Second Amendment Rights vs. the President of the United States

 

On several occasions, people not involved with the President’s security have been seen carrying loaded weapons in his presence.  Questioned, one said, basically, “This is Arizona.  I’m going to carry a weapon because I can and I want to.  The Second Amendment still means something here.”

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090811-NEWS-908119961  Police: Man arrested before Obama event had loaded gun

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/17/man-carrying-semi-automat_n_261279.html Man Carrying Semi-Automatic Assault Rifle And Pistol Outside Obama Event

 

I can’t begin to understand why the Secret Service, the police or whoever else is responsible for the President’s safety and security might allow anyone to carry a weapon capable of killing him anywhere around him.  Are they trying to set up a “Lincoln scenario?”

Were I in charge, anyone carrying a weapon would be asked, politely, to give up the weapon or leave. If they refused, they would be arrested, their weapon confiscated and they would be transported to suitable housing while I made sure they were not one of the “bad guys.”

  I would hold them as long as legally possible without charging them and I would diligently look for a reason to keep them longer.  I would also check to see if there might be any reason they should not be allowed to keep the weapon.  I would also make certain there was no conspiracy; check out family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances.  

Of course, someone could always standoff with a mortar, a rocket, do a BLACK SUNDAY (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075765/) or even Tom Clancy’s DEBT OF HONOR. I realize there’s no way to stop a determined assassin, but I’m certainly not going to make it that easy.  They’d have to work to get past me. 

You’re right; I would make it obvious that carrying any weapon – even a slingshot – near the President of the United States was not a good idea.

I have never understood why the normal hunter or householder would need a high-powered, automatic assault rifle better than what police or even some military personnel carry.  Do they think the deer are going to shoot back or they might need to take out their mother-in-law who lives more than a mile away?

I really liked Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon in the old Dragnet series.  One show involved a California state law which required retuning a stolen weapon to the registered owner.  In this particular case, the wife didn’t want a handgun in the house, the husband did.

Officer Bill Gannon said something like this:  “If you want a weapon for home defense, don’t get a handgun, get a shotgun.  It’s unlikely anyone will be fool enough to try and take it away from you and if all else fails, you can always hit someone with it.”

Friday and Gannon recovered the weapon and returned it to its owner.  The last scenes showed their son, a little boy, playing “quick draw” with his even littler sister.  His gun was real.

Before anyone says anything, I don’t care who the president is.  Jackie Robinson might have put it this way: “You don’t have to respect the man; but you do have to respect the Office.”

 Some people refer to the Second Amendment as being a bad thing and they want to restrict or change it.  I am against its being infringed in any way. 

Admiral Yamamoto was asked, before Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, what he thought about invading the US mainland. He replied, and I’m paraphrasing because I’m too lazy to look up his exact words, “It would be foolish.  There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” 

He wasn’t kidding, and while Japanese and Nazi submarines sank ships off our shores – often using the lights from our cities, they never invaded.   That’s one of the reasons we are still free. 

The Japanese “invasion” in the Aleutians doesn’t really count. 

One story has it that we assaulted the islands where they had come ashore only to find out they had left the night before.  We actually lost some troops due to “friendly fire.”

I’m in favor of the current idea of regulating handguns and only wish the states were more in line with each other.  I had always assumed (with all the meaning of the word) that the way states handled concealed weapons permits (CWP’s) were pretty much the same as driver’s licenses, car registrations and the like. 

From what I understand, unlike driving an automobile across a state line, you are not allowed to carry a concealed weapon when you drive into a state which doesn’t have a reciprocal agreement with your own regarding a CWP.  If you’re caught, you might be subject to arrest.

Regarding driver’s licenses and vehicle registration, you have usually 30-60 days to get a new license and registration but you may operate with your old ones during that time.  While most states generally have several exceptions to the driver’s license and vehicle registration rules, one concerns military personnel in particular.

Military personnel assigned to Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, for example, are exempt from getting a Florida driver’s license and registering their vehicles here if they have a valid license and registration from their legal residence which may, or may not, be their home of record.  (I thought it was only the “home of record,” but I was incorrect.)  

Regarding concealed weapons permits (CWP), I have discovered that while some states have reciprocal agreements, many do not.  Also, rules in the various states are so different that some states won’t even talk to the other states; much less honor their CWP’s.

We’ve lost several presidents (Kennedy and Lincoln being two) and others have been injured (Teddy Roosevelt, for example), or those around them hurt (Brady, as an example).  We don’t need any more of the same. 

This is another of many cases where some people are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. 

God Help Us All.