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Question of the Day: Is There Anywhere Guns Should Be Banned?

Robert Farago - comments No comments

“Authorities are planning to cordon off a ‘weapons-free assembly zone’ around the statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in an effort to head off any potential violence at a rally to support preserving Confederate monuments planned for Saturday,” richmond.com reports. Oh wait. They changed their minds (something about the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution). The Chief of the RPD had this to say about that . . .

“I feel your pain,” Durham told a woman who had asked what advice he had for counterprotesters who wanted to protect themselves from being shot. “The same fear you have is the same fear my officers have. The only thing I can say is, don’t show up and you don’t have to worry about being shot.”

Why do I get the idea that the antifa movement would love for one of their own to get shot? And while I don’t share that view, I wonder what would happen next, generally. Meanwhile, is there any place where [otherwise legally carried] guns should be banned? Prisons, obviously. But what about airplanes? Within a certain proximity of the President? Court rooms? If anywhere, where?

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Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Question of the Day: Is There Anywhere Guns Should Be Banned?”

      • Gotta love those 2A absolutists. They’ll scream about their rights at the top of their lungs about their rights, but they don’t give a crap about anyone else’s rights.

        They and their libertarian brethren are immature brats who who want what they want when they want it. They have no mature thoughts about the nature of rights, let alone overlapping rights.
        Yet, the 2A absolutists just want what’s good for them, which they wrap up in rights talk to lend their selfishness a mantle of legitimacy.

        People in contact eventuates in rights in conflict. Yet, the 2A absolutists demand that any voluntary surrender of their rights, as when they choose to enter someone’s private property, be forcefully compensated at the property owner’s expense. What they cannot achieve via mutual, voluntary bilateral agreement with the property owner, they demand that the government deliver by stepping in to extract by force from said property owners.

        Let’s see,

        Statists believe in rights for me, but none for thee.

        2A absolutists believe in rights for me, and thee’s for me, too.

        Hmmm…..sounds like a distinction without a difference. Both are freedom snatchers, just backed by different propaganda.

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        • “…[I]s there any place where [otherwise legally carried] guns should be banned? Prisons, obviously.”

          The 2A “absolutists” here – in the prison example – show themselves as doing the mission a disservice. El Chapo’s lawyer – let’s assume – has an “absolute” right to confer privately with his client; and, to bear arms while doing so with equal “absoluteness”. As the lawyer has a duty to do so, there is no matter of choice; he can’t simply confer with other clients who are not yet behind bars.

          So: Is there a prison exception to lawyers bearing arms while conferring with clients? If there is, then there is at least one exception; and so, the whole argument of absolutism fails.

          We may not know whether there is any second exception, such as in a court room. Nor a third. It doesn’t matter; once we discover one exception the notion of absolutism fails (except in the minds of the absolutists). We can’t hope to persuade 1/3 of militia-aged males to muster at the barricades to defend the absoluteness of the 2A right for lawyers to bear arms conferring with prisoners.

          It makes more sense – to me – to argue about the rights of an adult, law-abiding, woman to openly bear – e.g., a 2-shot derringer – on the streets of NYC or DC. Did she have that right in the 18’th century? 19’th? 20’th? Today?

          If not, why not? When did she lose it? At what point did HER right to bear THAT arm slip beneath the protection of the Constitution. If we can’t get traction on this case, how do we expect to get traction on any other scenario?

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    • Private business owners can ban guns….as soon as they have the Right to bake or not bake a cake….until then, the 2nd Amendment is a Right, just like the Freedom of Religion…and if a private business can’t practice their religious beliefs and have a business, then they can’t deny the 2nd Amendment Right of their customers to carry a gun.

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  1. Banned by policy or statute with law and criminal penalties? The latter not really unless you refuse to leave, then trespassing is in order.

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    • That makes sense to me. And if other places want to ban guns, then let them provide the same measures that those facilities do: armed security, screening, and a check-in/check-out process for people carrying legally.

      I wouldn’t have nearly as much problems with “gun free zones” if they were actually secure perimeters.

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      • No, sir. Those are government facilities that you have a right to utilize.

        Private property like a shop or restaurant or personal residence? No way.

        Don’t like it, don’t visit. You have no right to be there in the first place.

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    • Guns in courthouses might make judges and lawyers feel like the have to act like REAL people, not holier than thou scum. Why is it that you don’t mind me carrying into a hospital, but not a courthouse? I remember when you could have a gun in your carry-on luggage and NOT cause a nightly news worthy federal incident.

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  2. I work around highly corrosive chemical that can eat through stainless steel. Probably not a good idea to take your gun arround the plant.

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  3. Nope. There is no place out in public where you should be denied the ability to KABA. “Even places where they have metal detectors and armed security?”. you ask; yes, even there. The bad guy(s) can just shoot the armed security, and they would have free mass murder reign, which happened at the Washington Navy ship yards.

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  4. No. There is no such thing as a ‘Inalienable Rights Free Zone’, and accordingly there is no such thing as a gun free zone. There’s only statist scum that believe in rights when it’s convenient to them.

    And if ideology isn’t good enough for you then how about the hard reality of self defense in that there’s no place you can ever secure enough to keep you safe. Federal prisons are kind of the gold standard of keeping a place locked down and even they still have problems with the smuggling of weapons and contraband. Hell we’re even at the point where untraceable home made drones are being used to drop stuff inside the prison. What are you going to do next? Put huge domes over the place? Because AF guns area already absolute, thanks to people adjusting radios outside of normal bandwidth.

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    • Ohhh… good one!

      I was going to suggest a fireworks factory. Or the production floor where they make gun powder. Or where they make tannerite.

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  5. Offhand, I’d say North Korea, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, sometimes China and any other country that either dislikes us or just won’t comply with fair trade practices. Not a damn one of those should have so much as a Glock.

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  6. Secure portions of prisons and jails, and private property where the owner/tenant says so.

    Anywhere else, if someone’s not safe or doesn’t feel safe, then they shouldn’t be there.

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  7. Second Amendment?

    Well… about that…

    Constitution of Virginia
    Article I. Bill of Rights
    Section 13. Militia; standing armies; military subordinate to civil power
    That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

    And…

    § 15.2-915. Control of firearms; applicability to authorities and local governmental agencies.
    A. No locality shall adopt or enforce any ordinance, resolution or motion, as permitted by § 15.2-1425, and no agent of such locality shall take any administrative action, governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, storage or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof other than those expressly authorized by statute. For purposes of this section, a statute that does not refer to firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof, shall not be construed to provide express authorization.

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  8. Private residents that are posted, anyplace that is willing to accept responsibility for actions of criminals on their premises.

    I like how we do it here in Georgia, if they ask you to leave and you don’t, it becomes misdemeanor trespass with a minor fine.

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  9. Setting aside all other arguments for a moment:

    GFZs have bugged me for a long time because, other than places that will allow you to “check” your weapon, they’re compromising public safety while claiming to promote it. Parking lots for known GFZs have been a “shopping area” for thieves looking for handguns for a long time.

    In NM it took the Santa Fe Police Chief disarming to enter a restaurant that served alcohol and having his service pistol lifted from his car for them to realize this.

    You can’t claim to be enhancing public safety when you’re basically telling the criminals where to steal handguns so that the guns can be sold on the black market. At absolute best such behavior is effectively criminal negligence in my book.

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  10. The only places that can morally justify banning weapons (not just guns) are those with security so tight, pervasive and capable that they can do a better job protecting you than you can for yourself. Very few qualify. The overwhelming majority that prohibit weapons are target rich environments for the bad guys.

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  11. Serves ya right for patronizing such a pretentious, foufou joint. Real men eat their ham on rye, not a baguette. Rye. With caraway seeds that get stuck between their teeth. And with brown mustard, not that thin yellow gruel that looks like crap from a bottle-fed baby.

    And there’s gotta be a pickle.

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  12. The problem with this is that most “manly” men have no idea what it means to be a man. It has nothing to do with “guns and Guinness and V8 engines” but rather strength, courage, mastery, and honor. Start teaching our boys about the importance of these four things and you’ll see many boys grow to be fine men in this nation.

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  13. Over $1,600 on a then-new HK USP Expert, plus $85 each for 3 hi-cap 16-round magazines and another $85 for a Jet Funnel mag well extension. Also bought a underslung-attached scope mount that I only used once. The pistol is so reliable and clean-shooting, plus very accurate with the o-ringed barrel. I haven’t even had to disassemble the lower once for cleaning with over 4,000 rounds fired.

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  14. Thank you, BLAMMO! Most of those who’ve responded here haven’t clue #1 about handgun licensing in New York State, of which Suffolk County is part.

    Suffolk, the only split jurisdiction in the state if not the entire country, has two (separate) licensing authorities, with the five Eastern Township under the authority of the Sheriff, an elected official, and therefore much more responsible to the voters, as opposed to the appointed Police Commissioner who covers the five Western Towns. The PCs are traditionally political hacks (like Phil Boyle) and Oirish!

    Since we got rid of Sheriff Eugene Dooley 28 years ago, our Sheriffs have all been very good on gun rights and issuance of Pistol Licenses (NOT “permits”). The primary election of Zacarese is most encouraging! He beat the GOP bosses, and won going away. Unless there is more skull-duggery in the smoke-filled back rooms, he should be our next Sheriff for as long as he wants it!

    Boyle is a complete fraud, and I hope he has at least enough sense the decline the Democratic line if they try to slip him in there.

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  15. Not that I give a shit that you printed, infact I wonder why you weren’t open carrying, but, You got what you deserved. Next time maybe you’ll learn before frequenting and supporting the enemy establishments that support the rape of the constitution, our disarmament, and mass murder. The POS that owns this store probably donated some of YOUR money to Hillary. How does that make you feel? It should make you feel bad.

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  16. Did they post a sign forbidding Muslim terrorists, gang bangers, and people previously convicted of armed robbery? Of course not, its a place run by a Libtard. One can not reason logically with a Libtard, you have to boycott them, just like Springfield Armory, Target stores, etc.

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  17. In the sixties we used to ride our bikes all over southern cal with guns strapped to the handle bars. Nobody ever stopped us and nobody got shot. We were responsible teenagers.
    We used to shoot rabbits from my grandfathers porch in the city limits.
    This is all about control of every thing we say and do by an out of control gov’t.

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  18. I could be wrong but I believe certain groups will make big deal out of this one as Schultz was the president of the LGBQ chapter at the school, when I first saw a photo of Schultz I wasn’t sure what it was ………….

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  19. Um…was this a knife off a set of nail clippers? I zoomed in and never could see the knife.

    Not saying cops were wrong, but holy crap…i mean…HOLY CRAP. No better options than “center man” were available?

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  20. It sure sounds like that article is laying the groundwork to propose “scary black military-style semi-automatic rifle” ban version 2.

    Here is my question of the day: how many injuries/deaths have to happen — as a result of structure fires that arsonists start with tampons — before we ban tampons? If arsonists used tampons to start 20 million structure fires that killed 2 million people this year, would that be sufficient to ban tampons?

    I designed that question in the hope of getting a gun-grabber to start thinking about ways to actually stop violent PEOPLE rather than trying to eliminate the availability of TOOLS that violent people may use since there are an infinite number of tools that violent people can use to harm their victims.

    I know, I know (heavy sigh). I can dream, can’t I? After all, that is what gun-grabbers do.

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  21. it sounds like they never stopped laying the groundwork. upholding the highland park ban has left a patchwork of municipal restrictions.
    any atrocities committed with a rifle anywhere will stir the pot. some handguns are cheap and concealable on person, rifles are concealable in vehicle. drive by and highway shootings will begin to reveal more rifle usage.
    and it will spread out of canaryville.

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