Chron denounces Perry on concealed-carry, mangles facts
by Owen Courrèges | 05/02/2007 10:26 am | Alert moderatorOk, this certainly merits a fisking:
It’s the sort of Wild West stereotype that national publications love to print about Texas: After conferring in Austin with federal officials concerning the recent Virginia Tech massacre, Gov. Rick Perry opined that citizens with licensed concealed handguns should have the right to take them everywhere.
“I think it makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals,” the governor said, ” whether they’re in church, or whether on a college campus or wherever they are. The idea that you’re going to exempt them from a particular place is nonsense to me.”
Texas law prohibits guns in bars, schools and most areas of courthouses and college campuses. Local governments and churches have the right to prohibit firearms from buildings and meetings. Private employers can ban employees from bringing weapons into the workplace.
It is true that private employers and churches can prohibit concealed carry. However, the burden is on them to provide proper notice by posting this sign at all entrances and exits. Accordingly, I’m not sure Perry was suggesting a change in the law with regards to churches.
Furthermore, local governments lost their ability to ban firearms in their facilities in 2003. Oopsie! I suppose the Chronicle actually needs to start looking at the law before they vomit up this dreck on their editorial page.
Most mass transit agencies, including Metro, do not allow passengers to bring firearms aboard buses and trains.
This reminds me of a little tune I once heard. It goes a little something like this:
♫WRONG, wrong WRONG, wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong WRONG…. WRONG! YOU’RE WRONG!♫
Metro used to prohibit concealed-carry on transit vehicles even with a permit. However, that was clearly illegal under state law, which provided no exceptions to for transit agencies. Accordingly, Metro was promptly sued. In 2005, Metro voted to drop the ban.
The Legislature just passed a bill that expands a resident’s right to use a firearm in self-defense at home, in vehicles and at other locations. The legislation would establish a legal presumption of self-defense for the shooter. After overwhelming approval by the House and Senate, the governor signed it.
Another bill moving through the Legislature would allow workers to keep licensed guns in their cars, even if they are parked at workplaces where their employer bans firearms. A third bill would make concealed handgun license records confidential. The records, owned by the public that paid for their creation, are properly classed as public documents.
These bills, should they become law, would encourage the proliferation of deadly weapons into every area of our lives, from the freeway to the shopping mall. Instead of putting the brakes on bad legislation, Perry’s latest comments only fuel the domestic arms race.
Goodness knows why the Chronicle thinks a presumption of self-defense is a bad idea. Don’t people being attacked in their homes deserve such a presumption? Furthermore, I don’t really understand why the Chronicle sees value in keeping CHL records public. Do they want criminals to have access to this information?
As for the guns in cars issue, I don’t see the problem either. You can already carry in a vehicle with a CHL, and I don’t see how an employer has a significant interest in banning guns from the parking lot. A hothead employee is unlikely to follow the restriction anyway.
Arming the public to the teeth will not prevent individuals like Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho from murdering innocents taken by surprise and terrorizing a campus. He bought his killing tools legally and probably could have qualified for a concealed handgun permit in Texas.
Seung-Hui Cho probably had a driver’s license too, and he could have gone nuts and run 30 people down on a crowded street had he wanted. Unless a person has a criminal record or has been institutionalized, there really isn’t a valid reason to start taking away legal privileges.
Rather, guns in every classroom, car and bar would only make it easier for deadly weapons to find their way into the wrong hands. The odds that an armed population could quickly take down a deranged gunman are much smaller than the chance of being shot by an otherwise law-abiding citizen who becomes emotional and loses control in a stressful public setting.
I’m not sure that the Chronicle can back up their odds with actual math. There are numerous cases of people with guns taking down degranged gunmen. I don’t know of any cases where a CHL holder has flipped off his rocker and started firing randomly in a crowded setting.
But I suppose if you proceed from a paternalistic mindset, that’s how you view the situation.
12 Responses to “Chron denounces Perry on concealed-carry, mangles facts”
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May 2nd, 2007 at 10:54 am
Lets face facts. You better be ready to protect yourself. If you are attacked in a mall, place of business, church, or anywhere else the police are just going to wait outside behind the trees until everyting is all quiet.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:03 am
#1 And you know why? Not because the rank and file officer doesn’t want to do something, but because of the fat cat bureaucrats that won’t let them do something other than wait for a supervisor or swat; and of course, by then it is too late. I know my spouse would say, screw the “department policy” and go in and do something. Although it most likely would have him relieved of duty (even tho he performed his duty).
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I feel if you have shown the willingness to complete the conceal carry process you should be allowed to carry just about anywhere. A very few exceptions come to mind. I just hope if I’m ever in a situation involving a potential killer that the guy standing next to me is packing.
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Carrying in a bar??? Hmmmm…a lot of people that I know that go into bars are going in there to get… let’s say…not of right mind…so I think bars are a place where one shouldn’t carry a gun…let ‘em use their fists….I refuse to get a license (can you say tax revenue) to do what I feel the constitution gives me the God given right to do…
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
here is my answer to the commie cal
Concealed Handgun License Training– New licenses $100 (classes approximately every other week), recertification $80 (done weekly). Price includes all range fee, fingerprinting, notary work and photographs. Basic training available for persons who want a license but have little or no experience with a firearm. Ask about special group classes. Contact Austin Arrington 281-948-8373.
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:02 pm
James Campbell is not answering his phone…..
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Just FYI if you’re looking for a safe church….my pastor carries, as well as SEVERAL members of the congregation.
May 2nd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
#4. Good luck with that “God given right” defense if you’re arrested with a weapon - unless you’re an undocumented migrant, of course.
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:25 pm
This is typical Houston Comical crud. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life. never a Chronicle do you buy.
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
God made men and women; Sam Colt made ‘em equal!
http://www.irtc.org/ftp/pub/stills/2004-06-30/colt.jpg
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Wow, it looks like the Comical at least has not changed one iota in my absence. Not that the Richmond rags are any better, but it is nice to know that some things will never change.
One question I do have, though: Why on earth is the honorable Governor Rick Perry talking up gun ownership and gun rights? Is it already election time again?
May 6th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I have a CCL. I also agree that the VT killer, though truly psychotic, still
planned his event carefully with thoughtful dilligence and detail. You try making a distinction between honest, law-abiding and thoughtful citizens,
rationalizing everything versus criminals who react emotionally and that
doesn’t wash. This guy planned this event “knowing” he wouldn’t get
caught/stopped for quite a while. Note that he also took his own life before
any “authority” figure could get in and do the job for him. In effect, he likely
considered himself a martyr (just what a terrorist would do). When his work
was complete (or nearly there), he ended his life. Too bad, someone else
couldn’t have seen him at his work and ended his life before he killed so
many.
Check all the stats on CCL holders violating anyone’s rights up to this point.
I happen to agree completely that a CCL holder “could” have stopped the
VT killer as could any other holder have stopped the Luby restaurant killer
(remember him?).
Here’s an honest statement. An armed society is a polite society. I’m no gun nut. I’m passionate about things, but not in any criminal way.
I just believe that when doubt is injected back into the
criminal mind, things may change for the better. For instance, I recommend
to female Realtors® to simply carry a fanny pack. The non-criminal thinks
nothing of it. The criminal wants to know whats in the pack. Could be
cigarettes or a water bottle, or maybe a gun?
CCL holders have to pass State AND National background checks. Our
fingerprints are held at the National level. We are scrutinized heavily AND
we agree that if we commit a normal second class felony, we are
automatically held accountable at the FIRST class felony level. That’s a
pretty big decision and we own up to it rightly. Up until last year, CCL
holders couldn’t even have ONE deferred adjudication on their record from
even one minor discrepancy with the law before the age of 18. Therefore, it
can be said, that every license issued before last year, the license holders
records are spotless. Once that record ceases being spotless, the license is
revoked and they come to your home to ensure you know that.
I also believe I should be allowed to carry my firearm on aircraft with a
certain additional credential of close-quarter firearms training to help out with
the current Air Marshall shortage. You can be sure, that if that credential
was offered, veritably tens of thousands of current CCL holders would be
raising their hands and making it impossible for another 911 hijacking
situation to ever occur again.
Columbine? I would have waded into that mess in a heart beat and drawn
down on the very first long gun I saw with no regrets or hesitation and I’ve
spoken to others who felt the same way. I remember when that happened (I
lived there at the time).
I’ve also spoken to numerous beat cops (the ones who do the real work) and
they all tell me emphatically that they implicitly trust CCL holders because by
our very actions of securing the permit, we are saying we are not afraid to
stand up and use the firearm appropriately and at the right time. On more
than one occasion, a CCL holder has provided back up to an injured police
officer. I’ve been pulled over for minor traffic stops and “seemingly” been let
go because of my license. I directly asked a Houston police officer recently
if that were a matter of indirect protocol and he said, “good people need to
be rewarded”.
The only part where I hestitate would be the bars/clubs/saloons inclusion.
Still though, the law already has a mandate that says if we use the weapon
in the wrong manner and are merely brandishing it for looks, we’re gonners.
I think because of that, most if not all would use appropriate judgement in an
alcohol environment. Also, the law already states that if you are a licensed
CCL holder in possession of a firearm and under the influence (as in a DUI
scenario), you’re going to jail the hard way. Remember, the Texas
legistlature has already made it clear to us how it will support us if we’re
right, and it will condemn us if we’re wrong. CCL training isn’t about HOW to
shoot a gun, but rather in understanding the laws as they’ve been written
and to train the CCL holder on using the best common sense and judgement
with that firearm.
I pick and choose the times when I do carry and usually its when I visit rougher parts of town while
showing houses. Of course, having a girlfriend who was kidnapped while
showing houses in May of 2005 also has something to do with my decision to continue
carrying.
Go back to the VT killer. What do you call the police officers trained to deal
with killers like him? During the ordeal, they were mostly observors and toe-
taggers. Were they “serving and protecting” the 32 dead? Now, just plant
one passionate CCL holder in a classroom in the first 5 minutes of the event.
Would that holder have enough gumption to end the shooting spree? I bet
he would and there might be 30 still living today because of that gumption.