The NRA Credit Card
President Obama and Congressional Democrats refused to fight Republicans and the NRA on a despicably unrelated amendment to the credit card reform bill, which will now allow gun owners to carry loaded, accessible firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges.
At a time when gun violence kills more Americans than ever before, the amendment's sponsor Senator Tom Coburn wants more guns to be carried in more places. Especially in the places we fear most-national parks and wildlife refuges.
Who doesn't tremble at the thought of strolling through Yosemite without a loaded handgun? Danger lurks at every turn. The elderly woman behind the counter at the gift shop could, without warning, lunge at your child. Or worse-try to steal the 94 ounce drink he's guzzling.
And the threats posed by wildlife refuges are endless. That flock of pink flamingos might seem harmless, but who's to say your NRA pin won't set them off into uncontrolled mayhem?
I'm sure Coburn's amendment is heartily endorsed by the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. This group believes that all college students should be armed to the teeth, while still listening to their IPods and texting their classmates.
And they have company. As of today, there are thirteen states considering legislation to expand firearm carry on campus. No state is considering legislation to make it harder to buy a gun.
And almost no one in Congress these days has the courage to speak out for gun control. Gun control, their advisors say, is so 1980's. Which was when Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior James Watt,who was rightfully the butt of many jokes, actually did the right thing. He introduced regulations banning loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. And after Reagan and his press secretary were shot, the Brady Bill was actually passed.
And once and for all, let's stop worrying about the rights of hunters. If you enjoy blowing away deer, who to my knowledge are unarmed, then you deserve to have a hard time buying a gun. No one should be allowed to buy any gun, without a background check and a waiting period. A hunter doesn't walk into a gun shop, and say "I need a gun right now, there's a deer over there." And hunters never, ever need a concealed weapon. When you're hunting deer, you really don't need the element of surprise. The deer knows you're not there for a photo shoot for the Discovery Channel.
Tom Coburn and most Republicans may be "pro-life" when it comes to a fetus. But if you're strolling through a park, a wildlife refuge or a college campus, you're fair game.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
"At a time when gun violence kills more Americans than ever before,"
"No state is considering legislation to make it harder to buy a gun."
This, Mr. Blakeman, is either flat out lying or outright ignorance on your part.
Which is it?
"And once and for all, let's stop worrying about the rights of hunters. If you enjoy blowing away deer, who to my knowledge are unarmed, then you deserve to have a hard time buying a gun."
Bwahahahahaha!
Scott, have you bothered to read the Heller decision? The RKBA has nothing to do with hunting. Nor does the National Park legislation.
You're not moonlighting for the Violence Policy Center are you?
"And once and for all, let's stop worrying about the rights of hunters. If you enjoy blowing away deer, who to my knowledge are unarmed, then you deserve to have a hard time buying a gun."
Bwahahahahaha!
Scott, have you bothered to read the Heller decision? The RKBA has nothing to do with hunting. Nor does the National Park legislation.
You're not moonlighting for the Violence Policy Center are you?
So, what's up with all these hysterics?
This Bill only conforms to State Law. If State Law allows CCW, then ok. If not, then not ok.
Example, you still won't be able to carry a legal gun to the Statue of Liberty.
Doesn't anybody read anything anymore? Or is it just the same old PSH???
"At a time when gun violence kills more Americans than ever before,..."
Actually, this is a blatent lie.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/weaponstab.htm
But we've come to expect the usual lies and misrepresentations from the anti-gun crowd.
Scott, be careful when regurgitating talking points from those Joyce Foundation funded "studies" by the Violence Policy Center. Most of them have already been debunked.
Aaarrgghh! Why are there no rational voices on these bullshit issues? Why do gun opponents keep dragging hunters and deer into the 2nd Amendment? There is nothing, NOTHING, in the 2nd about guns for hunting. Why do gun proponents want to carry guns in National Parks? Wildlife refuges? There is nothing there for them to hunt so obviously they want them for self-defense. But you can argue that you need protection more on an airplane, at the mall, in the White House, in the Capital Building, and on any city street.
Reality. The 2nd Amendments intention was to insure that citizens who wanted to be armed could be armed for defense of their homes, quick assemblege of militia, and to give any would-be despot second thoughts about using the military to easily overthrow the nation. The founding fathers meant that a citizen should have the right to bear any arms that the military possessed. But that was then....When "arms" meant black powder weapons. We surely can't apply that to WMD's. But the 2nd says we have that right.
Everything in our nation needs to be honestly re-thought and instead we have all this inane bickering. Aaarrghh!
"But you can argue that you need protection more on an airplane, at the mall, in the White House, in the Capital Building, and on any city street."
Concealed carry is allowed at the mall and on city streets in most states.
"But that was then....When "arms" meant black powder weapons. "
And speech meant actually speaking face to face and press meant movable type/block.
"We surely can't apply that to WMD's. But the 2nd says we have that right."
Not really. That is what has become known over the decades as "The Nuke Argument", and it has been disproven since the day it was introduced.
Blakeman: "At a time when gun violence kills more Americans than ever before."
Wrong, violent crime and murder declined last year.
Blakeman: "I'm sure Coburn's amendment is heartily endorsed by the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. This group believes that all college students should be armed to the teeth."
CCW holders carry one concealed handgun, two at most. Carrying a concealed handgun or two doesn't make someone "armed to the teeth." That involves carrying an arsenal like the Punisher.
Blakeman: "Especially in the places we fear most-national parks and wildlife refuges."
It has nothing to do with "places we fear most". It has to do with the fact that there is no reason to prevent CCW holders from carrying their guns there as they carry everywhere else.
Blakeman: "And almost no one in Congress these days has the courage to speak out for gun control"
That might be because polls show support for it is dropping.
Blakeman: "And once and for all, let's stop worrying about the rights of hunters."
The amendment is about self defense, not hunting.
Blakeman: "Tom Coburn and most Republicans may be "pro-life" when it comes to a fetus. But if you're strolling through a park, a wildlife refuge or a college campus, you're fair game."
The current policies in those places already make everyone "fair game" for violent criminals who have no regard for "gun free zones". Coburn and his supporters are trying to change that.
"Why carry a gun into a National Park?"
For the same reason as people legally carry elsewhere and so that people who do legally carry elsewhere do not have to stop prior to entering the park and change how they are carrying.
While I am a liberal ACLU-loving lawyer, I do support the 2nd Amendment, and I am quite tired of the histrionics associated with the guns rights issue. It is the "2nd" Amendment for a reason; the founding fathers believed that the only right more fundamental than personal firearm ownership was freedom of religion, speech and association; i.e. the 1st Amendment. But enough with the rational argument; how about the fact that Gary Staynor beheaded a couple of women in Yosemite a few years back; you think they might have liked the right to carry a firearm for protection against him. I admit that I don't know if the little old lady at the gift shop was in on it.
"It is the "2nd" Amendment for a reason"
The order in which the amendments are numbered has absolutely nothing to do with precendence or importance.
Criminals are already carrying guns anywhere they please and shooting anyone they feel like shooting. Coburn's Amendment doesn't make anyone any less safe. It gives everyone else that much more of a fighting chance.
More histrionics from the gun control crowd.
Loaded firearms have not been a problem in state parks and national forests.
Lawful concealed carry has not been a problem on the many campuses across the US which permit it. BTW, every state that I know of which allows concealed carry requires the person to be 21 years old or older.
Waiting periods are aboslutely useless and people have been killed while they were in their waiting period to obtain a firearm for defense.
For 75 years now, firearms have been made increasingly difficult to obtain. And the gun controllers keep on thinking up new and creative ways to continue doing so, even though there is no proof that any of their proposals work.
I always find it amazing that the bloggers here are totally ignoring the FACT that Congress is doing what it is supposed to be doing--listening to the people that vote for them. Gun control is going nowhere--even in Kali
No they aren't listening to us. They are only listening to the gun lobby. Why carry a gun into a National Park? I suspect people will carry their guns whereever they go, so it probably doesn't make much difference, but why not debate the issue rather than put it in a Credit Card bill. We can't trust Congress now and appear to be as bad as they have always been. They are the cause of our failed economy, our wars that we never should have started, and the perks that they give the Big Pharmas and Petroleum monopoly. Let's throw those congressmen/women out who vote for these lobbys and others.
You just don't get it.
The question isn't "why carry a gun into a national park"?
The question is "Why shouldn't CCW holders be able to carry their guns in parks as they do everywhere else." There is no reason not to allow it. Parks arn't any different then shopping malls, movie theaters, banks, grocery stores, or any other place where CCW is allowed without any problems.
I have not seen any evidence that allowing CCW will make parks less safe, nor any evidence that the state parks which allow CCW are any less safe then fed parks that don't.
Lay off the knee jerk reactions and get some real evidence to back up your claims.
Not listening to us? LOL The gun lobby, ie, the NRA is me.
Vajara--do you know why control of Congress went to the Republicans in 1994? Answer--people threw the bums that voted for the Clinton AWB out on their BUTTOCKS.
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
