Posted on 07/18/2004 9:37:46 PM PDT by neverdem
The latte grande at the Starbucks in Tysons Corner, Va., must have seemed extra steamy last month when two college students bellied up to the bar packing pistols on their hips, as casually as if they wore cellphones. Someone called the police, who confiscated the handguns and charged the students. But wait: the Catch-22 in Virginia's enfeebled gun control laws has kicked in.
Sure there's a state law against carrying loaded firearms in public. But the lethal fine print defines "firearm" as a 20-round-plus assault rifle. So smaller weapons, like the .22-caliber and 9-millimeter pistols the students flaunted in their holsters, are legal and no permit is required. The pistols were returned, thereby contributing to a celebratory mood among the state's gun enthusiasts. Now they're strutting their Second Amendment stuff among Main Street shoppers and restaurant diners in Washington's booming Virginia suburbs.
There was what seemed a self-fantasized posse of six this month at a table in a Champps restaurant, their weapons prominent as pepper mills. The same false alarm ensued, with a police patrol backing off in the face of citizens' exercising their rights, according to The Washington Post. And how about the couple walking their dogs on busy Market Street in Reston? They carried pistols on their hips, plus extra ammunition clips, as if the area were a set from "The Wild Bunch" and not one of the most crime-free places in Virginia.
The flaunting ritual is a tribute to "open carry" gun laws on the books in a score of states. Outcries from the unarmed public usually go unheeded. In Utah, university administrators worried over students' wearing guns in dormitories were overruled by the legislature, which defended gun rights — even to the point of packing in class.
You'd think Virginia citizens concerned about weapons in public would be able to seek comfort in the primacy of local controls. Alexandria, for instance, has barred open carrying. But that was before the very latest Catch-22 in Virginia law: effective this month, state law bars any locality from enacting gun regulations. Gotcha.
>>What's next? The right to bare legs, bare midriffs, bare bottoms?
Those most likely to bare things are the ones least likely to look good doing it...
Bring on the Burkas!
All I told him was vote republican :) My congresswoman never met a gun she didn't hate.
Arizona meets most of your criteria, I don't consider the taxes low, but coming from NJ you may see it differently.
There is no waiting to buy a gun, the dealer calls the NIS, if you are cleared, you fill out the ATF form, and leave with the gun, if you have a CCW all you have to do is fill out the ATF form. Open carry is legal in Arizona.
He certainly did, an A IIRC, and the other Dems tried to use it against him. But that was because Vermont has a miniscule crime problem, none or almost no gun laws, and no local pols making an issue about guns.
Works for me.
I would tend to agree. Dean never had to vote for a controversial gun issue. If he had made it past the scream, he would have jumped right in line with the rest of New England politicians.
Thanks - so what did you mean trending wrong with Dean? Was that in refrence to gun rights or just being left wing in terms of economics for Vermont policy?
New Jersey leads in Cultural Pollution and the number of unassimilated persons from foreign countries that are communist.
Me or the Times? I understand that phrase to mean regardless of the situation, you're damned if you do, or you're damned if you don't. Don't expect the Times to make sense writing about guns.
"Alaska and Vermont..."
I don't think there is anything that could make me move to the socialist wonderland that is Vermont. Rutland has the right idea by trying to secede! Heh.
Seriously, we have property in NH - which is a great state once you get several miles north of the border. All the Ma$$holes try to escape MA's high cost of living by moving just over the border only to start complaining about wanting more services and crap. (I guess they don't realize that garbage collection isn't really practical on a dirt road that is miles from anywhere...) NH would be a solid red state if it wasn't for the proximity of MA.
My parents have a Bed & Breakfast in Lyme, NH - which is just north of Dartmouth College and on the border with Vermont. That area is far left, too, unfortunately. Socialists abound.
The rest of NH is pretty sensible, though.
Alaska is right out, though. I don't think my wife wants to move there.
Hell no! You don't want to have different standards of firearm handling from city to city. It needs to be consistent within the boundary of the state lines. Would these twits like to have local "primacy" on the subject of making a right turn on a red light? Ok in one city. Misdemeanor in another. Felony in another. Yippee! What fun!
Hey, but he knows what to carry. 12, 16, or 20; duck and cover.
Cochise County, Arizona.
Mostly troglodytic paleocons like me. We still have tails, just mastered upright bipedal posture, and may figure out this business of opposable thumbs one of these days.
If you know the difference between a bit and a byte, you're hired.
A really nice house will set you back less than $150K and your property tax will only be about $1200 per annum.
Good values? Not sure about that. Do you drink and like to corrupt good Mormons into becoming Jack-Mormons? Don't worry, they like it.
Laws? Sorry, this is the wrong side of the Babocomari River. Laws are only advisory in nature.
Please check yore guns at the door -- to make sure they are loaded.
Well everyone knows that free speech is a collective right rather than an individual right. It refers to things like New Jersey Public Television and Radio, not to you just speaking your mind on the street corner. < /leftist 2nd amendment logic applied to the 1st amendment >
Hehehe yep
It's in the eminations of the penumbra.
Yup, he left it up to the states. YYYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!
Are people in legal possession of alligators required to attend alligator safety classes and have a police background check before they can get one?
Is there an NAA (National Alligator Association)?
I read another account of this story that said both the man and woman had been drinking, maybe a bit too much. It didn't report if the alligator was "loaded" at the time.
Will Florida now pass an assault alligator law?
If the women had been struck by one of the bottles, critically injured or died, could her family have sued the bottle manufacturers for product flaws?
Do people in Florida have bumper stickers that read "When alligators are outlawed, only outlaws will have alligators"?
Is a case of bottled beer an assault weapon?
Is Florida in competition for California's "weird news" title?
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