This person 'exercising his 2nd amendment rights' at an international airport in Atlanta is really the capper for me. He would not be permitted on a plane with ANY kind of weapon. So, why would a sane person bring a gun to an international airport?
Oh, to demonstrate his state legislated right to make everybody extremely uneasy or downright afraid, right? Though I'm not so sure how much of the 'sane' rider applies.
The white privilege aspect of this can't be ignored. Do you think if this was a black person or even a tan Arabic looking person they would be alive to complain about their 'rights' being infringed? This guy is the very reason why strong national gun laws are needed in the United States, right now.
I worked in national security, securing five large international airports post 9/11. This gun crazy would have been a nightmare to deal with but America was relatively sane back then. We didn't have one political party trying to create a second United States by openly flaunting on state level what our duly elected national government was legislating in Washington D.C.
We also have one foreign owned news organization that has no problems ridiculing anybody who proposes the sanest gun laws. Make no mistake, 'Fox News' and its Australian owner Rupert Murdoch (and up until recently, Arab Sheik Al-Waleed) are as much to blame for this particular schism as any entity.
Before President Obama gave up on trying to pass any meaningful gun laws I sent out the summary below of his policy to all who were crying on Facebook and other social media about 'Obama's comin' fer my guns!!!'. I asked them what there was about the plan they found so objectionable. I probably posted it 20 or so times. You want to know the only thing any of them found objectionable? It went something like this: 'Well, when I'm hunting it's real inconvenient if I have to lug around a bunch of 10 round clips.' WTF? I mean how much lead is required to take down a deer or a rabbit?
Whatever happened to Bobby De Niro and 'one shot'???
Anyway, that told me quite clearly that NONE of them had actually read the proposed law. They were getting all of their outrage spoon fed to them by Fox and the rest of the misinformation and hate-casters in right-wing media. (There is a need for reform on a national level of ALL of our corporate owned news media but that is a subject for another article. Are you really telling me Caitlynn Jenner is news but the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not?)
And what does openly flaunting an assault riffle in a secure public area have to do with 'home protection'? Oh, that's right, it's an issue of state's rights, now, isn't it?
A Summary of the President's Proposed Gun Policy:
The Plan:
1) Requires background checks for all gun sales and strengthens the background check system. This would include removing barriers under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act so that states may more freely share information about mental health issues involving potential gun purchasers.
2) Provides states with monetary incentives—$20 million in fiscal year FY 2013* and a proposed $50 million in FY 2014*—to share information so that records on criminal history and people prohibited from gun ownership due to mental health reasons are more available. Dates of original proposal.
3) Bans military-style assault weapons and limits magazines to a capacity of 10 rounds. *** (This one is important!)
4) Provides additional tools to law enforcement. The plan proposes a crackdown on gun trafficking by asking Congress to pass legislation that closes “loopholes” in gun trafficking laws and establishes strict penalties for “straw purchasers” who pass a background check and then pass guns on to prohibited people.
5) Urges Congress to pass the administration’s $4 billion proposal to keep 15,000 state and local police officers on the street to help deter gun crime.
6) Maximizes efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime. The president calls upon the attorney general to work with U.S. attorneys across the country to determine gaps occurring in this area and where supplemental resources are appropriate.
7) Provides training for “active shooter” situations to 14,000 law enforcement, first responders and school officials.
8) Directs the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to issue a statement to health care providers that they are not prohibited by federal law from reporting threats of violence to the proper authorities.
9) Launches a national gun safety campaign to encourage responsible gun ownership and authorizes the Consumer Product Safety Commission to examine issues relating to gun safety locks.
10) Helps schools invest in safety. The president’s plan calls for more school resource officers and counselors in all schools through the Community Oriented Policing Services hiring program. The plan also calls for the federal government to assist schools in developing emergency management plans.
11) Improves mental health awareness through enhanced teacher training and referrals for treatment. The plan calls for the training of 5,000 additional mental health professionals nationwide. The plan also calls for coverage of mental health treatment under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
And I'm adding #12.
12) 'Open carry of firearms' will not be permitted anywhere in the United States.
Does anybody out there see anything on this list that is the least bit onerous?
I sure don't.
All of the 'gun rights' laws that are getting passed by the conservative states in this country are not 'a loaded gun'. They are a ticking time bomb. And when they go off in one state you can just bet there will be other events costing innocent lives all across our country. We've already had a preview of it with the little biker shoot out in Texas. We don't need to return to barbaric days of The Old West. Haven't we already learned that lesson? Didn't we come a long way to make some SANE very minimal gun laws to make sure we don't have to live in fear of these privileged WHITE people who think they can hold all the rest of us at gun point???
Don't the rest of us have the right not to live in fear?
Do want a return to fairness and accuracy in corporate owned news media? Are you tired of opinion based reporting and infotainment forcing real issues that concern the American public out of the News cycle? The Fairness Doctrine is Constitutional and needed in the era of media consolidation... Please, sign and share the petition: Re-institute Fairness Doctrine and Require Adherence to Fairness and Accuracy in Newscast Media. http://petitions.moveon.org/...