Quite pathetic.
Posted on 10/21/2005 8:35:44 AM PDT by rarestia
Some years ago, long after a co-worker had left the Ministry of Truth, a number of us learned that, during this person's tenure among us, the individual frequently was armed and dangerous in the workplace.
If there is such a thing as a retroactive, post-traumatic, primal scream/crawling into a fetal position/whimpering with delayed fear syndrome -- the idea that many of us once worked alongside not only a complete crazy nut job, but a complete crazy nut job with a GUN certainly qualifies.
Or, put another way, if you ever needed a reason to install the mother of all panic rooms, consider this certifiably insane statistic: At the moment, across our fair beloved state, there are 354,552 Floridians with concealed weapons permits walking among us.
Let's face it, you just know at least a couple thousand of those folks running around with their hidden weapons are probably more unhinged than Edgar Allen Poe meets Rudolf Hess. A Simple Test
Or perhaps they are directly behind you in traffic. Brrrrrrr.
Which brings us rather neatly to state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Tea Cup Poodle, the legislative supernumerary of the National Rifle Association, who is the leading lotion boy on behalf of the gun lobby to deny employers the right to bar workers from keeping their weapons in their car while on company property.
How deranged is this?
Take this simple test.
Look around your workplace. Chances are there are one, or two, or three, or more co-workers you and your colleagues have often joked about as being the leading candidate to bring an AK-47 to the office someday.
Or maybe that Dilbert from Hell is -- you!
And now Dennis Baxley, R-You Talkin' To Me?, wants to make it just that much easier for your resident lunatic in the next cubicle to turn Amalgamated Widgets into a killing field.
We live in an imperfect world -- filled with very, very strange people who hear voices; who have issues; who really don't like you just ... because.
And many of these people are down the hall -- seething, fulminating, over in personnel -- filling out a job application. Perfect World
Purely, as a general principle, can you make some kind of abstract Second Amendment argument that law-abiding citizens ought to be able to take their bazookas, their Uzis, their 50-caliber armor-piercing rocket launchers with them wherever they go, including onto the grounds of Acme Nose Tweezer International?
Well ... OK, whatever.
To be sure, in a perfect world where there was no workplace violence, where some employees weren't more unhinged than Son of Sam meets Lex Luthor, it would be fine if people drove into the company parking lot with their NRA-approved death ray, or their surface-to-air missile, or their Gatling Gun in the trunk. Who would care?
However, if the private sector can regulate other forms of employee behavior, such as smoking in the workplace, why can't employers also establish rules governing the presence of lethal weapons on private property?
There's no question the Florida Legislature, a subsidiary of the National Rifle Association, will pass Baxley's Fortune 500 meets "Six Feet Under" bill.
One question for Baxley, who does happen to have a conflict of interest in his legislation since he is an Ocala funeral director:
If as a result of the representative's legislative actions an act of workplace violence leads to the murders of workers, would Dennis Baxley also be willing to create a NRA-funded compensation account for the surviving families?
Didn't think so.
Mr. Ruth,
Your diatribe against the armed citizens of our fair State is yet another piece of drivel in the annals of the mainstream media's fearmongering literature. Your obvious discontent with the political aspects of gun ownership has clouded your ability to see the benefits to having thousands of armed citizens walking the streets around you. Frankly, I'm quite content knowing that the truck driver, lawn worker, white collar CEO, accountant, engineer (myself included), journalist, et al are armed and capable of protecting themselves in a world that increasingly grows hostile to Americans and a country that has proven more and more often that it is incapable of providing law enforcement protection to people when they need it, not 10 - 15 minutes after a phone call to 911.
I am, sir, one of these lunatics walking the street. I am driving behind and in front of people everyday with a revolver on my hip. I am protecting my home with a shotgun, an AK47 "assault weapon," and a cadre of vintage WWII weaponry that I restore and enjoy shooting and hunting with. Your ignorance for the history of firearms, their utility and their ability to level the playing field for the healthy and the not-so-healthy is tantamount to typical anti-gun scare tactics.
I assure you, Mr. Ruth, I will continue to walk the streets knowing that I am in full control of my life and my freedom with a sidearm to protect me. I am not a nutcase nor am I one of those people "most likely to snap" in my office. Every man and woman I work with knows that I own firearms, and I think it sets them at ease knowing that I would use those firearms in the lawful protection of my friends, my family and myself.
I urge you to do some research into the "gun culture" in Florida. Feel free to email me at the address provided, and I would be happy to accompany you to one of the many facilities in the Tampa Bay area and shoot some of the weapons that won wars and protected the lives of men and women in this world. Until then, please consider finding another subject into which you can instill a wreckless fear, because your commentary lacks fact, substance and overall, knowledge.
Regards, Ronald Arestia
Good letter. I'm sure he discarded it without a further thought.
Methinks author of article has show himself to be his own worst fear, for others. He is deranged and should never be allowed the right to keep and bear arms, especially concealed ones.
Methinks he is also a gutless wimp who will someday be a crime statistic.
Consider sending this to the OP-ED or Letters to the editor of the same rag.
At my workplace there are two security teams: the uniformed guys at the front doors and then there are several armed employees. No one knows who the armed employees are but we all feel safer knowing that a nutbag/terrorist will not know exactly who has a gun. It is also my understanding that a very few have full-automatic weapons specifically for terror response.
I do not carry a gun at work but I am damned happy that other people do.
Perhaps he would be happy to know that here in Virginia we have a sweet little rule called an "open carry law." This means that ANYONE (who is over 21 and not a felon) may carry a pistol on their person, as long as it is not concealed. But those "lunatics" like my wife and I prefer a concealed carry permit.
Dear Mr. Ruth -
Be polite. Be very polite.
WHAT A FREAKIN' GIRLY MAN!!!!! ARRRRGGGG!!!!
Quite pathetic.
Where I woirk, in the Tampa area, my employer explicitly states that having a firearm on company property, even in your car, is grounds for immediate termination. Our security guards are retired cops, but also have no weapons.
And if he does, those co-workers who are armed and alert will drop him.
As things are now, every workplace is a potential shooting gallery for the deranged.
Cameras only document the slaughter.
To put it bluntly, Mr. Ruth, you sound rather deranged yourself, and I wouldn't trust you with anything more lethal than a rubber band.
Bedwetter!
"Armed and dangerous" is a combination of conditions that states (1) the person has a weapon and (2) the person is willing or intends to use that weapon to illegally harm someone else.
Being lawfully armed, with a full understanding of the rights and responsibilities attendant to being armed, is by no means dangerous.
In fact, being armed with the "pen" and using it to idiotically foment unrest and fear against others who are only exercising their second amendment rights, is a heck of a lot more dangerous than the law abiding person with a sidearm. To use a popular phrase of late, Mr. Ruth, you are "Stuck on stupid".
"Our security guards are retired cops, but also have no weapons."
What a silly concept....security guards that are unarmed.
He might want to put some ice on that.
And security guards without guns? Armed with a walkie-talkie and a golf cart, I bet they can chase down even the speediest car thief with doughnuts in hand.
Bring some more common-sense government to this state! It's the only thing keeping me alive anymore.
In reading this dipstick's article, the letter you sent him in response raises a major question from me...that being...do you think this idiot writer is smart enough to understand your response? I don't think he is, and that is why his family should buy a lot of insurance on him as he will become another statistic soon! About the first time he gets robbed or shot, his attitude will do a 180,(if he lives) and he will see the error of his ways.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.