Archive for June, 2008
Finally, a politician worth voting for!
Georgia State Representative Tim Bearden will be exercising his Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms in spite of the city of Atlanta declaring Harstfield-Jackson International Airport a “gun-free zone.” And Bearden has dared Atlanta to arrest him.
As of July 1, a new Georgia state law goes into effect. Reforming Georgia’s concealed carry law, Georgians can now carry a concealed firearm in more places, including places of public transit. The law would presumably allow a CCW license holder to carry a firearm in the non-secure areas of an airport. Federal law prohibits firearms in the secure areas.
The city of Atlanta, though, feels they can usurp state law and arrest anyone carrying a firearm in the unsecured areas. The general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson, Ben DeCosta, believes he has the authority to arrest anyone with a firearm, regardless of state law. DeCosta has said he can identify Bearden and will have him arrested if he shows up at the airport while exercising his rights as a citizen.
Bearden will be picking up family members and has dared the city to interfere with him. “I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday],” Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “I’ll have one [a concealed weapon] with me at all times.”
In case anyone is wondering, Bearden is an active member of the NRA, a retired police officer, and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Feel free to contact Bearden with your support:
Coverdell Legislative Office Building
Suite 607
Atlanta, GA 30334
Office: (404) 656-0287
e-mail: tim.bearden@house.ga.gov
Feel free to contact Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and let them know your thoughts also:
6000 North Terminal Parkway Suite 435
Atlanta, GA 30320
Phone: (404) 209-2954
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
You could call it the Atlanta version of “High Noon.”
Top city officials will announce Tuesday that despite a new state gun law that went into effect at midnight, they will have anyone carrying a weapon at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport arrested. The state lawmaker who sponsored the new gun law says if they do, the city will immediately be sued. And state Rep. Tim Bearden (R-Villa Rica) said the plaintiff in the lawsuit could be himself.
“I have a permit, and I have family I have to pick up at the airport tomorrow [Tuesday],” Bearden told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “I’ll have one [a concealed weapon] with me at all times.”
Airport General Manager Ben DeCosta said if Bearden shows up at the world’s busiest airport with a gun, he’ll be busted.
“I can identify him, and I’ll have him arrested,” DeCosta said Monday. “We’re not fooling around. This is a post-terrorism environment.”
The new law, which Bearden sponsored, permits licensed gun owners to carry concealed firearms in parks, on public transportation and in restaurants that serve liquor. The law takes effect Tuesday.
Firearms proponents hailed the law as a victory for the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They say law-abiding citizens with the appropriate permits should be allowed to carry firearms in formerly forbidden areas for self-protection.
Before the new law was passed, Georgia law banned guns from venues like public transportation and restaurants serving alcohol. More than 40 other states permit guns on public transportation, Bearden said, and 37 allow permit holders to carry weapons into restaurants.
“I was in law enforcement for 15 years,” Bearden said as the bill awaited the governor’s signature two months ago. “I never rode up on a shooting in progress. I don’t like the idea of the police telling you, ‘Get mugged, get raped, get murdered. We’ll come by, take the report, or send flowers.’ That’s the wrong message.”
Opponents, however, blasted the proposal, saying it has the potential to spark more violence than it stops. DeCosta wrote to Gov. Sonny Perdue asking him to veto the bill, and Mayor Shirley Franklin and MARTA officials publicly lambasted the idea. MARTA bus drivers gathered more than 1,000 signatures on petitions demanding bulletproof shields.
Federal law already bans guns past the security checkpoints at U.S. airports. The new state law, however, apparently would permit guns to be carried on the non-secure side of Hartsfield-Jackson by people who have gone through a background check and have been certified to carry a weapon. Licensed gun owners would be permitted to carry weapons on public transportation coming into the airport, its lobby and in restaurants outside the security checkpoints.
DeCosta said he will use the first day the new law takes effect to declare Hartsfield-Jackson a “gun-free” zone.
“We’re going to make it clear that the law does not make any allowance for guns at the airport,” DeCosta said. “Guns are not appropriate for any airport in Georgia.”
He and Franklin plan a 10 a.m. news conference to discuss the new gun law.
Bearden said the new law clearly permits guns in some areas of the airport.
“They are not appropriate once you go past security,” he said. “But in parking lots or restaurants or public transportation, they are OK.”
The state lawmaker said the city does not have the authority to defy a state law, and if they make arrests they will end up in court.
DeCosta said city officials will not back down from their position on the new law and again vowed to have Bearden or anyone else carrying a gun on airport property arrested.
“He can then have all the NRA [National Rifle Association] lawyers say why it’s OK for him to bring a gun to the airport,” DeCosta said.
MARTA, meanwhile, released a statement late Monday noting that state law prohibits firearms on public transit unless the carrier has a valid license to carry a gun.
“This license must be carried at any time that an individual is carrying a firearm on MARTA,” the statement said.
Georgia Gun Buyback Update
Posted by: | CommentsWell the gun “buy-back” in Cobb County, GA went off without a hitch, or much notice, Saturday. A total of 11 (yes…11) guns were turned in for a gift card or amusement tickets. That doesn’t sound like they were terribly effective, which is probably a good thing.
What I deem to be a fairly serious misunderstanding of rights and the role of government, Rep. Alisha Thomas commented about the D.C. vs. Heller case. Thomas said “We want to keep guns out of the wrong hands, and I do think the Supreme Court decision does dampen a city’s rights to pass these kinds of ordinances.” Really? Cities’ rights? I’m sorry, Ms. Thomas, only citizens have rights.
What I find to be a touch ironic, there were no reported ‘gun deaths’ in Cobb County this past weekend. However at Six Flags Over Georgia, one of the sponsors of the gun buy-back who gave out tickets to their park, there was a teenager decapitated by a roller coaster.
From the 11Alive.com website:
Keeping kids out of jail and guns off the streets were the goals of a “stop the violence” event in Cobb County Saturday afternoon. Community leaders say guns and gangs are putting too many kids in harms way and that parents have to step up while the community steps in.
Critics say guns that find their way into the hands of young people is the reason behind many of the problems in urban communities. So local activists are buying them back. “With students out of school anything can happen.
I got my little granddaughter here with me so I thought it would be an awesome thing to bring it back,” Patrina Cooper, a gun owner said. In return, Cooper got tickets to Six Flags.
“I’ve seen too many times we’ve had to go to the cemetery to see the children of their parents who thought that they were responsible and reasonable gun owners,” Derrick Boazman, one of the organizers, said.
Many here were critical of the Supreme Court ruling this week that reaffirmed the second amendment and private gun ownership.
“We want to keep guns out of the wrong hands, and I do think the Supreme Court decision does dampen a city’s rights to pass these kinds of ordinances,” Rep. Alisha Thomas (D-Cobb) said.
11 guns were collected and turned over to Cobb County police in today’s buy-back program.
The “Save Our Youth Stop the Violence Weekend” was sponsored by the Destiny World Church.
Crimson Trace has released a new model of Lasergrips, the LG-441
The LG-441 has a front activation button that is located near the top of the front of the grip itself, and is instinctively activated with the middle finger of the shooter. They have been ergonomically designed to increase comfort and control of these small firearms while shooting. There is a slight palm swell on the right side of the grip that gives you the feel that the small gun is actually bigger than it is. This feature helps to hold the gun more securely while pointing and firing.
“The 441 has the smallest profile of any Lasergrip to date,” said Adam Wollander, VP of Sales and Marketing. “The engineering department has truly opened up the future to miniaturization of our products to make them even more compact.”
The entire grip except for the activation area is molded from a hard polymer to decrease drag while drawing the small semi-auto from a pocket or holster. As with all other Lasergrips, the LG-441 has both windage and elevation adjustments for shooters to make sighting adjustments on their own. All Lasergrips come with an accessory pack that contains batteries, hex wrenches for user adjustability, a cleaning cloth and several cleaning swabs. A three-year warranty is standard.
MSRP on this model is $269.00, but Amazon has them for only $216.88.
Chicago Mayor Daley’s Outrageous Anti-Gun, Anti-Freedom Comments
Posted by: | CommentsAfter the D.C. vs Heller decision was published by the U.S. Supreme Court, McDonald vs. Chicago was filed in Illinois. McDonald seeks to overturn Chicago’s laws prohibiting law-abiding citizens from owning handguns. Mayor Daley, frequently seen as a dictator rather than an elected servant, had these things to say about your Second Amendment rights:
“If they [the U.S. Supreme Court] think that’s the answer … they’re greatly mistaken. Then why don’t we do away with the court system and go back to the Old West, you have a gun and I have a gun, and we’ll settle it in the streets if that’s they’re thinking.”
“It is frightening that America loves guns, and to me, I think this decision really places those who are rich and those are in power, they’ll always feel safe. Those who do not have the power do not feel safe, and that’s what they’re saying. If you’re elected officials, you feel safe. You cannot carry a gun into a federal building. You cannot carry a gun into a federal court. So they’re setting themselves aside, and really, they’re saying to the rest of America that the answer to all the constitutional issues is that we can carry guns. And I just don’t understand how they came to this thinking.”
What is particularly sad about his comments is the fact that currently the only people with protection and legal access to firearms in Chicago are the wealthy politicians, specifically the mayor and the aldermen. D.C. vs. Heller clearly identifies the Second Amendment is an individual right that applies to all citizens, not just the wealthy politicians like him.
I think the mayor’s real concern is an armed populace has the power to resist oppression.
In the wake of the landmark D.C. vs Heller case, the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) filed a lawsuit against the city of Chicago. Chicago, which has draconian anti-gun laws, currently bans handguns and requires onerous registration procedures on other firearms.
“Chicago’s handgun ban has failed to stop violent crime,” SAF founder Alan Gottlieb stated. “It’s time to give the Constitution a chance.”
You can follow the progress of this case, McDonald v. City of Chicago, at a special website set up by the Second Amendment Foundation: ChicagoGunCase.com.
D.C. vs Heller: Supreme Court Strikes Down Handgun Ban
Posted by: | CommentsIn a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the District of Columbia’s draconian handgun ban is unconstitutional. Specifically the Court held that “The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self defense within the home.”
The Court also states that “The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self defense) violate the Second Amendment. The District’s total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition on an entire class of “arms” that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense.”
However, the Court also stated “Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose…” The Court further stated that “The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those “in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.”
One area I am disappointed by, is the D.C. licensing requirement. The Court did not consider the Constitutionality of a licensing requirement “Because Heller conceded at oral argument that the D. C. licensing law is permissible if it is not enforced arbitrarily and capriciously, the Court assumes that a license will satisfy his prayer for relief and does not address the licensing requirement. Assuming he is not disqualified from exercising Second Amendment rights, the District must permit Heller to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”
This is the full opinion in pdf format. More analysis to follow….
