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Gun lobby takes issue with town ban (CT)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Gun lobby takes issue with town ban
By Associated Press, 6/3/2002 08:30
ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) The town of Rocky Hill is being challenged by the National Rifle Association over a town ordinance that forbids people from carrying firearms in town parks.
The issue came to light a few weeks ago when members of the NRA confronted the town council at its meeting about the ordinance, which deals with behavior in parks and recreation areas.
The council was slated to consider changing language in the ordinance to allow park rules to address excessive noise, which has become an issue at Maxwell Park, Town Clerk Barbara Gilbert said Thursday.
''We very innocently go into this meeting, and the next thing we know is that members of the NRA as well as an attorney ... start talking about how we do not have the right to prohibit the carrying of legal firearms within our parks,'' Gilbert said.
Citing a 1984 state Supreme Court decision that forbids towns from writing laws regulating the sale of guns, the NRA claims the Rocky Hill ordinance, which says citizens cannot carry guns in a park, is illegal.
''A town government such as Rocky Hill gets its authority to do things from a state statute,'' Ralph Sherman, an attorney and member of the NRA, recently said. ''If the state legislature wanted towns to override a state permit to carry handguns, there would have to be a state statute to say the towns could do that.''
Town attorney Mike Heneghan is still reviewing the issue.
Mayor Barbara Surwilo said she has concerns about touching the ordinance, but she said the town will make a decision based on Heneghan's findings.
''My opinion is that guns and parks do not mix. It's hard to imagine a kid eating a hot dog when someone with a gun is next to him. It's not my idea of what a park is,'' Surwilo said.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/154/region/Gun_lobby_takes_issue_with_tow:.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By Associated Press, 6/3/2002 08:30
ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) The town of Rocky Hill is being challenged by the National Rifle Association over a town ordinance that forbids people from carrying firearms in town parks.
The issue came to light a few weeks ago when members of the NRA confronted the town council at its meeting about the ordinance, which deals with behavior in parks and recreation areas.
The council was slated to consider changing language in the ordinance to allow park rules to address excessive noise, which has become an issue at Maxwell Park, Town Clerk Barbara Gilbert said Thursday.
''We very innocently go into this meeting, and the next thing we know is that members of the NRA as well as an attorney ... start talking about how we do not have the right to prohibit the carrying of legal firearms within our parks,'' Gilbert said.
Citing a 1984 state Supreme Court decision that forbids towns from writing laws regulating the sale of guns, the NRA claims the Rocky Hill ordinance, which says citizens cannot carry guns in a park, is illegal.
''A town government such as Rocky Hill gets its authority to do things from a state statute,'' Ralph Sherman, an attorney and member of the NRA, recently said. ''If the state legislature wanted towns to override a state permit to carry handguns, there would have to be a state statute to say the towns could do that.''
Town attorney Mike Heneghan is still reviewing the issue.
Mayor Barbara Surwilo said she has concerns about touching the ordinance, but she said the town will make a decision based on Heneghan's findings.
''My opinion is that guns and parks do not mix. It's hard to imagine a kid eating a hot dog when someone with a gun is next to him. It's not my idea of what a park is,'' Surwilo said.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/154/region/Gun_lobby_takes_issue_with_tow:.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878