Give Legal Gun Owners a Break

[Lady Di]

News and views from Nashville:

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58388

[Bill of Rights]

Very cool. I like the idea proposed in the comments by a couple of people, too:

Member Opinions:
By: CAH on 1/1/08
I agree. When the concealed carry law was first proposed, I was talking to a sitting judge who asked me what I thought about it. I told him that I thought we should have an "Open Carry" law where everybody should be considered to be armed, unless there was something, a pin, ribbon or something, signifying that they were not armed, visible on their person.

Robert A Heinlein once said, "An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

Firearm safety should be a required course in our schools starting in the first grade and continued through graduation of high school. A normal sales tax should apply to the purchase of a firearm only and the permit should cost no more than the cost of the paperwork. $15 maximum. No other fees should apply.
...
By: fsilber on 1/1/08
There may be some Tennesseans who don't believe that burglars, muggers or carjackers should be shot, and therefore oppose changes that make it easier for people to carry guns.

There is a way both sides can get what they want. The state should authorize an official armband and an official placard indicating a promise not to use deadly force against criminals -- to be dsplayed by anyone who believes that robbers' lives are more important than their right not to be robbed. (Anyone displaying this who then kills a robber can be charged with murder -- on the grounds that he enticed the robber just to have the opportunity of killing him.)

If all the people who feel this way were to display this signal, robbers could protect their lives by seeking out only victims who wear the armband or display the sign.

With my proposal, both sides get what they want. Those who care most about not being robbed could simply refuse to wear the armband or post the sign -- and would carry concealed handguns if they wish. On the other hand, those who consider the lives a criminals to be more important _would_ wear the armband and post the sign -- thereby helping criminals select victims who won't kill them.

Suppose not enough people declare their willingness to submit peacefully to provide criminals with a safe alternative? It would then be clear that people caring more about robbers' lives are too small a minority for a democracy to let them impose their values on the rest of us.

Pure genius. Absolute, pure genius.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
B