...as to #4...they have NOT "sort of" ANYTHING until they do it as the law requires...with PROPER signage or other LEGAL notice...quit giving our rights up so easily...make them toe the line as we're required to...
With all due respect, this attitude kind of grates on me seeing as how I've got some ugly welts and puckers and ill-healed holes scattered about on the aging body that came about from defending our rights while in uniform many years ago.
Does the hospital, a basically private facility, not also have rights?
As I stated previously, I just finished up a few uncomfortable stays in a hospital that also has mixed signals so far as signage regarding firearms is concerned. However, their
intent is rather clear and seeing as how I'm not a shareholder, board member, employee or otherwise officially or legally connected with the hospital, and am instead simply a customer (or patient) and by choice, it is MY duty to either comply with their wishes or go somewhere else.
In the future, I will go somewhere else--but while I was there, I had to respect THEIR rights.
If I have a business, I have every right to put a sign up saying "no guns allowed" or "no dogs allowed" or "no eating turnip greens while on premises" or pretty much whatever I wish. It's MY business and I'm the one solely responsible, legally and fiscally, for it.
Same with my home, the airplane hangar, the boat, etc. We have two hard and steadfast rules on our boat: 1. No booze on the boat. None. No exceptions. 2. Unless you can swim better than this former competitive swimmer and ex-military frogman, you will NOT leave the boat into the water without a PFD (personal flotation device) on. No exceptions. For what it's worth, I do not get in the water without a PFD and I literally have gills.
We've had guests on the boat raise all kinds of hell about those two rules, especially number one. I politely (at first) explain that it is OUR boat and therefore OUR rules and if they don't like it, then take a hike or better yet, go buy your own boat and make up your own rules.
Now, where I have an issue about our rights is as they pertain to public buildings and facilities. If I'm a legal CHL, then schools should not be off-limits, nor should many other government facilities. Do understand that there are restrictions, to a degree, on virtually all of our rights. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater just to see people panic and stampede out the door. You can't have and practice a religion that partakes in daily crack cocaine use and the raping and sacrificing of little children. Etc etc.
Unless it is a solely state or county supported hospital, they have every right to ask patrons, patients and visitors to leave their firearms in the car. I have every right to choose a different hospital if and when the need should ever arise (which is what we'll do and have already found a hospital that has no such BS on their doors).
There is a big difference between a business placing a "gun buster" sign on the door and trying to comply with Texas (or any other state) law by using exact wording and nomenclature but falling short because the letters were 7/8ths of an inch tall rather than one inch tall, etc.
One thing is for certain: Those who shout the loudest about the "technicalities" and "no judge will convict" when it comes to these things certainly aren't confident enough in their beliefs to rush out and test their theories and become index cases for the law. Think about that.
My point-of-view is simple: If you go through that much trouble (30.06 wording, et al) to tell me that me and my firearms aren't welcome, then I'll honor your wishes and take my business elsewhere.
JD
