Concerned about the safety of their workers, at least one of the contractors bidding on construction of President Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” on America’s southern frontier has requested permission for its workers to carry firearms and to be shielded from liability in the event they need to be fired in anger.
The contractor also asked if its workers could be given an exemption from strict state gun control laws.
California is the obvious concern of the unidentified contractor, as it not only has enacted many infringements on residents’ right to keep and bear arms, but also refuses to recognize carry licenses of non-residents. Of the other border states, Arizona has enacted full Vermont-style constitutional carry, and New Mexico protects the right of all persons to openly carry a firearm. Texas isn’t quite as protective of the right to carryr, but the Lone Star State will issue non-resident licenses to law-abiding persons.
The request is probably a pipe dream on the part of the contractor, as any sort of effort to pierce the sovereignty of the Golden State would require an act of Congress at minimum, and as John Boch lamented, the Democrats still can use the filibuster in the Senate to block legislation.
Numerous other contractors also expressed concern about possible “attacks” during construction of the wall. Bidding closed on the job last week and over three hundred companies submitted bids. The Trump Administration is expected to select four to ten contractors to build prototypes in San Diego. California is considering legislation to officially boycott any contractor that works on the project.
The idea of strong border security and resisting illegal immigration was controversial when Mr. Trump made it the centerpiece of his election campaign, but recently other countries have started to warm up to the idea.
After last week’s terrorist attack in Sweden, allegedly perpetrated by Rakhmat Akilov, an immigrant and asylum-seeker from the Muslim-majority nation of Uzbekistan, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven vowed to change his country’s liberal attitudes toward immigration, generally.
“Sweden will never go back to the [mass immigration] we had in autumn 2015 — never,” Löfven said.