Let's take gun control to another level

Albany Times Union ^ | June 11, 2008 | MARK ARRAS

[neverdem]

Letter to the Editor:

It's about time we get real about gun control in our cities. If we can have sobriety checkpoints and now motorcycle checkpoints, why don't we have cops creating gun checkpoints? Have them create checkpoints in the city where the gun violence is running rampant. Give the cops metal detectors and make people stop and get checked for guns. They are illegal and they are a lot worse than drunken drivers, and motorcyclists without the correct credentials. Let's get real here and start doing something about all these guns on our streets.

If it's legal to stop people driving a car down the street to see if they are drunk, why isn't it legal to stop people walking down the street to see if they have a gun? I'm sick of reading in the newspaper day after day about the gun violence and everyone is up in arms about stopping it. What is really being done -- a few protests where everyone is saying they want them off the streets, yet it's their families out there with them shooting up the streets like it's the Wild West.

Let's get real. Start stopping people and let's find out who is carrying guns and get them off our streets.

MARK ARRAS

Schenectady

[neverdem]

Lanier plans to seal off rough ’hoods in latest effort to stop wave of violence (D.C.)

[Graybeard58]

MARK ARRAS

Schenectady

MARK ARRAS

First class moron.

[Billthedrill]

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is why:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Of course, this one is being eroded just as fast as Congress and the courts can amend the law, so who knows?

[Grunthor]

Hey Mark,

I have guns. Pistols and rifles. Lots and lots of ammo.
Come and get them big boy.

-American Conservative Gunowners.

[lightman]

The Fourth Amendment crumbled when the plane struck the first World Trade Center Tower.

[muawiyah]

Three point program - abolish parole, lock up the criminals, open carry and shall-issue permits for concealed carry.

Then New York could get its crime rates to drop.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I’d be willing to bet that this letter writer believes that President Bush is using the Patriot Act to take away all of his rights and freedoms.

[jdege]

Give the cops metal detectors and make people stop and get checked for guns.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is why.

Nonsense. Article I gives Congress full authority to arm and regulate the militia. If Congress were to require that every member of the milita go armed, when traveling in certain areas, it'd be entirely within its power. Ditto for any state legislature.

We've had such laws in the past, if you remember. Virginia used to have a law requiring that anyone who traveled more than a set distance from any settlement go armed. And those laws were never subject to legal challenge. Seems to me we have a clear precedent on the matter.

So it's clear to me that it would be perfectly legal for the cops to set up checkpoints, to see that everyone who was legally obligated to carry a gun was actually doing so.

[karnage]

Point Three is the only one needed.

[wastedyears]

This guy can’t even be sober. He just can’t

[Mark]

Mark, I think you just MIGHT be a liberal. So how loud would you be screaming/whining/sniveling if I were to suggest that the police stop cars at random to check if they might be illegal aliens and then get them deported?

For this posting, forget my screen name.

[neverdem]

Charley Reese: Constitution guarantees gun rights for people, not militia

IMHO, this war on some drugs got to go the way of alcohol prohibition. Ditto sobriety checkpoints and now motorcycle checkpoints.

[Graybeard58]

and smell peoples breath to see if they have been smoking.

[BloodOrFreedom]

The Fourth Amendment crumbled when the plane struck the first World Trade Center Tower.

Not crumbled, just covered in dust. It still exists, but it's being hidden beneath the rubble and ash, waiting for the right person to drag it out, polish it up and restore it to its former glory

[Domandred]

Mark Arras apparently wants a bloody civil war, because that’s what this type of gun restriction will lead to

[Waco]

outlaw crime ya got it made, sh-thead.

[Left2Right]

I like to buy this Arras guy a one way ticket to Pyongyang. No one carrying guns there except the government goons. He should feel very safe and happy there.

[robomatik]

i like your sense of humor. i actually believe that our tax dollars should pay for everyone to have a gun. a week later, the idiots will be dead -and we'll all save a lot of money that used to be spent on welfare, food stamps, etc.

[umgud]

This is the kind of crap you get when dems are elected.

[IIntense]

Do you believe every adult in the U.S. has the right to carry a gun? If so, they should be required to have a thorough background check and be ready to show documentation that authorizes them.

We all know that thugs are often armed, and they are the perps that Mark Arras targets, as I understand his article.

Check points to prevent crimes are just one of the infringements on our Constitutional rights.

If there is a solution, within the bounds of the Constitution, to end the rampant crimes, then those who are paid to come up with working answers and don't, should be kicked out of their jobs.