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TX:Restricting guns won't solve every problem
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Restricting guns won't solve every problem
By Michael Clements
Texas City Sun
Published March 30, 2003
I bought my favorite pistol in a gun shop in Panama City, Fla., three years ago. I can't say for certain how many rounds I've fired through it, but I try to shoot at least once a week. I shoot a minimum of 100 rounds each time.
Not one of those rounds has been fired at a person and I have never pointed that gun at a living thing. While I carry it for personal protection, I have never been in a situation in which it was needed. I thank God for that each day.
By the same token, as angry as people have made me in the past three years - and I've been pretty angry - the thought of using a weapon of any kind has never crossed my mind. I believe in the rule of law and I obey the law to the best of my ability.
When I purchased my pistol I filled out all the required forms and underwent the federal background check, as silly as all that is.
What I'm trying to say here is, restricting when or where I can carry my gun won't make anyone any safer. But, it seems that public officials in a misguided attempt to promote safety, insist on taking away my rights because other people can't be trusted.
Santa Fe is the most recent example. The city council approved first reading of an ordinance making it illegal for anyone other than a law enforcement officer to carry a gun on city property even if the person has a concealed handgun license issued by the state. Texas City already has such an ordinance.
The thinking behind these laws is that it will somehow make people safer. The question is, how will restricting my right to carry a gun make anyone safer?
Under these laws, a person like me is disarmed. At the same time, a person bent on carrying a gun illegally isn't going to be deterred by the fine that goes with violating a city ordinance. So, that person has a gun and I do not. Somehow I don't feel any safer.
The issue here goes beyond carrying guns or not carrying guns. If the city council passes this ordinance, which it most likely will, I will obey it. That's why I filled out the forms mentioned earlier even though I thought the questions on them were stupid.
(Just a little aside here, if you want a good laugh read the list of questions a prospective gun purchaser must answer. Here's an answer I wanted to use, but didn't, "No Mrs. Brady I haven't sold any drugs recently.")
The issue is that while I'm obeying the law, the people who should be the real targets of the law, those who carry concealed weapons illegally, will continue to carry their guns anyplace they want to.
In effect, I am being penalized because of the actions of others. That is not the intent of the city officials, but it is the net effect.
The bottom line is this, I have proven to the State of Texas that I can be trusted with the responsibility of carrying a gun (the fact that I have to prove that is fodder for another column). Until I do something to indicate otherwise, I should be allowed to keep that responsibility on any piece of public property in the state
http://texascitysun.com/report.lasso?WCD=2331
"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<P>
By Michael Clements
Texas City Sun
Published March 30, 2003
I bought my favorite pistol in a gun shop in Panama City, Fla., three years ago. I can't say for certain how many rounds I've fired through it, but I try to shoot at least once a week. I shoot a minimum of 100 rounds each time.
Not one of those rounds has been fired at a person and I have never pointed that gun at a living thing. While I carry it for personal protection, I have never been in a situation in which it was needed. I thank God for that each day.
By the same token, as angry as people have made me in the past three years - and I've been pretty angry - the thought of using a weapon of any kind has never crossed my mind. I believe in the rule of law and I obey the law to the best of my ability.
When I purchased my pistol I filled out all the required forms and underwent the federal background check, as silly as all that is.
What I'm trying to say here is, restricting when or where I can carry my gun won't make anyone any safer. But, it seems that public officials in a misguided attempt to promote safety, insist on taking away my rights because other people can't be trusted.
Santa Fe is the most recent example. The city council approved first reading of an ordinance making it illegal for anyone other than a law enforcement officer to carry a gun on city property even if the person has a concealed handgun license issued by the state. Texas City already has such an ordinance.
The thinking behind these laws is that it will somehow make people safer. The question is, how will restricting my right to carry a gun make anyone safer?
Under these laws, a person like me is disarmed. At the same time, a person bent on carrying a gun illegally isn't going to be deterred by the fine that goes with violating a city ordinance. So, that person has a gun and I do not. Somehow I don't feel any safer.
The issue here goes beyond carrying guns or not carrying guns. If the city council passes this ordinance, which it most likely will, I will obey it. That's why I filled out the forms mentioned earlier even though I thought the questions on them were stupid.
(Just a little aside here, if you want a good laugh read the list of questions a prospective gun purchaser must answer. Here's an answer I wanted to use, but didn't, "No Mrs. Brady I haven't sold any drugs recently.")
The issue is that while I'm obeying the law, the people who should be the real targets of the law, those who carry concealed weapons illegally, will continue to carry their guns anyplace they want to.
In effect, I am being penalized because of the actions of others. That is not the intent of the city officials, but it is the net effect.
The bottom line is this, I have proven to the State of Texas that I can be trusted with the responsibility of carrying a gun (the fact that I have to prove that is fodder for another column). Until I do something to indicate otherwise, I should be allowed to keep that responsibility on any piece of public property in the state
http://texascitysun.com/report.lasso?WCD=2331
"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<P>