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Sun 29 Apr, 2012 09:40 am
As a seventh generation Tennessean, Tennessee property owner
and graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, the legislative battle
over keeping locked firearms in vehicles on company property
hits home with me.
So I was particularly disappointed to read journalism professor Otis
L. Sanford's anti-Second Amendment rant on this topic (April 22
column, "Gun lobby in standoff battle for parking lots").
As a journalist, and especially one entrusted with instilling
journalism's values in our next generation, Sanford should take
better care with his profession's call for accuracy, fairness and
always maintaining the "public trust."
Sanford casually dismisses the fact that Memphis is the second most
violent city in America. Worse, he mocks his fellow Tennesseans
who rightfully fear for their safety and their lives, especially those
in the blue-collar community, by saying "Oh, the drama."
Sanford may not feel the need to arm himself when traveling to and
from work, but what about the janitor working the graveyard shift,
who has to commute home at three in the morning?
Why should any woman who legally owns a firearm for protection be
forced into a position of vulnerability simply because she has to
drive to work or the grocery store? Why should anyone be forced to forfeit
his or her Second Amendment rights when he or she parks the car in a parking lot?
The Second Amendment guarantees the fundamental, individual right
of every law-abiding American to keep and bear arms.
It's long overdue that Tennessee lawmakers fully recognize this
basic right to their citizens. This legislation passed out of committee
with overwhelming support and deserves an up-or-down vote by the
people's duly elected representatives. That might not be the
personal preference of a journalism professor, but it's the
foundation of our democracy.
Chris W. Cox
Executive director, National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action
[All emfasis has been added by David.]
@OmSigDAVID,
Inasmuch as this screed doesn't tell us what, exactly, the NRA poo-bah is ranting about, nor what it is that this Otis Sanford person has said or done to offend the ranter, it's raher difficult to comment on it, David. Something to do with parking lots is all I can gather.
@Lustig Andrei,
Yes; possession of defensive guns
in public or private parking lots, including employers' lots.
@OmSigDAVID,
OmSigDAVID wrote:
Yes; possession of defensive guns
in public or private parking lots, including employers' lots.
Could we get a little more information, please? What is it -- a new legislative proposal to prohibit guns in lots? Or just a comment from a journalist with too much time on his hands and no news? Point is, we have no idea what the hell the NRA guy is on about.
@Lustig Andrei,
He speaks in support of legislation
to legally entitle each citizen to possess his defensive firearms
in challenged places, e.g., in cars parked in disgruntled employers' parking lots.
We might analogize it to his right to keep his religious materials
locked up in his car, when his employer belongs to a different religion,
that is hostile to his own.
David
@OmSigDAVID,
Forgetting, for now, about that analogy, I do agree that if I have a permit to carry concealed, I should be able to drive into a parking lot or any other venue while carrying concealed without a bothersome challenge. The only test here should be whether I have any business being in that lot to begin with. But if my reason for being there is legitimate, I certainly see no point in having to disarm myself prior to going where I have to go. That just constitutes an unwarranted nuisance.
@Lustig Andrei,
There was a case of an anti-gun employer
who hired dogs to smell out guns' ammunition
locked in employees' cars and then afflicted those employees on those findings.
Guns are deemed to be life-saving emergency equipment
by their owners, who wish to avoid helplessness in time of emergency.
David
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