This afternoon, I heard on the Fox radio news that the US Senate had voted down an amendment to the Defense Spending Bill offered by John Thune (R- South Dakota)...the guy that beat Daschle...nyuk... that would have allowed people with a "concealed carry" permit to travel across State lines with their concealed weapon, and not be subject to the gun laws of the State they were visiting.
I will not discuss my disgust that stuff like this gets attached to a Defense Spending Bill at this time.
My knee-jerk reaction was, "GOOD!" Even though I heard a soundbite (sp?) from the miserable Chuck Schumer talking about how the defeat of this amendment would "save lives," (?) which made me want to vomit, my thoughts immediately turned to my roots as a "State's Rights" guy. It's interesting how the "big gubmit" guys get all "States-rightsy" on you when it comes to firearms.
I am a true believer when it comes to "States Rights!" My inital thought on the subject was, "What in the devil is Thune thinking? If we pro-gun guys can advocate for legislation from the Federal gubmit that will trump legislation in Baton Rouge, or Austin, or Concord, or Sacramento, or Denver...well, we'd better be willing to accept DC legislation that makes my State recognize gay marriages performed in Boston!
Hey...if California wants to legalize pot...FINE! If Florida wants to ban offshore drilling...FINE! If Illinois wants to ban "concealed carry"...FINE! If Louisiana wants to ban abortions (which we do btw)...FINE! If Arkansas wants to legalize sibling marriage...FINE! (which they do by the way...creepy, but FINE nonetheless).
But when I went to the FoxNews computer page and read the article, I got into a condurum (if you haven't visited "Andy's Place" for very long, you don't know what a condurum is. Use your imagination).
The article states, "Opponents say the concealed weapon proposal would force states with tough gun laws to accept gun-carrying visitors from states with weaker laws. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said that was not true and that gun-toters would have to follow the laws of the state they entered.
The gun proposal did not establish national standards for concealed weapons permits and would not have allowed those with permits to carry weapons into Wisconsin and Illinois, the two states that do not have concealed weapons laws."
So, I'm in a fix to figure out whether I'm happy, or upset. Of course, I can always reach down to rule #2..."If Schumer is happy, I should be really ticked!"Okay...I'm REALLY TICKED!
Such a law is in my opinion unnecessary. Under the 14th Amendment, states can't violate basic rights like freedom of speech etc. protected under the Bill of Rights. One would only need to get the Courts to explicitly state that the second amendment is incorporated by the 14th amendment and all State gun control laws would be unconstitutional officially, instead of just theoretically.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Thune could be seen as simply trying to act on Congress's right to make legislation that deals specifically with stopping states from doing so. Maybe he is even hoping to get it into Court, to hash out the issue specifically.