Guns, Cars, and Tech

Category: Legislature

  • Oh, this stupidity again.

    A while back, I wrote about the stupidity of Metro Nashville’s opinion that they can still ban guns at concerts in parks because… uh… going to a concert isn’t recreation.

    Well, the state Attorney General has put out and opinion that states that no, they can’t do that.

    Nashville Metro’s Legal Director’s response?  “We’re going to continue to ban guns anyways.”

    He even says that someone’s going to have to sue before the city considers changing it’s mind.

    It’s only, you know, state law.  Nothing much.

  • You have got to be $^*@ing kidding me!

    I’m having a hard time seeing straight over this one.  Apparently, Memphis and Nashville are planning on still banning guns in certain parks, even after the state passed the law saying that they can’t.

    Just to catch people up, the final language of the law stated that a carry permit holder can carry in a city park, with the exception that you can’t carry in “the immediate vicinity” of a school event (baseball games, etc).  If you wander up on one by accident, you can legally turn around and leave upon learning of the event.

    This is apparently confusing for some people.  The city of Nashville is in the middle of building an amphitheater in of our river front parks, and the folks that are contracted to run the concert venue have a policy that they ban weapons at all of their venues.  What’s Nashville’s Metro Director of Law’s response to the question of banning firearms in a facility on park grounds? “We’re in the view that we can probably prohibit weapons in the new amphitheater.”

    Oh… he has logic!  You’ll love his logic!  See, the law also refers to “areas owned, used or operated by a local government ‘for recreational purposes,*’” and, in his view, going to see a concert isn’t recreation!

    No.

    Seriously.

    Direct quote from Metro’s DoL Solomon: “When we think of ‘recreating,’ it’s somebody going out and doing something, not somebody sitting around,”

    The article also states that it’s “still unclear” if the city will ban guns in the park around the concert venue, or if they will ban guns in the amphitheater when there’s not a concert going on.  Here’s a thought…. the state law says that they can’t!

  • I’ve been saying this for years

    Credit cards have expiration dates. Laws should too.

    When I first started watching TN House Subcommittee meetings, I saw something that has stuck with me: A legislator brought in a bill to remove the prohibition on aquariums in barber shops. Everyone in the room was baffled as to why this was a law in the first place. Over the years I have assumed that there was a health scare whenever that law was enacted, but I haven’t taken the time to really track it down.

    Of course, just repealing something without knowing why it was law in the first place is such a bad idea that there’s a name for it: Chesterton’s Fence

    The Boston Globe author says we should have a mandatory 12-15 year sunset but even then I think it’s been too long. I think two years would be sufficient to see the effects of any proposal, yet not be far enough in the past for no one to remember why the law was there in the first place. Two years is also convenient from a political standpoint because that’s the rotation of Congress.

    If a law is passed along party lines that is so egregious that the voting public severely punishes the ruling party (Obamacare, anyone?), then literally all the new majority has to do is nothing and it goes away.

    I’d also like to see a provision where no new business can be conducted until a vote on existing laws has taken place, and no votes on anything can occur until the Speaker of the House has read, verbatim, with no breaks and no surrogates, the law about to be voted on.

    Things like murder, rape, and robbery would continue to be illegal. Things like selling orchids without all the proper paperwork would not. In fact, the paperwork would be gone, too.

    What say you? How would you improve the system?

  • How long before Obama closes the Interstate Highway System?

    He’s ordered the closure of an open-air memorial that was privately funded.

    He’s ordered the closure of homeowners to vacate their property.*

    All of these things cost more money than leaving it alone. In some cases, the federal government intentionally shut down things that actually make money to make a political point.

    They’re already shutting down the shoulder of the interstate in South Dakota.

    How long before Obama decides that the Interstate Highway System needs to close? It needs maintenance, too, you know.

    ETA: Tango reminds me that Obama has already shut down the freaking OCEAN.
    *I’m less sympathetic to their plight that I maybe should be, since their leases require the homes to be second homes and in the case of those folks it’s clear they’re in violation.

  • Unpossible!

    This morning, at around 6am, an “older man” was shot and killed in the parking lot of a local High School.

    Guess the shooter didn’t see the giant “NO FIREARMS ALLOWED” signs at the entrance.

  • One more thing on Illinois Carry…

    I’m going to go ahead and call this:

    If the murder rate in Chicago goes up, it will be blamed on concealed carry and preemption*.

    If the murder rate in Chicago goes down, it will be attributed to Rahm Emmanuel’s supreme leadership.

    *That’s right, Chicago’s handgun ban, AWB, and several other laws are now kaput

  • Point this out next time someone says there were eleventy billion victims of gun violence last year

    “Victims of gun violence” apparently includes terrorists who die in shootouts with police.

  • Quote of the Day, Persistence Edition

    Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut on gun bans:

    We lost the first vote, but we’re going to win the last vote.

    Emphasis mine. This is the attitude of the left, generally. It’s not over until they win, and then it’s over and no longer up for discussion.

  • You know, I kind of want to get an IL Carry License…

    If this is an accurate description of the law as passed, the only way for me to legally carry in Illinois is to take a 16 hour class and pay a $300 fee.

    My guess is that with lodging, training, and the fee, it’ll cost me around a thousand dollars. I never go to Illinois, primarily because of their crappy gun laws. I doubt I’d go much after getting an IL Carry License or whatever they decide to call it.

    But it sure would kick over my giggle box to carry in Chicago.

  • Nikki Goeser’s book is out

    Denied a Chance: How gun control helped a stalker murder my husband

    My friend Ken gives a short review here.