Saturday night, midnight.
“Hey man, that’s my beer!”
“No it ain’t!”
Bang! Bang!
“It’s my beer now!”
“Thank you, Florida Legislature. Without House Bill 4001, I couldn’t carry a gun and defend my beer from that crazy drunk fraternity guy!”
News flash. Miami Herald headline: “No one hurt, three arrested following shooting during [a high school football] game.” Shots were fired Friday night in the parking lot during a game between Miami Central High School and Carol City High.
Third item: “‘Campus carry,’ gun bill doesn’t go far enough,” so stated Thomas L. Knapp, director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism. Minimum age to carry under the proposed law is 21. Knapp said that will prevent young female students from protecting themselves from rapists and others seeking to harm them.
I understand where he is coming from. However, I cannot envision a young female student walking across a Florida university campus, books under one arm, a purse on the other arm and gun in hand ready to fend off an attacker. In actuality, before she could pull a gun the dastardly act would have been committed.
And, Mr. Knapp, wouldn’t lowering the age below 21 allow a high school student to carry a gun? How many would have been killed in that Miami Central/Carol City High School game? The kids with the guns would have been in the stadium, not in the parking lot. I guarantee there would have been blood on the ground and more teenagers killed. Is this the direction we want to be heading? I don’t think so.
Are you going to be comfortable kneeling in church seeing the guy next to you, on his knees, with a gun swinging from a holster? I don’t think
so. Would you stop going out to dinner at your friendly restaurant that serves liquor if you know the couple at the next table having a strong family disagreement was able to carry a gun? I don’t think so. So, restaurant owners, movie house owners, sports stadium owners, any place with crowds can gather, drink and carry guns. Do you want to own an empty business? I don’t think so.
My bet? The majority of us would rather make a quick run to Publix, grab some food and run to the safety of our home, if we knew anyone on the street could be carrying. After all, the food will taste just as good at home, and probably cost less. We can watch a move on NetFlix. We can get a better view of the football game on our television.
So why go out? Why take the chance? Death is so permanent.
Who is a winner? The stockholders of gun manufacturers, employees of the NRA and owners of gun shops and shows. Thank God the NRAwasn’t around when the U.S. Constitution was drafted. The NRA would have pushed a provision mandating that every citizen own at least one gun was added to the original draft. That is, with the exception of women who, if they couldn’t vote, certainly couldn’t qualify to carry a gun, and blacks, who had no equal rights certainly couldn’t own a gun.
Yes, times do change. Constitutions do change. The basics of our Constitution are rock solid correct. But times do change. Example: a militia. We now have state National Guard units that are supplied with standardized weapons. Could you see the Florida National guard lining up with the men and women bearing 20 different kinds of weapons? Maybe even a guardsman bearing a muzzle front-loader that was handed down in the family from his great, great, great granddad. After all, the Second Amendment says we have a right to bear arms in our nation’s defense.
Please.
We appreciate your opinions on this column whether in agreement or disagreement. Send your comments to (fax number) 305-662-6980 or email to MCMHoldingsInc.com. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of this newspaper, its editors or publisher.
Thank you for the interesting rejoinder. Instead of taking it point by point, I’m just going to respond to one bit. You write:
“The majority of us would rather make a quick run to Publix, grab some food and run to the safety of our home, if we knew anyone on the street could be carrying.”
Anyone one the street could be carrying. And that’s always been the case.
First of all, Florida has had permit-based concealed carry for 20 years (with a corresponding drop in violent crime). So any time you go on the street, there’s a good chance that someone within your line of sight has a licensed concealed weapon on his or her person.
Secondly, lots of people carry whether the government says they can or not.
So by your own logic, I guess you’re doomed to a Publix/home self-quarantine.