Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Gun Nuts Triumph Again in House Committee
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Update: A House subcommittee has just passed the guns-on-playgrounds bill. It was amended to leave it up to city and county governments to decide whether to permit handguns in their parks. Only two Democrats--Nashville's Janis Sontany and Memphis' Karen Camper--opposed the bill.In the latest episode of our continuing "Gun Nuts Run Amok" series, the House Judiciary Committee could hardly wait this morning to pass legislation to let licensed gunmen travel freely in our state parks and wildlife refuges. Both bills went winging out of the committee on voice votes. The sponsors weren't even required to explain how it promotes the public welfare to introduce handguns into these new places. Only Rep. Janis Sontany, a Democrat from south Nashville, had the audacity to question the wisdom of any of this. She shocked the room by voting against guns in state parks. The NRA radio attack ads have probably already started airing in her district. "I just think it's wrong to carry a gun in a state park," she told Pith afterward. "I don't think that's necessary, and I'm concerned that it's going to spread into local parks as well. I feel state parks are safe," pointing out that officials estimate only something like one in 5 million visitors to the parks fall victim to even a minor crime. Another Nashville Democrat on the committee, Rep. Mike Stewart, supported the two bills. Asked to explain himself afterward, he said essentially that he's trying to build political capital with the gun nuts in the hope that they'll support his attempts to take guns out of the hands of juvenile offenders in East Nashville. Stewart says he's studying how to reduce juvenile gun crime and expects to propose legislation on this matter someday. Here's some of what he told Pith:
"The legislature, before my arrival, allowed people to carry concealed weapons through a licensing process, that has not generally contributed to a dramatic increase in crime. So having made that decision, I don't expect those same people who can now carry a gun down my street will have a great impact on crime if they carry in a state park. Now I do think the proliferation of handguns in my district, particularly used by juvenile offenders, is a massive social problem, and I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to address that. I think you have to pick your battles. I intend to focus on gun issues that I think have a direct real impact on people's lives."The committee delayed passing another bill to allow handguns into saloons. Yet another bill still in a subcommittee would open city parks and playgrounds to handguns. Stewart says he's against those measures, although he said he could vote for letting city councils decide whether to let handguns into municipal parks. Yet another proposal, this one to close state handgun permit records to the public, was delayed. Under that bill, if newspapers publish the list, they'd face $2,500 fines. The crafty sponsor, Rep. Eddie Bass, says he's thinking about swapping that out with a provision creating a cause of civil action against the media. Follow with me here as I explain how that would work: (1) A newspaper breaks the law and publishes the list. (2) Criminals use the list to figure out where a permit holder lives. (3) Then they break into the guy's house to steal his guns. (4) A big shootout ensues and, of course, the criminals are shot dead because the permit holder is a highly trained individual. (5) Then the permit holder can sue the newspaper for damages for mental anguish.
Comments (6)
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Jeff: When a woman is raped, beaten, left in a bloody mass and possibly murdered, I suppose you'll say "well, gee, that's just a real shame. But boy am I glad she didn't have a gun to defend herself". As a retired street cop who's seen the victims of rape, on the street, people like you and anti-gun legislators make me wonder what planet you come from. Criminals don't stop at the city park line. The police are not responsible for your safety, YOU are.
Most other states allow carry in parks and where there are playgrounds. All without incident, as concealed handgun permit holders are the most law-abiding of any group.
All this hand wringing and wailing over the two bills is much to do about nothing.
Boy, leave it up to you guys to distort this as much as possible to serve your point, rather than just present the facts (e.g., nuts, playgrounds, etc.)
I don't suppose the rapists and assailants at Percy/Edwin Warner and Shelby Bottoms got the memo that it was illegal to attack people.
The laws do not have to promote general welfare, or be presented in a manner that validates the concept. It only has to be presented in the context of the rights of the individual to protect him or herself. One cannot demonstrate that the legal presence of weapons makes the parks less safe, when weighed against the probability of attacks on unarmed citizens, now can it? Not everything we do in this country is about sacrificing the rights of the individual in the name of that rather ambiguous "common good" banner. You guys sound like Bush and his "security" policies.
In la-la-liberal land, making something illegal prevents it. Like making drugs illegal. Making murder illegal. That's right sports fans, make guns illegal and we'll stop having gun related crime. Again, worked well for the war on drugs, didn't it? Worked well for those assaulted in the same city parks you now think are going to suddenly turn into the ok corral. Look around a grocery store - I promise you, if there are more than 10-20 people in there, there's a good chance at least one has a gun on his or her person. Any indication it's the wild wild west? I've been carrying for a long time now, legally, and I promise you that there is not a more dedicated safety minded, responsible bunch of people out there than permit holders. Liberals carry on about being champions of the Bill of Rights, but what they really do is simply ignore the Amendments that don't serve their agenda, same as the right.
Come on folks, it's the Nashville scene (specifically, reporters for the Nashville scene); not a bastion for critical and objective analysts. There's as much utility in blasting them as there is to demean a 5th grader for his science project against the greater body of peer reviewed literature.
