Gun-Friendly Laws Sweeping South, West

[MaineCWPtraining]

Tenn. demonstrates trend of looser guns laws
Shift in attitude, easing of restrictions attributed to powerful NRA lobby

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It's been the year of the gun in Tennessee. In a flurry of legislative action, handgun owners won the right to take their weapons onto sports fields and playgrounds and, at least briefly, into bars.

A change in leadership at the state Capitol helped open the doors to the gun-related bills and put Tennessee at the forefront of a largely unnoticed trend: In much of the country, it is getting easier to carry guns.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 laws loosening gun restrictions.

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[Navy Moose]

Even accounting that the article was written by MSNBC, I'm happy for people in the states where the laws have been relaxed. My dream, is for this trend to continue in MA after the 2010 elections.

 

[Baystatesuks]

I like this one from the article:

"They shoot each other over parking spaces, at football games and at family events," Rand said. "The idea that you're making any place safer by injecting more guns is just completely contradicted by the facts."

Guess that gives me license to take out some annoying relatives in a few weeks.

 

[mikem317]

I like this one from the article:

"They shoot each other over parking spaces, at football games and at family events," Rand said. "The idea that you're making any place safer by injecting more guns is just completely contradicted by the facts."

Guess that gives me license to take out some annoying relatives in a few weeks.

Oh, that's an oldie but a goodie! I remember that line. They were using that when the wave of CCW legislation hit the states during the 1980s and 1990s. That was the classic talking point the anti-rights crowd was using. Of course, none of it came to fruition. I can't believe they still use it though. Somebody should help this guy Rand by dusting off his token fear mongering lines.

But at the same time, if we believe in freedom, there should be no laws that require bar owners from allowing CCW holders to patronize their establishment. Same thing with obligating business owners from allowing their employees to store their pistols in their cars on the business's property.

 

[Garys]

Even accounting that the article was written by MSNBC, I'm happy for people in the states where the laws have been relaxed. My dream, is for this trend to continue in MA after the 2010 elections.

It wasn't written for MSNBC, it was picked up by them. The original story appeared on Knoxnews.com . TN has been one of the leading states in improving gun rights for law abiding citizens.

The flood of legislative victories in Tennessee after many years of frustration now has some gun backers aiming for a whole new level of freedom: No permits at all.

The permit laws “are an extra burden on people to exercise essentially a constitutional right,” said John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association.

I like this quote.

 

[Horrible]

I like this one from the article:

"They shoot each other over parking spaces, at football games and at family events," Rand said. "The idea that you're making any place safer by injecting more guns is just completely contradicted by the facts."

Some people will simply never get it. These "facts" they speak of are nothing more than emotions and fear. Meanwhile they ignore the REAL FACTS that fly in the face of their statist agenda. The moron that made this comment has some heavy reading to do.

http://www.gunfacts.info/pdfs/gun-facts/5.0/GunFacts5-0-screen.pdf

Sounds kind of like the Global Warming crowd or Climate Change idiots or whatever the hell they are calling themselves these days. Don't let the real facts get in the way of a great theory.

 

[Jose]

Same thing with obligating business owners from allowing their employees to store their pistols in their cars on the business's property.

So the rights of the business owner trump the rights of the employee?

Whose car is it?

What you advocate is nothing but Second Amendment Jim Crow.

 

[Garys]

So the rights of the business owner trump the rights of the employee?

Whose car is it?

What you advocate is nothing but Second Amendment Jim Crow.

You can make a very good argument either way. The business owner controls the property where the business is. Does he have no right to control the use of his property? If an employee can overrule that right, why can't someone else overrule other rights the business owner has?

It's not at all a simple question. Which is always the case when there are competing rights. Personally, I'm glad that legislatures are supporting Second Amendment rights, but I also recognize that this sort of decision can come back to bite us in the ass at some future point.

 

[Jose]

You can make a very good argument either way. The business owner controls the property where the business is. Does he have no right to control the use of his property? If an employee can overrule that right, why can't someone else overrule other rights the business owner has?

It's not at all a simple question. Which is always the case when there are competing rights. Personally, I'm glad that legislatures are supporting Second Amendment rights, but I also recognize that this sort of decision can come back to bite us in the ass at some future point.

The compromise comes from the fact that while the employee can keep a firearm in HIS vehicle, he or she cannot remove it from the vehicle while parked at his place of employment unless the employer OKs it.

The alternative is that employers get to cancel YOUR right to keep and bear arms while you travel to and from work. And that alternative is simply unacceptable to me.

 

[Garys]

The compromise comes from the fact that while the employee can keep a firearm in HIS vehicle, he or she cannot remove it from the vehicle while parked at his place of employment unless the employer OKs it.

The alternative is that employers get to cancel YOUR right to keep and bear arms while you travel to and from work. And that alternative is simply unacceptable to me.

I agree, although in general I don't like compromise. This is certainly an imperfect one, but under the circumstances it's probably the best we can do for now. As attitudes to the 2A continue to change, I hope people will become more comfortable with citizens exercising their rights.

 

[Knob Creek]

Fox news reporting same:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/12/states-ease-restrictions-gun-laws/