[url]http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/mar02/24512.asp[/url]

Here is a Milwaukee newspaper columnist's article. I sent him an email with his column and my comments as below.

Call Jim Stingl at 224-2017 or e-mail: [email protected]



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Armed and ominous: We all may pack heat
Last Updated: March 2, 2002


Jim Stingl

It was nearly dawn when the state Assembly approved a bill last week allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons. You have to assume that most of its members were sound asleep with their foreheads accidentally pressing the "aye" buttons on the desks in front of them.

The argument that carried the day seems to be this: Criminals (the bad people walking around with guns) won't bother us (the good people walking around with guns) because they know they might get blasted.

It's a little like the Cold War. If you nuke us, we're going to nuke you right back, sucka.

Assume for a moment that the Senate goes for concealed carry, (which its leaders are vowing will never happen) and the governor signs it into law. What would life be like around here?

Scenario 1
Bob (not his real name) is stopped at the airport security checkpoint when he makes the metal detector beep. A fingernail file is discovered in his pocket and immediately taken away from him. Later that same day, Bob sticks a Luger in his pants and rides on a crowded county bus. This is perfectly OK.

[blue]No, Bob should not be allowed to bring his gun on the plane. The pilot should though. The planes that were hi-jacked on 9/11 were much safer without armed pilots, weren't they. Stun guns will work fine on the odd animal rights activist who gets drunk and unruly, but what happens when 10 martial arts trained terrorists get on the plane. 1-3 are stunned, while 4-7 break the necks of the stun gun weilding stewerdess.[/blue]


Scenario 2
"This is a stickup!" Al barks at Jill in a dark alley. "What are you packing?" she inquires. "It's a .22-caliber revolver," Al replies. "I've got you beat," Jill says, pulling out her .357 Magnum. "Drat," cries Al, running away in search of a career in the law-abiding sector.

[blue]Right, that is how it works. Jill just prevented a mugging.[/blue]

Scenario 3
It's a lovely summer day, and people stream through the gates into Maier Festival Park. "Welcome to Summerfest," says a voice on the public address system. "No cans, bottles, fireworks, skateboards, pistols, rifles, shotguns, bazookas or rocket launchers are allowed on the grounds."

[blue]Or . . . It's a lovely summer day, at the highschool football game. Eric and Dylan come through the gates with Ak-47s blasting to get back at the "jocks". Janitor bob pulls out his glock and stops them. We all saw how well the police protected the columbine kids.[/blue]



Scenario 4
A magician is performing before a large crowd. She decides to try some audience participation. "Does anyone have a gun I could borrow for my next trick?" Two hundred hands go up. When she says she's planning to make the gun disappear, all the hands are quickly lowered. The magician is arrested for violating the Second Amendment.

[blue]That's funny. Ha Ha.[/blue]



Scenario 5
All Joe can think about is getting his next rock of crack cocaine. His family has disowned him. He has no job, no money, no hope. He needs drugs, and he needs them now. Then he remembers that Wisconsin has a new law that allows his potential victims to carry concealed weapons. "Oh, shoot," he moans, not intending the pun. "Guess I'll just watch a little TV and turn in early tonight."

[blue]Better yet, Joe goes out and pulls a knife on Jill (who was heading to the ATM when she was interrupted by Al). Jill pulls out her .357 and rids the city of a violent crack addict. Joe's brother, also a crack addict (but unarmed because prior convictions prevented him from getting a permit, and nobody would carry without a permit, would they?) sees his brother die, goes into rehab, and becomes a newspaper columnist.[/blue]



Bulges, bulges everywhere
Scenario 6
Lori is a police officer. Her husband worries about her safety when she puts on a uniform and goes out there to fight crime. As a cop, you never know when the person you stop will have a gun hidden in his or her clothing. Lori misses the days when that was illegal. She thinks about going back to school to become a pastry chef or something.

[blue]It will always be illegal to shoot cops. If a permit holder has no intention of doing so, what is the problem? If someone plans on killing a cop, a permit won't stop her.[/blue]



Scenario 7
At a family picnic, Stan gets into a heated argument with his brother-in-law, Oliver. Both men have had scrapes with the law. But they aren't felons or otherwise violent criminals, at least as far as we know, and they don't seem any crazier than the average person out there. So they were both able to obtain licenses to carry a concealed weapon. As the dispute escalates, they poke at each other with one hand and keep the other hand on the guns in their pockets just in case. Finally it's agreed they will have a duel like in the Old West when everyone walked around with guns. They stand back to back and count off 10 paces before they turn and fire. Luckily they both miss. Then they run a sack race for the kids.

[blue]Yes this scenario has turned up in all 44 other states with carry laws. There are shootouts on main street every night. Especially in Vermont, look up their crime rates for evidence of this.[/blue]

Scenario 8
Wayne stops after work for a drink. It was fine and dandy that he had a gun hidden under his shirt all day at work just in case anyone tried a desk-jacking. But he knows that the new law does not allow concealed weapons in taverns or for anyone who is drinking. So he hurries home and gives the gun to his wife for her evening shopping trip to the mall.

[blue]Good idea, you never know when Joe's brother is going to give up writing and go back to mugging people in mall parking lots.[/blue]



Scenario 9
Gun-makers launch a catchy new ad campaign: "Deadly weapons: Don't leave home without them."

[blue]Liberal columnists launch a catchy new ad campaign: "Clear thinking and common sense, don't leave home with them."[/blue]

Good E-mail.  Did you get a response?

What an ass-bag!

The Milwaukee Gentinal better watch out - people may just start thinking it's anti-gun!

If I get a reply I'll post it here. I also sent an email to their black victicrat columnist who wrote an anti-gun column in the same issue. He played the race card though. "Black kids can't stop shooting each other, so ban guns." To bad he doesn't think about the source of the problem. I'm not sure what that is (better education and ending the gangsta culture would help) but it sure as hell isn't the guns. They would kill each other with bats and knives if it came down to it.