In the News: State Legislation and National Firearm Topics (Mar 2015)

Florida [Palm Beach Post] … the Florida state senate approved a bill that will allow people fleeing from disaster to carry their firearms with them legally. The bill ensures that what happened during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in Louisiana circumstance where national guard and local law enforcement went house-to-house collecting firearms and confiscated firearms from people leaving the area by motor vehicle or boat – clearly a Second Amendment violation. President GW Bush did nothing about it and the media ignored it. The bill is heading for final passage in the House that gives people permission to carry firearms without a concealed weapons permit for the first 48 hours following a mandatory evacuation order. Once citizens are housed in a shelter, firearm carry policies apply. People will have to find refuge other than schools and public buildings if they intend to bring their firearms with them because of the no tolerance policies of those places.

In another bill that is moving through the 2015 Florida legislature [Herald Tribune], the Florida senate voted 3-2 for SB 180 that would give 67 school districts the option of allowing some school personnel or volunteers to carry concealed weapons at schools if they meet certain qualifications and training standards. An identical bill is sponsored in the House as HB 19. If passed, it would save the cost of an armed security force present in schools. This is also a testament of how degenerative our society has become when armed security or staff/administration personnel are required to keep our children safe. In urban areas, it has become more common to see metal detection devices at the entrances of public schools, especially in gang-ridden neighborhoods. Pathetic.

[The Famuan] - Still yet another bill is being considered concerning firearms … The Florida Senate higher education committee is discussing to pass a bill that would allow anyone 21 years or older with a valid gun license to carry a firearm on Florida college or university campuses. The bill represents a movement in other states to allow students, especially female students to protect themselves with concealed carry firearms granting by a lawful permit. Campuses have been notorious for the attraction of sex criminals and female students victims of rape and violent attacks.

Bolt-Action Rifle w/Suppressor

Montana [MTPR] … The Montana House is considering a bill that would allow hunters to use rifles fitted with suppressors (sometimes incorrectly called 'silencers'). Game wardens oppose the bill. Hunters need to hear sounds in their surroundings when hunting, so suppressed rifles, not completely silent, affords them to shoot without hearing protection. Game wardens claim that this would deter them from catching illegal hunting activity by poachers. Yet, now hunting is even more silent; which means poachers could hunt undetected. The bill this year that would allow crossbows to be used during archery season did not pass; although there is no sensible reason for banning crossbows from hunting. Wisconsin last year passed a bill that allows crossbows to be used legally to hunt during the archery season. Montana also considered repealing the requirement that hunters wear bright orange vests, making them optional, and requiring orange vests only for those younger than 18 years of age.

National [FOX News] … Congress begins its hearings concerning complaints that firearm businesses are being targeted by the Obama administration's Operation Choke Point. It is like the use of the IRS to target political opponents and other violations of ethical and constitutional mandates. Businesses targeted were not just firearm stores, but also casinos, tobacco distributors, short-term lenders, et cetera. Specifically under fire is the FDIC chairman, Martin Gruenberg.

Ohio [FOX Columbus] … Firearm laws are loosening up in the 'Buckeye' state. Firearm dealers can now sell drum magazines with large capacities and hunters are allowed to use suppressors. Also the required training for a concealed carry permit has been reduced from 12 hours to 8 hours.

Tennessee [WBIR] … Tennessee state House and Senate passed a bill to allow workers to sue their employers if they are fired for storing guns parked in company lots. The bill was drafted and passed because although the law allowed firearms to be kept in vehicles at company parking lots by employees, some companies had policies that fired any employee who stored a firearm in their vehicle on company property despite the law.

Missouri [Tenth Amendment Center] … Missouri state HB 1341 was introduced entitled, Second Amendment Preservation Act that would reject federal gun control measures that:

infringe on the people's right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution, within the borders of this state.The bill includes, but not limited to, excessive taxes or fees, mandated registration, potential confiscation, and any future bans on firearms and/or ammunition.

Refusal to accept federal enforcement countering the Constitution and state rights was sanctioned by the US Supreme Court in a number of cases, beginning in 1842 and a recent 1997 case, Printz v. US that required state governments to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program.

KQED-NPR-PBS … Should Teachers Carry Weapons? Citing mass shootings in gun-free zones like schools in Colorado (and a movie theater that prohibited conceal carry), Wyoming, and North Dakota are states that are considering firearms be allowed by conceal-carry permitted staff and administration to avoid future devastating mass shootings. According o the Second Amendment, a well-regulated Militia is necessary for the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. It should be allowed as long as those on the teaching staff and within the administration are volunteers who pass a firearm proficiency/safety certification and undergo concealed-carry training. According to the article sponsored by government controlled  NPR/PBS:

We don’t have well regulated militias anymore, so what does this mean for the Second Amendment? And why have the majority of society and the courts so vigorously protected the Second Amendment even in the face of horrific gun violence including Columbine High School shooting which killed 13 and injured 20 people? Or more recently the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary schools that killed 26 people.

What part of the fact is that nut jobs who intend to commit mass murder always choose 'gun-free zones' does the writer not understand? Also, the writer is also incorrect by stating that we don't have well-regulated militias anymore. Every citizen is a potential part of a militia and there are constitutional organized militia organizations that gather together and train for emergency situations. The same people who are against teachers lawfully carrying concealed firearms are the same people who would vote for a measure to hire armed security officers, costing the taxpayers more money for an educational system that is not worth its high cost. The US spends more on education than any other nation, in most cases, drastically; yet we fall behind too many of those nations in terms of educational standards and results of all that funding.

Once upon a time there were extra-curriculum (after hour) shooting/hunting clubs that taught safety and responsibility in the use of firearms in our schools. Not anymore. It is the attitude of society and less parental guidance that has changed. Children of my generation had toy firearms and their heroes were the good guys. Today, sports figures and the music genre are products of ghetto bang-bangers – and their attitudes reflect and influence upon the youth of America. Hollywood, in its hypocritical social-political policies is another example of the degradation of moral/civic conduct and attitudes of generations since. Government has demeaned parenthood and taken over parent rights and liberties in matters of raising children; which also includes demeaning and persecuting Christianity and its moral philosophies. Their solution is to denounce the Second Amendment and do what tyrants have and are doing: removing the ability for citizens to defend themselves (and their rights and liberties) where only the state enforcement and criminals have firearms. Gun control does not deter criminals because criminals are such because they do not respect or abide by the law. Gun control only harasses and punishes law abiding citizens. Background checks are an important aspect of ensuring that firearms are owned by lawful citizens, no argument – but the other control measures have nothing to do with and have been statistically proven it has no effect upon the intent and actions of criminally minded citizens. Yet, time and again, progressives refuse to pay attention to statistics and facts; relying upon what their political leaders tell them and who play upon their emotions instead of logic and good sense.