I Am DEFINITELY On The Losing End Of The Mail On This One

More well-stated disageement with Thursday's column on guns at the workplace:

[Y]ou compared SB 2356 to legislation being considered that would ban political demonstrations from supermarkets. I find this to be a rather poor comparison myself. Banning political demonstrations would prevent disruptions and loss of business, something that SB 2356 would not do. A firearm that is legally carried in a vehicle (which you do not need a concealed permit for) must be out of sight and not immediately accessible. Simply put, no one would even know they were there. The other problem with
this comparison is that banning demonstrations would not infringe on the ability of the people to exercise their rights elsewhere, SB 2356 would. -- Eric Powell

If for a moment one grants that the rights of property owners must trump all other rights, then property/business owners could also choose to ignore child-labor laws and can refuse to hire blacks or women. Anti-discrimination laws would suddenly be invalid. Acording to your premise, since Amendment 2 can be invalidated by property rights, slavery could exist on private property, beyond the dictates of Amendment 13 of the Constitution. -- Lee McGee, Jeanerette, LA

If I am walking from my car to WalMart, Publix, etc., I do not ever think about how many of the cars in the lot might have guns in them, and if every car has two or three, it is unlikely that I will ever know it. On the other hand, if I see Girl Scouts, band members, sports team members, petitioners, etc., I know that I am going to be "confronted" by them at some point. Whether I am happy to see them or not does not change the fact that they are going to be an obstacle which is "obstructing" my path to the store. Since one affects the customers 100% of the time and the other most likely will never affect them, I would think that the store's concerns should be different. -- Robert S.

Hopefully the concerned business owners are working diligently at obtaining the required permits to install clearly visible roadway signs proclaiming, "All lawful gun owners are encouraged to shop elsewhere as we support the rights of criminals to assault, rob or rape law abiding citizens who will be powerless to defend themselves on our property." -- Don

Do you really think that a madman will decide not to commit a crime because there is a law against it? You have nothing to fear from law abiding citizens with guns. Criminals have everything to fear from law abiding citizens with guns. -- M. Trcic

Comments

[I ain't tellin...]

I'll protect you Howard. We can pick 'em off as they enter the SPT parking lot...

[Jim Johnson]

I support the 2nd Amendment right to own guns. But I dont own a gun. I got rid of mine 25 years ago and have never required one since then. Guns invite problems. I have a ton of grandkids, and guns are kid magnets.

In fact, it's been my experience that cops abuse guns almost as much as the criminals do. That is, I've been involved in confrontations between police and mental patients, and in almost every instance the mental patient disarms the cop. Cops fail to secure their guns, sneak their guns into mental hospitals, and they introduce guns into encounters where no other weapons exist, and make them available to crazy people via their incompetence.

I carry a very sharp knife. Crazy people never suspect I have it.