[b]It's About The Second Amendment And Nothing Else[/b]
By MARION P. HAMMER
The Tampa Tribune
Published: April 25, 2008
While clowning around with my grandchildren one day, I suddenly shouted, "Look
at the sky, it has turned from blue to green."
Try as I might, I could never convince them that it was true, because they
could see and couldn't be fooled. So it is with Robert Levy's column
("Employers Must Pull The Trigger," Our Opinion, April 22).
Levy claims that our right to have firearms locked in our cars in a parking lot
is not about the Second Amendment but about the mythical right of corporations
to usurp the Constitution and ban guns. But Levy didn't pull it off because we
can see the truth. And the price he's asking us to pay for permission to do
business with an anti-gun corporation could mean losing our lives - and that
price is as clear as the sky is blue.
The Legislature passed, and Gov. Charlie Crist signed, a law to preserve the
self-defense rights of law-abiding men and women in public parking lots. It
reaffirms existing rights that have been jeopardized by politically motivated
corporate policies.
Big business fought this measure, feigning corporate "private property rights"
- a baseless argument considering that business consents to laws that limit
property rights. Corporations must abide by civil rights laws, zoning laws,
safety inspections and fire codes among others. Laws even dictate the number,
size and placement of parking places and mandate space for shopping cart
storage in publicly accessible parking lots.
Even Barry Richard, the attorney hired by the Florida Chamber to pitch its
side, has acknowledged the truth. In a March 24, 2006, opinion paid for by the
chamber, Richard honestly admitted, "The right to control one's property is not
absolute. The state can regulate use of and access to property for the purpose
of protecting the public health, safety and welfare. State statutes, for
example, prohibit the possession of certain materials on private property that
constitute a public nuisance or safety hazard ... or the exclusion from public
accommodations based upon race, gender, handicap, religion or national origin."
Clearly, the state can - and did - act to protect the right of law-abiding
citizens to protect themselves when traveling and in publicly accessible
parking lots. It is definitely a safety issue, as a living person is clearly
more important than an asphalt parking lot.
NRA believes in private property rights, but unlike citizens, corporations are
discretionary creations of government. They come into existence through
charters created by legislatures. Corporate interests don't override the
constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.
Shrill arguments for property rights or profits must not take precedence over
the lives of hardworking men and women. An employer's political philosophy or
contempt for firearms rights does not trump a law-abiding person's fundamental,
right to self-protection.
My motivation in teasing my grandchildren was simply to teach them to stand up
for what they can see with their own eyes and what they know is true. Although
Levy may continue to claim it's not about the Second Amendment, that clearly
doesn't make it true.
Marion P. Hammer is past president of the National Rifle Association and
executive director of Unified Sportsmen of Florida.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/25/na-its-about-the-second-amendment-and-nothing-else/
Professor Joseph Olson, J.D., LL.M. o- 651-523-2142
Hamline University School of Law (MS-D2037) f- 651-523-2236
St. Paul, MN 55113-1235 c- 612-865-7956
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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