the public but allow enthusiasts to collect guns and to hunt as a sport.
Neither the Second Amendment to the US Constitution nor Art 1 Section thirten of the Virginia consitution (That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; ... ) have anything to do, directly, with hunting or collecting. It's all about protecting a free state. (The "safe" in the above quote means safe for the liberty of the people, unlike a standing army, or in the modern context, a standing police (in the sense of "law enforcement" rather than "peace officer") force or a police state.)
Umm, the gunfight at the O-K Corral was, at least ostensibly, a law-enforcement action on the part of peace officers (details and gray areas aside). Does the author have a problem with peace officers being armed in the course of their duties?
And all of the NRA membership publications you cite contain the "Armed Citizen" page, which documents the use of firearms for defense of self, others and property.
The "OK Corral" and the "Wild West" are repeatedly invoked with horror by anti-gun zealots who know as little about those as they do about firearms. In point of fact, the bloodbaths that are always predicted somehow never materialize, but even so, we'd be very lucky to have crime rates as low as Tombstone or Dodge City in the "bad" old days.
Random thoughts - does the Consitution allow you to yell "MOVIE!" in a crowded firehouse?
There isn't a dime's worth of difference between those who put used to put up signs "No colored people allowed here" from those who today put up signs "No CCWs allowed here". Bigots in both cases.
What if you had a pistol velcroed to the dash?
Intersting question! I understand that velcro coffee mug holders had prompted searches, but may the pistol would make the velcro self-explanatory...
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