Posted on 10/22/2005 1:41:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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.
Wow, that article was painful to read. I don't know how anyone with that much fear can wake up in the morning and function. He may want to ask his DR about anti-anxiety meds.
Its almost embarrassing to see a man cowering and squirming in fear so openly in public. You reckon he carries a white flag of surrender in his back pocket--just in case?
-but a complete crazy nut job with a GUN certainly qualifies.-
Well...he didn't use his gun on you, did he? If a nut job wants to come in and start shootin', a little work rule isn't going to stop him. Apparently the writer thinks a law or a rule is all-powerful and that breakers will be struck down by lightening. Brilliant.
An excellent response rarestia!
OLA
My L-rd. This man actually admits to wetting his Victoria's Secret panties.
I suspect he's French.
Translation:
People own guns = OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD !!!
Come see the leg-warmer-wearing, panty-wetting little pillow-biter have a COMPLETE hissy-fit.
Oh.
My.
G-d.
Danielle, you need to re-tool your thinking.
He should post a large printout of this sign on his front lawn.
This turkey has IrFF or IrFOOP- irrational fear of firearms or irrational fear of other people! Or maybe both.
Hey, sissy, if you don't like it, move to a blue state where only the criminals have guns!
I don't see why Daniel doesn't move to a communist country, where he can feel safe in the arms of big brother. Or, failing that, New York City.
If this male refers to himself as a man, could it stand up in a court of law?
Liberals can't be that unhinged ... can they?
Dan Ruth is on the radio every Saturday morning here in Tampa. He's an assclown.
What do you expect out of the St. Petersberg Times? This is a bizarre and leftist newspaper going the way of the New York Times and The Dallas Morning Herald (or whatever its called).
"Too stupid to breathe" award for this one!
This guy's projecting all over everybody like an in-law or something.
Unfortunately, these 'personality-types' are lured to government service(or 'journalism') where they do the utmost damage.
I've worked with people like this and they are a bundle of nerves... second guessing everything you say and looking for ulterior motives.
Who is this damn fool and why was he left alone with a key board?
Methinks he is a graduate of the Silly-ass School of Hyperbolic So-called Journalism.
Dumb ass writing such as this gives us (2d Amendment supporters and NRA members) more ammunition than anything else the looney left can do.
The only problem is that most people get lost in laughter at the idiocy of it before they see the desperation of the writer.
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