It seems that legislators in Georgia have changed the state’s gun laws to allow the carrying of concealed handguns on public transportation. While they contemplate how the first Clanton-gang shootout on the MARTA will go down, some folks in Atlanta are dismayed that they still can’t show up heavy at Atlanta’s international airport:
A decision by Georgia legislators to relax the state’s gun laws has led to a dispute over whether people can legally carry concealed firearms in the nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.A Georgia gun rights group filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday after airport officials said they would continue to enforce a ban on concealed weapons in the terminal despite the changes to the state law. The changes, which were approved by the Georgia legislature in the spring and took effect on Tuesday, relax the state’s prohibition on carrying weapons on public transportation and in some other areas, including restaurants serving alcohol.
OK, now, it’s hard for me to imagine a worse idea than to allow random folk to carry guns in (the insecure area of) the airport. Of course, I think it’s pretty stupid to allow it on any public transportation, but... the airport? You can’t take them through security anyway, so what purpose could there possibly be? Maybe you want to greet Grandpa, on his arrival, with a 21-gun salute?
The more I read this stuff, the more I rue the recent Supreme Court decision about the DC gun law, and the more I think our collective Old West mentality about guns is completely insane. And that something really bad is going to come from it before we fix it.
3 comments:
>OK, now, it’s hard for me to
>imagine a worse idea than to
>allow random folk to carry
>guns in (the insecure area
>of) the airport.
Allowing them to carrying guns in the secure area of the airport?
{inw}
P.S. Just the other day I was reminded of the fact that I live in a place where I can buy weaponry (within a certain, historically unfounded, restrictive reading of the Second Amendment to say "guns" not "arms") but I can't buy fireworks.
Hartsfield-Jackson is a gun-free zone based on sound legal authority and clear common sense. It is also a public safety necessity.
We are in compliance with the public gathering exception found in Georgia law which prohibits firearms in publicly-owned or operated buildings. Because the Airport is owned and operated by the City of Atlanta, we are exercising our legal authority.
The public safety necessity is the reality with which the aviation industry is still operating in a post-9/11 era. Every day the FBI, federal air marshals, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Atlanta Police Department and other law enforcement are working to ensure that firearms do not pose a danger to air travel.
I believe the common sense factor is clear to most Georgians. Law enforcement is ample at the Airport, and crimes against persons are extremely rare. As one Atlanta Journal-Constitution blogger put it, “Airports are (among) the most secure places these days… There are cops everywhere.” Calling on your common sense, I ask this question: Why jeopardize that security?
Unless you are traveling with a weapon properly secured in checked luggage in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration and TSA regulations or you are a sworn federal, state or local law enforcement officer or armored security personnel, you are not allowed to carry weapons on airport property.
Hartsfield-Jackson’s designation as a gun-free zone is a necessary position that will help ensure the safety of the millions of people who come through the Airport’s doors.
-- Senior PR Manager Orzy Theus
And that something really bad is going to come from it before we fix it.
And there's something about Columbine or Virginia or the rest of them that isn't already "really bad"?
-andy
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