Political Insider

By Sistah Lilly Pulitzer

August 13, 2008 7:28 PM | Link to this

And ever try to pass a plate at The Cathedral? Hon, those Episcopalians are so tight with their Buckhead bucks I suspect they aren’t even distributing as much of our hard earned money back to the welfare moms as they’d like us to believe. Or try wresting ‘em away from their weaponry during quail huntin’ season. You do NOT want to do that.

By GA Resident

August 13, 2008 8:11 PM | Link to this

If churches don’t want people carrying firearms to church, fine, that’s their wish and so be it. But the State of Georgia shouldn’t criminalize it.

No one is saying churches will have to let armed parishioners in; it’s up to the leadership of the church to set the rules of the congregation.

What if the church wants a parishioner or three to carry concealed for the protection of the congregation? Right now there’s no legal way for that to happen. It’s no carry -period- for any reason, or risk a misdemeanor arrest.

Wouldn’t it be a more desirable position to leave such decisions up to the leadership of each organization, instead of painting the issue with the broad brush of Georgia government?

By Ben G.

August 13, 2008 8:52 PM | Link to this

The big problem with keeping churches (or any other area) off limits is that it not only prevents me from protecting myself there, but, in turn, I am prevented from protecting myself as I travel to and from the area in question.

As the law is currently written, it is not only illegal to carry a gun into a church, it is also illegal to leave it in your car in the church parking lot.

By Wuzzy

August 13, 2008 8:53 PM | Link to this

Are GA’s churches going to be like the GRA and try and convince the State of GA to be the bad guy? Let the private property owners decide. If they don’t want guns on their property, it’s their choice. Don’t make the State be your scapegoat if you truly don’t want them there.

By John

August 13, 2008 9:09 PM | Link to this

There are several problems with the current list of “off-limits” places. The first is that people do not just suddenly materiaize in church or the airport —-they have to to and from those places using roads, sidewalks, parking lots, etc. Few people expect problems in church(the recent shootings in Tennessee notwithstanding) or in the passenger terminal at an airport, but problems in parking garages/lots, along the road, etc., are not uncommon.

The second problem with the “off-limits” locations is that they serve to reinforce the public perception that all people with guns are dangerous —- despite the fact that GFL holders have passed the criminal background check the impression is that even they are not to be trusted in certain locations. How is it that a law enforcement officer is assumed to be a responsible individual but a citizen holding a GFL does merit that same presumption.

The third problem is simply that “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The Constitution of the US does not say “except in the airport” or “except in the courthouse.”

The Constitution does not grant the right to bear arms, it codifies the rights, that as described in the Declaration of Independence, are derived from the Creator. The Founders based our constitutional protection for the natural right of the people to self defense and the presumption that the nation is the citizenry, not the other way around. A nation or state that cannot trust its citizens is no nation or state.

John Steele Miami

By Tom

August 13, 2008 9:34 PM | Link to this

If the politicians who support these changes really believe what they say, why don’t they add the State Capitol and and Legislative Office building to their list of places where people can carry weapons? If it makes me safer at the airport or in my church, why won’t it make them safer? Practice what you preach.

By GaDem

August 13, 2008 10:03 PM | Link to this

If they’re going to let students carry on college campuses, I hope the Board of Regents issues guns to all of us instructors. That will prevent gun nuts from wrecking havoc in my classroom!

By Born Naked

August 14, 2008 12:32 AM | Link to this

Eliminate guns, encourage nakedness

By mike123

August 14, 2008 7:02 AM | Link to this

The quote is missing one word … religious …. what I heard was ““If the United Methodist Church or other members of the * religious *left wish to exclude firearms, that’s their business,”

It was a funny quote and accurate. Not all churches and Synagogues want to ban guns. Synagogues has serious security concerns and must pay for off-duty cops for protection because Georgia law doesn’t allow citizens to provide for their own protection. Georgia law disarm the vulnerable and then denies responsibility when the unthinkable happens. This is immoral.

Georgia denies the property rights of churches, bars, sporting venues, and other businesses to decide how best to provide for their security. Get the government out of our lives and let us decide whether to allow guns in our own property!!!!

By Securus Portabos

August 14, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

Every Monday night and on many weekends, for over 5 years, I have driven onto church property for meetings that teach young men leadership skills and promotes safety in its activities.

In order to legally do this I must remove my weapon from the vehicle prior to leaving home. Sometimes I forget to do this and inadvertently break Georgia law.

Oh, the meetings are a Boy Scout Troop and I am a Scout Master.

By Shamalama

August 14, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this

Since criminals are currently carrying their weapons into these sanctuaries of peace and love, as evidenced by the current rash of gun violence inside churches, then why shouldn’t I, as both an innocent victim and parishioner, be precluded from protecting the lives of my spouse, family, and loved ones? And shouldn’t my local congregation make such decisions for themselves rather than having the state step in and tell them how they are allowed to act? I thought most churches wanted the state out of their business?

By Jimbo I

August 14, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

I love the stereotypes and assumptions I see in a lot of these comment pages about guns, gun owners, and the people who carry.

Tell about how many shootings Utah colleges have had. Tell me about gun crime there please? Please.

Explain to me what assisted the police during Charles Whitman’s shooting spree in Austin?

Tell me who stopped that Colorado Springs church shooting (I know CNN likes to claim she was a “security guard” but in reality she was an armed volunteer providing security off the church’s payroll.. but it would hurt their biased case against guns if they admitted that)

Yes, there are “gun nuts” and they’re very vocal which is why you see them the most but nearly a third of the people in this country own firearms. There are about as many guns in this nation as there are cars. In the last four or five years over 250,000 people have received Georgia concealed carry permits. We’ve had concealed carry permits in Georgia for over a decade and at a rate of around 50,000 people per year getting them that’s around half a million people who can carry a gun in public. Crime has DECREASED in the last ten years, there are no “wild west” shootouts with “dirty harry wannabes”.

The best part is that you assume (because our news outlets are inflammatory and biased, because that makes good news.. I .. I guess.) that because concealed weapons (with a permit) are allowed in a place (like a restaurant), that place has no choice but to allow them. That’s not true. A sign that says “no weapons on premises” will be enough to keep LAW ABIDING people from carrying their gun into your place of business. Just like you have signs that say “no shoes, no shirt, no service” and “this is a no smoking environment” you would just have a sign that says “this is a gun free zone”. That’s your choice as a property or business owner. You can’t keep me from putting my gun in my car because in this state the car is an extension of the home and that means wherever I drive I have a little piece of MY property with me to store my weapon in. It’s a trade off but a reasonable one.

I’m getting old and I’m getting tired and I’m tired of being painted as a right-wing conservative whacko because my world view includes the option to defend my home and even my property.

The left’s stance on guns mystifies me. Guns empower women to protect themselves from men who are stronger than they are.

Guns allow the homosexual to survive an encounter with larger groups of cowards trying to prove their “manhood” by gay bashing. There’s even a group called the pink pistols who are advocates for guns.

Guns allowed the labor movement to fend off the gangbusters hired by the robber barons to intimidate them back into economic slavery.

Guns returned order and brought corruption to an end in Athens, Tennessee.

Guns might’ve given the jews a chance to protect themselves from the nazis in Germany but Hitler did such a wonderful job disarming them we’ll never know. There is a jewish gun group here in the states however.. I think one of their goals is protecting themselves from hatred and ensuring they can never be victims again..

But all most people want to see is what the news shows them. A relatively small number of deaths and injuries (not even in the top ten for deaths and injuries in the CDC mortality stats) caused by people who fail to obey the law and wouldn’t care what laws you set out for them anyway (and some cops and citizens.. and because the death and injury statistics include people cops shoot and kill or wound). By the way, the majority of gun owners are so responsible and quiet that the anti-gun crowd thinks they’re an overwhelming majority.. when.. really they aren’t.

By Jimbo I

August 14, 2008 9:44 AM | Link to this

Oh, and it kills me that Minnesota just went through the process of allowing concealed carry permits and by god their people got it right and on a lot of businesses you saw the signs banning guns while down here people screech ignorantly..

Georgia

By The Snark

August 14, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this

Oh, so now anyone who disagrees with Rep. Hooks is automatically “on the left,” including the entire United Methodist Church? What next? A secret list of Communists in the United States Army?

By Jimbo I

August 14, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

True Story: I had a platoon leader in the US Army who was an admitted fascist.

By D'angelo

August 14, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this

Jimbo, stop swiftboating John Kerry.

By TBILL

August 14, 2008 1:11 PM | Link to this

This whole business is simply about the Elitist left and their narcissistic lapdogs known as the press, who think the common folks have no business demanding their God-given liberty. Who are we to think we have rights and freedoms, those are reserved for those who “Society has Failed” (also known as violent felons). These Elitists see nothing ludicrous about bankrupting the country while spending millions of dollars making sure Brian Nichols is warm, comfy, and well represented after a killing spree that was spread over multiple days (with weapons taken away from our “Government Trained Protectors” aka the Police. This country was founded on the principle of personal responsibility not governmental regulation. I was given my right to life and it’s defense by God, not government. The 2nd Amendment exists to prevent government from infringing on that right. The government has no place is regulating my right to bear arms wherever and whenever I so desire on public property, however a private property owner can insist I disarm before I enter his property, that is his right. I then can make the decision to enter unarmed or stay away, this is called FREEDOM. Be very, very, afraid of any person or institution who tells you if you give up just a little bit of your freedom everything will be better because they know what’s best for you. By the way, if Alice Johnson is a “Gun Safety Expert” the Pope is a “Sex Therapist”.

By Copyleft

August 14, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this

Be very, very, afraid of any person or institution who tells you if you give up just a little bit of your freedom everything will be better because they know what’s best for you.

You mean like John Ashcroft, Roberto Gonzales, and the entire Bush Administration?

You’re right; we SHOULD be very wary of such anti-American autocrats.

By Copyleft

August 14, 2008 2:46 PM | Link to this

John Edwards is innocent. He was framed and duped by the Hunter woman.

By Copyleft

August 14, 2008 2:52 PM | Link to this

Desperate Namejacker’s feeling lively today, I see. Always nice to see the fanatical fear in the right’s eyes.

By Jimbo I

August 14, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

“Be very, very, afraid of any person or institution who tells you if you give up just a little bit of your freedom everything will be better because they know what’s best for you.

You mean like John Ashcroft, Roberto Gonzales, and the entire Bush Administration?

You’re right; we SHOULD be very wary of such anti-American autocrats.”

I agree that Americans should be wary of these individuals. I agree that they’re autocrats, but the complicity of the democrats in their schemes can’t be ignored either. There are a great number of people on both sides of the aisle who have refused to speak out against what they knew was wrong (or more frighteningly didn’t consider wrong) and have acted only to preserve their job.

As thoroughly and zealously as any gun owner defends their right to bear arms they must recognize that the rest of the bill of rights is threatened by the people they’re voting for. It amazes me how quickly the right is willing to crap all over their 1st and 4th amendments to preserve the 2nd.. and that’s just the most famous examples. The destruction of checks and balances and the critical misunderstanding of the role of the judicial branch in government by everyone apparently.. including many supreme court judges.. is something that personally disgusts me. It amazes me how quickly the left throws that blame at the feet of the right and then votes along with them..

Our government needs to work less on crafting new and terrible laws and repealing terrible laws both old and new. The American people need to get wise that their left/right conflict is pointlessly stupid seeing as how the two largest parties are play fighting kissing cousins who only fight their hardest when their jobs are at stake and use the opposite party as a foil to maintain their influence.

By Jack Burton

August 14, 2008 10:43 PM | Link to this

CCW and Churches: Does the state have a role to play?

http://hubpages.com/hub/CCW-and-Churches-Does-the-state-have-a-role-to-play

By Henry Statkowski

August 15, 2008 12:55 AM | Link to this

Why Carry in a Church for Self Defense?

7/27/2008, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee – 1 dead, 8 wounded 6/26/2008, Trinity United Methodist Church, Clearfield, Pennsylvania – 1 wounded 6/23/2008, Pentecostal Assembly of God Church, Arecibo, Puerto Rico - 2 wounded 5/26/2008, St. Mary Coptic Church, Elkton, Maryland – 1 dead 5/17/2008, St. John Baptist de la Salle Roman Catholic Church, Los Angeles, California – 3 wounded 3/20/2008, Assembly of the Saints Church, Suitland, Maryland – 2 wounded 12/10/2007, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado - 2 dead, 4 wounded 8/13/2007, First Congregational Church, Neosho, Missouri - 3 dead, 5 wounded 2/26/2006, Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan – 2 dead, 1 wounded 9/16/1999, Wedgewood Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas – 7 dead

By Jesus Darwin

August 16, 2008 12:06 PM | Link to this

Arm every Christian and lock the door to their ridiculous vodoo houses of worship, problem will be solved and the World will be a better place

By Jimbo I

August 18, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

So, Jesus Darwin is a 15 year old wearing a Nine Inch Nails T-shirt.

By taino21

November 10, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this

First let me say that I am a Christian, but, if churches get in the business of tryin to override the constitution then they should be viewed as any other business and start paying taxes. Some churches want to play on both sides of the field. It’s alright for them to hide illegal aliens in their churches and claim inmunity but it is not alright for the rest of us to enforce our constitutional rights.