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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Guns and liberal angst
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The suspense ended Wednesday, the final day for Gov. Sonny Perdue to veto legislation from this year’s General Assembly. He signed the bill that had most stoked liberal angst, agreeing that law-abiding citizens with licenses to carry guns can take them in purses or under jackets on public transportation, in restaurants that serve alcohol and in state parks.
MARTA’s union drivers had said they would demand bulletproof shields, reports the AJC’s James Salzer. The Georgia Restaurant Association, likewise, magnified its distress, arguing that servers shouldn’t be put in the position of asking to see patron’s permit before serving alcohol.
We are talking here about law-abiding citizens, those who have submitted to fingerprinting and to a criminal background check. MARTA drivers, we can reasonably assume, transport riders carrying weapons without permits without thinking they need bulletproof shields. So all of this to-do is a reaction to lawful citizens without criminal records who pose no danger to Atlanta’s banks, liquor and convenience stores or to its public safety.
We over-react to the lawful, as the MARTA union and restaurant association do, not because it’s the population that poses the threat, but because it’s the one that can be controlled. Go figure.
I own guns. Three of them. Rifle, shotgun and pistol. Even with a permit I wouldn’t take a weapon on public transportation or in parks or restaurants. But I’m not the least disturbed by the prospect that others with carrying permits would. Perdue made the right call in signing this bill into law.
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