Governor Nathan "The Opportunist" Deal
Being born and mostly raised in Texas, I often take the time to read about the local politics and get a good chuckle. From Governor Rick
"I'm Not Gay!" Perry down, Texas politics are a joke and have been for quite some time. However, I'm beginning to think that Georgia is even worse, though I confess I haven't been paying as much attention. However, now that
Georgia has passed the so-called "guns everywhere" law, I think a lot of people who have been quietly not paying attention to Georgia are going to start reading a bit more about the state. Georgia's Governor is working hard to make Governor Perry seem like a thoughtful, enlightened leader.
That "guns everywhere" law has some interesting (and hypocritical) bits in it, but before I dig in to that, let's cast our jaundiced eye on Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.
Deal started his political career in 1992, being elected to Congress as a Democrat. He was a moderate Democrat with a moderate voting record and moderate chances for a political career. Given that Georgia is rather solidly Republican, Deal realized that rather than the Georgia populace being better off with a Democrat, he'd be better off as a Republican and joined them in 1995.
Now it's possible that this was a genuine change of heart and not raw political opportunism, but when he switched party affiliations, he also veered a hard right. His "moderation" was out the window. It probably just wasn't that useful too him.
We'll go ahead and skip over the bit where the Office of Congressional Ethics found that Deal had apparently improperly used his political office to generate business for an auto salvage business he owned. You see, he managed to end that investigation by resigning as a Congressmen and running for governor. So let's look at a few things this man has done to the state of Georgia while governor.
While he was running for governor, in a cheap political stunt, he introduced HR 698, a bill that would end "birthright" citizenship to children born of illegal aliens. Why is that a cheap stunt? Well, it violates the fourteenth amendment and is thus unconstitutional. Deal, who spent over two decades practicing law, knew this. He was wasting tax payer's time and money sponsoring an legally useless bill and assuming the good people of Georgia wouldn't notice.
You may remember when he signed into law a controversial anti-immigration bill. Not only was it fairly discriminatory, it only two weeks before the severe economic impacts were felt, with farmers howling in protest because they lost all of their migrant workers. The financial losses mounted immediately (pdf) and would have cost the state an estimated billion dollars a year if the bulk of the law hadn't been subsequently struck down by the courts. The damage is healing, but Deal was heavily lobbied by businesses before he signed this bill: he knew the damage it would do, but he couldn't appear to be weak in front of the Republicans.
This "guns everywhere" law, though, really takes the cake. Here's the full text, in case you're interested. It has hard-hitting provisions such as this:
It shall be unlawful to hunt turkey with any weapons except shotguns using No. 2 shot or smaller, muzzleloading firearms, longbows, crossbows, recurve bows, or compound bows. Any person taking turkey in violation of this paragraph shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor, except that a fine imposed for such violation shall not be less than $250.00;
I'm really not sure how that relates to being able to carry guns everywhere, but I do note that you cannot use a rifle to shoot a turkey. Deer, bear and feral hogs are OK, but not turkeys. (Snark aside,
you can read some background here to get an idea of what this is about).
There's also a provision to allow the use of silencers while hunting. Hmm ...
The Economist has a decent summary of the bill and includes this gem of a paragraph:
Gun dealers need no longer keep sales records for the state, though federal record-keeping laws still apply. Georgia does not yet allow guns everywhere, just in far more places than were previously permitted. Georgians with firearm licences may now carry guns into bars, churches and schools (with permission), non-secure areas of airports and government buildings not protected by security guards during business hours.
Now that sounds bad enough, but did you catch that final bit about government buildings? Here's the text from the law:
A license holder shall be authorized to carry a weapon in a government building when the government building is open for business and where ingress into such building is not restricted or screened by security personnel. A license holder who enters or attempts to enter a government building carrying a weapon where ingress is restricted or screened by security personnel shall be guilty of a misdemeanor if at least one member of such security personnel is certified as a peace officer pursuant to Chapter 8 of Title 35; provided, however, that a license holder who immediately exits such building or immediately leaves such location upon notification of his or her failure to clear security due to the carrying of a weapon shall not be guilty of violating this subsection or paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of this Code section. A person who is not a license holder and who attempts to enter a government building carrying a weapon shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
So, what government buildings in Georgia are screened by security personnel? The buildings where the state legislators work. They passed a law allowing guns everywhere — except around them.