NYC has Sara Brady, you’ve probably heard of her & her organization
Handgun Control, Inc. now re branded
Brady center to prevent handgun violence
Central Texas has Suzanna Gratia Hupp
She’s done as much to promote the concealed carry movement as anyone else.
She ‘Illegally’ carried a gun in her purse religiously for several years, till she got scared of loosing her Dr. of Chiropractic license. A few short months later she watched a crazy person kill both her parents & 21 others in a lubys cafeteria, Killeen Texas, October, 1991.
She wasn’t mad at the guy for going rabidly insane, she was mad at our lawmakers, cause her 1st instinct was to take the clear shot she had on the shooter, after turning over their table for cover, after reaching into her purse, she painfully realized her gun was (legally) in her car.
She tells her own story in her new book.
From Luby's to the Legislature: One Woman's Fight Against Gun Control
the boilerplate
RKBA is a DKos group of second amendment supporters who also have progressive and liberal values. We don't think that being a liberal means one has to be anti-gun. Some of us are extreme in our second amendment views (no licensing, no restrictions on small arms) and some of us are more moderate (licensing, restrictions on small arms.) Moderate or extreme, we hold one common belief: more gun control equals lost elections. We don't want a repeat of 1994. We are an inclusive group: if you see the Second Amendment as safeguarding our right to keep and bear arms individually, then come join us in our conversation. If you are against the right to keep and bear arms, come join our conversation. We look forward to seeing you, as long as you engage in a civil discussion. RKBA stands for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
I’ll bluntly paraphrase her argument with an easy to understand analogy.
The good people of Srebrenica were much safer unarmed, after an arms embargo NOT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
On September 25, 1991 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 713 imposing an arms embargo on all of former Yugoslavia. The embargo hurt the Army of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina the most because Serbia inherited the lion's share of the former JNA arsenal and the Croatian army could smuggle weapons through its coast.
Look at the drug war in Mexico.
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
Eleanor Roosevelt Carried a gun
near the end of her life Eleanor Roosevelt determined to go on a lecture tour against segregation in Southern states. The usually
hostile FBI warned of a $25,000 reward put out by the Ku Klux Klan
for her assassination; but in 1958 at age seventy-four, Roosevelt made the journey driving alone, with only her handgun for protection.
No doubt most of you have read numerous stories about proposed guns on campus laws. Most proclaiming-
armed students (victims) are useless against a determined shooter...
Some people say "no one cares about guns’ (laws).
Especially since the assault weapons ban (AWB) is ancient history & doesn’t stand a chance of being reanimated.
Unless some issue is 48% for & 48% against, we loose interest.
Supreme court cases Heller & McDonald have finally clarified ‘the peoples’ INDIVIDUAL (not collectivist) right to ’keep’.
The next step is ‘the peoples’ right to bear (carry & USE.) hence the concealed carry movement.
I’m predicting more laws & activist court cases, not just expanding (the right to carry/bear) but the right to be able to use deadly force to protect ones self, family & friends. The castle doctrine is one such example. Guns in parks & large public universities another. For an extreme example of where this is extremely helpful, look to Israel. Private citizens w/ guns have a clear history of being effective.
Ms. Huff confided to a patient (a Houston prosecutor) about her 'illegal' carry habit. He told her in no uncertain terms that psychopaths & sociopaths do in fact exist & encouraged her to continue to carry.
The right opportunity to use deadly force when defending one's self is not established law. Justice Sotomayor's confirmation hearings almost addressed this. She went on record against legally using deadly force in her 'Nunchuck Ruling'. The traditional media reduced it to a 'I love Lucy' joke.
The crazy canuckleheads to the north aren't much better
"Pepper spray is legal if it is intended for use on vicious animals, and is a prohibited weapon if intended for use on vicious humans. On the other hand, if you carry it to protect yourself from vicious animals, and are attacked by a vicious human, it is legal to use it on that vicious human. It doesn't have to make sense, it is government policy."
So Who do you/we trust
Is it OK for off duty cops to carry? Is it a right of citizenship granted in the bill of rights to all "the People"? What about our active duty troops (Killeen, TX) Can they be trusted w/ a LOADED weapon?
Are all guns the abode of Satan, patiently waiting to possess the unwitting fool? Can the average tax payer be trusted as much as we trust our mob influenced local police?
Answer (same as Bob Dole's response to boxers or briefs?)
Dependz
These questions will be in the forefront of the next chapter in gun control & 2nd amendment law.
The history of CC laws
http://www.txchia.org/...
modern concealed carry started with Georgia. In 1976 the Governor, introduced what became the model for later laws.....
A trend started, with CHL laws passed in Indiana in 1980, Maine and North Dakota in 1985, and South Dakota in 1986.....
I’ll clarify ‘started’, what was NEW, what started was ‘shall issue’
The mandatory issuing of a carry permit to those who passed the criteria of training and background checks free of major crimes & felonies.
In 1991, NYC had ‘may issue’ which translates as only the well connected & powerful get permits.
In 1991 Texas had neither.
Until Suzanna Gratia Hupp started telling her story.
Mrs Hupp has testified in numerous state legislatures & changed countless minds.
Loosing Elections
The Texas ledge passed a concealed carry bill & Ann Richards vetoed it. She attributed that veto to her subsequent defeat by bush Jr in 1994.
(I attribute Ann’s defeat to repentant Ross Perot voters, mad at Dems/Clinton, guilty they'd voted for a squeaky crazed midget instead of bush41 in 1992, & perturbed w/ Ann’s "silver foot in his mouth" remark)
The DailyKOS gun rights group,R.K.B.A. tends to agree w/ Gov. Richards
Gov Bush signed a new concealed carry bill into law shortly thereafter.
Today only 2 states deny both shall & may issue opportunities
WI & IL
Today’s opportunities by state
Shall Issue to Residents Only: 21
Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming
Shall Issue to Residents and Non-Residents:+17
Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington
May Issue to Residents Only: 5 states
Alabama, California, Delaware, Hawaii, New York,
+Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands,
District of Columbia, undefined
May Issue to Residents and Non-Residents: +5 states
Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey
Right Denied:2 states
Illinois, Wisconsin, + American Samoa, N. Mariana Islands
Back to reviewing the book....
From the Amazonian customer reviews
..main focus isn't on the actual crime that took place that day at Luby's (though this is discussed). Instead the focus is on how bad law helped to facilitate the horrific crime, the experiences she has had since then, and her efforts to inform the public and enact laws which helps citizens be prepared lest such a travesty occur again.
I’ll paraphrase a few stories from the book
the 1st time she shot & killed anything, it was a rattlesnake in the head, from about the same distance as the shot she coulda taken in lubys..... as she & her sister were frying it up.... the boy friend is reading bible verses about ‘the serpent’
Gov Richards asked State senator Jerry Patterson ( CCP bills’ author) to kill the bill in committee, even though she knew 90% of his constituents supported it.... He was almost sorta mugged much later on the night they spoke..... you can guess the rest of the story
Mrs hupp does not like guns, she consistently calls them an ugly hunk of metal, only a tool, like a chainsaw, to be used
When GUN lobbying... avoid the camo wearing tooth missing illiterate bubbas... go with the bambi loving pregnant black lesbian, preferably in a wheelchair
She ends the book with a few tales of zero tolerance in schools, expelled for a squirt gun, or steak knife in the back of a truck.... Telling her kids to never back down....