Category: Carrying / Self-Defense

Robb has the story from Minnesota, where churches sued to overturn the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, which made Minnesota a shall-issue state.  In this unbelievable ruling, the Minnesota Court stated:

The decision means the Edina Community Lutheran Church can continue to legally bar guns with signs saying “Blessed are the peacemakers. Firearms are prohibited in this place of sanctuary.” Other churches may choose their own wording.

The decision also means that parking lots, day-care centers and other charitable, educational and nonprofit facilities owned by churches may ban firearms.

Strictly speaking, the ban has always allowed churches to ban concealed carry on premises, but the legislature drafted a state wide standard for the signs to be uniform, and conspicuously posted, much like the 30.06 signs (I still love how the numbering on that one worked out) in Texas.

The proper response to this, of course, is for the legislature to strike all signage provisions from the MPPA, and revert to enforcing bans on concealed weapons using laws against trespass.  Pennsylvania works this way, and it works well.

One wonders how the Court of Appeals would have ruled if the Minnesota legislature had simply chosen to allow concealed carry without any kind of license whatsoever?

Churches are free to ban gun within their churches, using trespassing laws that have been common law for centuries.   The legislature, by mandating signage, specifically intended to ensure that license holders knew that they were carrying into an establishment that prohibited concealed carry.  The intent of the legislature has been thwarted by an activist court, and I hope the legislature will take to fixing this problem.

From Andrew McKean of Outdoor Life’s “The Gun Shots” blog:

On the other side, some of the most passionate gun-rights advocates claim their Second Amendment rights allow them to carry guns anywhere, forgetting that the American landscape is dotted with areas where private guns are prohibited. These include prisons, military installations and most public buildings.

The sensible middle is where this proposal should be debated. The Interior Department should relax firearms restrictions in national parks and refuges because it keeps honest people honest. And because it would prevent otherwise law-abiding gun owners from inadvertently becoming felons simply because they cross a jurisdictional boundary.

I am not at all opposed to the proposal for allowing unconcealed or cased firearms to be transported through National Parks. If that all the DOI is willing to give us, I’ll take it, and will advocate strongly for it. But I wouldn’t discount so readily how inconvenient the ban on concealed carry is for people who have state licenses to do so. The perspective of someone out west might be a bit different than mine.

Out West, the parks are big, and boundaries more apparent. Here the parks are small, and often not readily apparent. I routinely drive through property owned by the Department of Interior, namely Valley Forge National Park, sometimes Hopewell National Historic Site, and on the grounds of Independence National Historical Park. In the last case the street outside these places is technically under authority of DOI, but it also a Philadelphia city street. Am I to cross the street? Or drive around Valley Forge constantly? Going miles out of my way?

Most people who drive through these state rights-of-way are often unaware they are in a National Park. While DOI says they enforce state law on state rights-of-way, there’s always the problem of hitting a deer (a real possibility in Valley Forge), and suddenly finding yourself in violation of federal law because you stopped.

The National Park restrictions on concealed carry a major impediment to those who choose to carry. I would hope sportsmen will get behind the most recent efforts to force DOI compliance with state laws on this matter, and won’t merely support a “middle ground” which will only really benefit them.

It looks like Senator Coburn is planning on an amendment to S.2483 that would require all lands under jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior to follow state law in regards to possession of firearms. You can read Coburn’s case for passing this amendment here.

I have heard also that John McCain will be signing on as a co-sponsor of this amendment. Any bets on whether Hillary or Obama will? Just keep that in mind for those who claim there’s no difference between McCain and the Democrats.

Ahab points out how the difference in attitudes towards allowing arms in schools created a very different result when terrorists paid a visit to an Israeli school.

Ahab has another story of a gun owner who forgets he’s carrying and gets through security, then proceeds to “do the right thing” and tell the TSA about it.

If you get past security at an airport with a gun, leave the secured zone immediately and count your blessings.  There is no get out of jail free card for doing “the right thing.”  The right thing for you is not to confess to the authorities about the crime you just committed.

Looks like there’s at least some support for removing carry restrictions.  I’d really like to see the public park and national forest restrictions go away too.  Those are the bills that keep me from ever going back woods camping in Tennessee.

A lot of states seem to get nervous about lifting restrictions like this, but Pennsylvania does not restrict carry in establishments licensed to server alcohol.  Hell, we don’t even have a drinking while carrying restriction in Pennsylvania.   I don’t think it’s been a problem here, since most people who carry regularly are responsible enough not to run around carrying a firearm drunk.  You’d probably lose your license for that anyway.

… the people in Maryland who have unrestricted carry licenses.   Congratulations are in order to the other Sebastian for winning his fight.  Even in Philadelphia, he would have had an unrestricted license from the beginning.  If you’re thinking about urban renewal, it’s a good idea to try it in a state with shall-issue licensing.

… in this guy’s pants.  If you’re going to carry illegally, you might want to reconsider carrying so many spare mags, even the TSA drones know you’re strapped.