This article clerly articulates the thoughts of those who think that there is some inherant "danger of concealed handguns."
http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1916
Kansas Towns Fight NRA Preemption Law
The latest state to suffer from the threat of an NRA concealed weapons preemption bill is Kansas. Even though concealed guns have been outlawed there since the 1800s, the legislature, under the influence of the gun lobby, recently passed a concealed weapons bill there, above the protests of the citizens. And now, because small towns still have the right to protect themselves from the dangers of concealed firearms, the NRA is barking to take that away from them too.
Davis, who with his wife operates a Cheesecake Express business at craft shows and music festivals across the state, said city ordinances and county resolutions make a mockery of the state’s concealed-weapon law by further limiting places where permit holders can go in public with a hidden gun.
“Through their interpretation,” he said, “they think they can amend the existing state law and apply their own rules and regulations.”
Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, and Rep. Candy Ruff, D-Leavenworth, are moving to protect Davis’ freedom of movement when packing heat. They are pushing a bill stripping cities and counties of power to regulate where concealed handguns are allowed.
How dare these small towns actually try and pass laws that protect their citizens! Just because the NRA moved in with a lobby and passed a bill the majority of the people didn’t want doesn’t mean these cities have the right to make their own rules about who can carry firearms in their vicinity! Oh wait, it kind of does mean that.
Dale Goter, lobbyist with the city of Wichita, said restrictions on cities and counties in House Bill 2528 went too far. The goal should be balanced state and local oversight to protect the public from criminal acts, he said.
“It’s gone beyond common sense and reasonableness,” he said of the bill. “When gun laws are outlawed, you can guarantee every outlaw will have a gun, including every gang member in Wichita.”
Eric Sartorius, representing Overland Park, said he couldn’t reconcile prohibitions in state law with the bill’s intent to strip municipal governments of authority to refine conceal-and-carry boundaries.
He said it doesn’t stand to reason state law forbids concealed weapons at professional or school sporting events, but requires Overland Park to allow such weapons at all other sporting events.
This is the craziest thing about concealed carry laws. Most concealed carry laws still have exclusions– they don’t allow firearms in schools, for example, or public libraries. In this case, the state law doesn’t allow firearms at school or professional sporting events. Apparently, firearms aren’t safe in those places. But how, then, do firearms magically become “safe” everywhere else? If guns really protected us, wouldn’t we want them in schools and libraries? The fact is we don’t want them in those places because firearms don’t protect us– they only represent a threat.
And to actually pass a law to restrict these towns from fighting that threat is nonsense. The NRA is denying these towns their own right to self defense– the defense against the danger of concealed firearms. By passing a concealed weapons law, the Kansas legislature put all the citizens in the state at risk. And by passing a preemption law, they would take away the last defense smaller towns and cities have against that risk itself.
Print This Article
More: Legislation, NRA, Police, Culture of Violence, Concealed Carry, Kansas
http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1916
Kansas Towns Fight NRA Preemption Law
The latest state to suffer from the threat of an NRA concealed weapons preemption bill is Kansas. Even though concealed guns have been outlawed there since the 1800s, the legislature, under the influence of the gun lobby, recently passed a concealed weapons bill there, above the protests of the citizens. And now, because small towns still have the right to protect themselves from the dangers of concealed firearms, the NRA is barking to take that away from them too.
Davis, who with his wife operates a Cheesecake Express business at craft shows and music festivals across the state, said city ordinances and county resolutions make a mockery of the state’s concealed-weapon law by further limiting places where permit holders can go in public with a hidden gun.
“Through their interpretation,” he said, “they think they can amend the existing state law and apply their own rules and regulations.”
Sen. Phil Journey, R-Haysville, and Rep. Candy Ruff, D-Leavenworth, are moving to protect Davis’ freedom of movement when packing heat. They are pushing a bill stripping cities and counties of power to regulate where concealed handguns are allowed.
How dare these small towns actually try and pass laws that protect their citizens! Just because the NRA moved in with a lobby and passed a bill the majority of the people didn’t want doesn’t mean these cities have the right to make their own rules about who can carry firearms in their vicinity! Oh wait, it kind of does mean that.
Dale Goter, lobbyist with the city of Wichita, said restrictions on cities and counties in House Bill 2528 went too far. The goal should be balanced state and local oversight to protect the public from criminal acts, he said.
“It’s gone beyond common sense and reasonableness,” he said of the bill. “When gun laws are outlawed, you can guarantee every outlaw will have a gun, including every gang member in Wichita.”
Eric Sartorius, representing Overland Park, said he couldn’t reconcile prohibitions in state law with the bill’s intent to strip municipal governments of authority to refine conceal-and-carry boundaries.
He said it doesn’t stand to reason state law forbids concealed weapons at professional or school sporting events, but requires Overland Park to allow such weapons at all other sporting events.
This is the craziest thing about concealed carry laws. Most concealed carry laws still have exclusions– they don’t allow firearms in schools, for example, or public libraries. In this case, the state law doesn’t allow firearms at school or professional sporting events. Apparently, firearms aren’t safe in those places. But how, then, do firearms magically become “safe” everywhere else? If guns really protected us, wouldn’t we want them in schools and libraries? The fact is we don’t want them in those places because firearms don’t protect us– they only represent a threat.
And to actually pass a law to restrict these towns from fighting that threat is nonsense. The NRA is denying these towns their own right to self defense– the defense against the danger of concealed firearms. By passing a concealed weapons law, the Kansas legislature put all the citizens in the state at risk. And by passing a preemption law, they would take away the last defense smaller towns and cities have against that risk itself.
Print This Article
More: Legislation, NRA, Police, Culture of Violence, Concealed Carry, Kansas