I surely will call the Governor. And I will urge him to sign the bill posthaste.
The Nye's incident is a red herring. It is sad to see the anti-gun zealots salivating over the death of this bouncer as a springboard to advance their agenda. The gentleman at Nye's ceased to be a legal, responsible gun owner and became a killer. He had every opportunity to not shoot the bouncer. He left his gun in his car. But he made a conscious decision to go back to his car, retrieve said weapon, and use it to fatally shoot the bouncer (all allegedly, to be factually and technically correct). Anyway, he didn't whip out his piece and start blasting........ he made a calculated decision to kill. If permit carriers are to be looked at fairly, it must be asked if permit holders are, as a group, more responsible and law abiding than non permit holders. I think they are. But there are bad apples in every crowd. There are bad judges and bad cops and bad priests and bad rabbis and bad corporate chairman and bad legislators. Keep in mind that a St. Paul police officer was sentenced last month for giving his service pistol to somebody who promptly used it to shoot up a rival's house. The point is: there's bad apples everywhere. We try to screen for them, but some get through. We do not expect that everyone will act perfectly and that every law will work perfectly to weed out those people who might not act responsibly. Does that mean that we don't let cops have guns because one might loan one out to their buddy? Does that mean that we shouldn't let a group of people who are, as a group, extremely responsible and law abiding, because one person acted irresponsibly? I;m afraid of the answer: this is Minnesota, where one person doing one stupid thing one time can trigger yet another law to keep ourselves "safe". It's time for some intellectual honesty on the part of the Heather Martens and other anti-gun zealots of the world. The streets of Minnesota were not running with blood as predicted (though I see one poster has yet again predicted it.) There have been no wild-west shootouts between permit carriers as predicted. The bad apples get the press and the thwarted car jackings and robberies get zip from the media. The sky did not fall, and it ain't gonna fall again. I'm glad of this resurrection of the law. Again there will be a uniform standard for the issuance of permits so citizens can protect themselves. With all the complaints on this board in the last few months about lack of police here and lack of public safety there, it is astounding that it was suggested that we call the police if, for example, we're being mugged. I can see it now: "excuse me, Mr. Thug, but may I use my cell phone, before you steal it, so as I can call 911?" Right. I have a right to protect myself. In some ways, I see a pistol permit like an abortion--- if you don't like it, don't have one. Your mileage probably varies. Mike Thompson Windom ----- Original Message ----- From: "Heather Martens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Minneapolis Issues" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 2:52 PM Subject: [Mpls] Call Pawlenty re: conceal-carry and Nye's > Common sense lost in the Minnesota House today, where legislators voted to > approve one of the most lax conceal and carry laws in the country - a > reenactment of the 2003 law. Legislators rejected all of the proposed > amendments, including one to prohibit guns in bars. The vote occurred the > day after the memorial service for Billy Walsh, who was murdered by a > Minnesota gun permit holder last Friday. Walsh was a father of three and > bouncer at Nye's in Minneapolis. He was shot in the back after ejecting the > permit holder from the bar. Walsh's murderer had a record of scrapes with > the law. Under the old law, he wouldn't have qualified for a permit. But > under the lax standards of the 2003 law, police were required to give him a > permit. Despite this colossal failure, no changes to the law have been > allowed. No amendment to invalidate permits while drinking alcohol. No > rejection of permit applications for irresponsible past behavior. Nothing to > protect the public. > > They didn't even provide relief for religious institutions, virtually > guaranteeing another lawsuit! > > As outrageous as the law is, and despite the fact that a majority of > Minnesotans never wanted it, proponents still claim that there has been "no > outcry" against the law. Don't let them make that claim. CALL GOV. PAWLENTY > today at (651) 296-3391 or E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Pawlenty, who benefited from $60,000 in NRA money during his 2002 campaign, > will probably sign the bill, despite the preventable deaths it has caused > and will cause. Let's make him uncomfortable as he signs this immoral bill! > Call him today and tell him to VETO conceal and carry until a bill comes to > his desk that protects the public. Please forward this message to others! > > Thanks! > > Rebecca Thoman, Executive Director > Citizens for a Safer Minnesota > > Forwarded by Heather Martens > Kingfield > > > REMINDERS: > 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. > > 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > > For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html > For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > > REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
