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To: Support_the_troops23

Only one way...


2 posted on 12/30/2010 9:10:42 PM PST by wastedyears (It has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with control.)
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To: wastedyears

Your tagline is VERY true; it reminds me of something that happened several months ago.
You see, my state has the following in its Constitution:
Art II, Sec 6 [Right to bear arms.]
No law shall abridge the right of the citizen
to keep and bear arms for security and
defense, for lawful hunting and recreational
use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing
herein shall be held to permit the carrying
of concealed weapons. No municipality
or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident
of the right to keep and bear arms.

So, when I went to vote in November I also went while openly carrying; now my voting place just happens to be a elementary school and my state happens to have the following State Statute:
NMSA 30-7-2.1. Unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises.
A. Unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises consists of carrying a deadly weapon on school premises except by:
(1) a peace officer;
(2) school security personnel;
(3) a student, instructor or other school-authorized personnel engaged in army, navy, marine corps or air force reserve officer training corps programs or state-authorized hunter safety training instruction;
(4) a person conducting or participating in a school-approved program, class or other activity involving the carrying of a deadly weapon; or
(5) a person older than nineteen years of age on school premises in a private automobile or other private means of conveyance, for lawful protection of the person’s or another’s person or property.

B. As used in this section, “school premises” means:
(1) the buildings and grounds, including playgrounds, playing fields and parking areas and any school bus of any public elementary, secondary, junior high or high school in or on which school or school-related activities are being operated under the supervision of a local school board; or
(2) any other public buildings or grounds, including playing fields and parking areas that are not public school property, in or on which public school-related and sanctioned activities are being performed.

C. Whoever commits unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises is guilty of a fourth degree felony.

I know and understand that the State Constitution is of a higher authority than the state statute; if a state statute is contrary to the State Constitution then it must needs be null and void. I was not really confronted about it however as when it was mentioned I cited the above portion of the State Constitution. A while later, at a Thanksgiving dinner a friend of the family pulled me aside and said that I had caused some grief for the poll-workers, that it was stupid, and so forth. When I defended my actions saying that they were Constitutional he replied that “following the Constitution is the quickest way to get thrown in prison” and that while I DO have the right to be armed such laws as the cited state statute are needed, even if they are Constitutionally illegitimate, for the sake of safety. Pissed me off, it did.


4 posted on 12/30/2010 9:41:46 PM PST by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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