In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
An Anti Concealed Carry opinion (Moron)
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Concealed weapons have no place at fair
Screening for knives makes little sense if guns are allowed through.
August 3, 2002
"Ma'am, may we look inside your backpack? We're beefing up security at the Oregon State Fair.
"Sorry. You can't have the beer bottle. Can't have the knife, either.
"The pistol? That's fine. Just leave it in the backpack and go on through.
"Next in line! Open your bag, please. ... "
"...What's that, sir? Yes, she was allowed to keep her gun."
"Why? We just do as we're told, sir. The orders are to let people with bona fide concealed weapons permits bring their guns into the fair.
"You're right. It doesn't make sense. We have police on duty at the fair. Why should anyone else need a gun at a family event focusing on farm animals, ferris wheels and funnel cakes? And yes, we do get jittery about the possibility of a firearms mishap if kids paw through a `loaded' purse or packpack while Mom or Dad is off buying an elephant ear.
"But as long as Mom or Dad has that concealed weapon permit, the gun's legal. We just hope they'll have the good sense to leave it locked up at home instead of bringing it to a crowded fair.
"Here's what happened: The issue came up during a routine public comment period on the fair's plan for security checks. This year we're asking people to open their bags and, if necessary, to adjust the contents so screeners can see what's inside.
"Don't you think those rules are sensible, especially in this era of heightened awareness? Naturally, some firearms groups took exception. They noticed that police officers would be allowed to pass the checkpoints with weapons, but people with concealed weapons permits would not be authorized automatically to carry their guns.
"It seems the Legislature can ban guns and other weapons from courtrooms and other specified buildings. But the fairground isn't on this list. So these groups threatened to go to court.
"Isn't that the way it is in this litigious society? The gun-rights groups paint this as a right-to-bear-arms issue. But it's really a safety issue.
"Oregonians respect the Second Amendment. Heck, firearms are a way of life in much of rural Oregon. Kids grow up learning to hunt and target practice. But there's no reason to be armed while at a well-patrolled fairgrounds. Why would people need to carry firearms? To protect themselves from other people with concealed weapons permits? Or to guard against the throngs carrying nothing more deadly than lipstick and car keys?
"And you're right. It's ludicrous to see us screeners barring people with knives or beer bottles, while waving through people with guns - even if they do have permits to carry them.
"But that's the law. Until the Legislature changes it." http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=46072
"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
Screening for knives makes little sense if guns are allowed through.
August 3, 2002
"Ma'am, may we look inside your backpack? We're beefing up security at the Oregon State Fair.
"Sorry. You can't have the beer bottle. Can't have the knife, either.
"The pistol? That's fine. Just leave it in the backpack and go on through.
"Next in line! Open your bag, please. ... "
"...What's that, sir? Yes, she was allowed to keep her gun."
"Why? We just do as we're told, sir. The orders are to let people with bona fide concealed weapons permits bring their guns into the fair.
"You're right. It doesn't make sense. We have police on duty at the fair. Why should anyone else need a gun at a family event focusing on farm animals, ferris wheels and funnel cakes? And yes, we do get jittery about the possibility of a firearms mishap if kids paw through a `loaded' purse or packpack while Mom or Dad is off buying an elephant ear.
"But as long as Mom or Dad has that concealed weapon permit, the gun's legal. We just hope they'll have the good sense to leave it locked up at home instead of bringing it to a crowded fair.
"Here's what happened: The issue came up during a routine public comment period on the fair's plan for security checks. This year we're asking people to open their bags and, if necessary, to adjust the contents so screeners can see what's inside.
"Don't you think those rules are sensible, especially in this era of heightened awareness? Naturally, some firearms groups took exception. They noticed that police officers would be allowed to pass the checkpoints with weapons, but people with concealed weapons permits would not be authorized automatically to carry their guns.
"It seems the Legislature can ban guns and other weapons from courtrooms and other specified buildings. But the fairground isn't on this list. So these groups threatened to go to court.
"Isn't that the way it is in this litigious society? The gun-rights groups paint this as a right-to-bear-arms issue. But it's really a safety issue.
"Oregonians respect the Second Amendment. Heck, firearms are a way of life in much of rural Oregon. Kids grow up learning to hunt and target practice. But there's no reason to be armed while at a well-patrolled fairgrounds. Why would people need to carry firearms? To protect themselves from other people with concealed weapons permits? Or to guard against the throngs carrying nothing more deadly than lipstick and car keys?
"And you're right. It's ludicrous to see us screeners barring people with knives or beer bottles, while waving through people with guns - even if they do have permits to carry them.
"But that's the law. Until the Legislature changes it." http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=46072
"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
Comments
New York Times
Aug. 04, 2002
At many colleges, the student ID is a "smart card" that unlocks dorm doors, pays for meals and checks out library books, with each use providing a potential stream of data that can be used to monitor activities. Health centers store medical data, and financial aid offices know each family's finances down to the penny.
"The total surveillance society is happening in the dorms sooner than anywhere else," said Peter P. Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who was the chief counselor for privacy in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. "We don't have national ID cards, but we have student ID cards."
The campus is becoming a testing ground for the kinds of security measures that are being recommended for the rest of the nation.
"This is the laboratory for the future we want to have," Swire said.
Mary Burgan, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors, said schools are struggling with a number of urgent privacy issues: computerized data protection, identity theft and questions raised after Sept. 11 by such laws as the USA Patriot Act, which increases surveillance.
"All of these issues now become extremely important," she said, "and there are not many guidelines."
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/0804privacy04.html
"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