Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Grasping At Straws: Baltimore Gerrymanders Gun Rights.

Baltimore gives initial nod to proposed mandatory minimums for illegal guns:
The measure originally aimed to criminalize the carry or transport of a handgun, either openly or concealed, within 100 yards of a public building, park, church, school, or “other place of public assembly” with a mandatory penalty of one-year imprisonment and a $1,000 fine.
A flawed bill, for two reasons:

First, assuming the phrase "other place of public assembly" is not explicitly defined in the actual bill, that could mean a movie theater ... or almost any place where the public assembles.   Example: A Shopping Mall.

Second, assuming the phrase "transport of a handgun" means having a handgun in your car as you drive through town, it's almost impossible to chart a "safe" route through town on your way to or from (for example) a Shooting Range.

To illustrate the complexity of this problem, you should avail yourself of a map of a city, municipality, etc. and identify and mark the locations of every " public building, park, church, school, or “other place of public assembly”.

I couldn't do that with 100% confidence in my home town, or even a small town.
Hell, I live within 100 yards of both a church and a park.   I couldn't even leave my driveway without violating such a law.

It is idiosyncratic of politicians (not just Liberals, but all of them) to resolve every problem by throwing a law at it.  Plan "B" is to throw money at it.   That's their entire toolbox.   It is reasonable to expect no more effective plans from a group of people who are elected by popular votes.

I would give Baltimore politicians credit for at least trying to resolve their high-mortality rate of Gangsters with Guns, but passing new laws like this one only serves to criminalize law-abiding citizens.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only practical way to comply with the law would be to not legally own any firearms, and if you did own one or two, never take them outside your house. Than city government would be happy.

Mark said...

these Maxine Waters people.

Anonymous said...

Change of subject: But, we hope the Geek can give us outlanders a good description of The Great Eclipse as seen from Oregon, and any social disruption caused by it.