You don’t get to bear arms everywhere

Here’s a letter in the July 5th Minnesota Star Tribune.

Rob Doar, in his July 3 commentary “Mandatory screenings, metal detectors or gun bans at the Capitol? Be very careful with that,” is arguing that the Legislature should move very cautiously when considering banning firearms from the State Capitol. He speaks of First and Second Amendment rights and protecting “the essential freedoms that sustain our democracy.” Aside from the curious comment that prohibiting firearms would expose visitors to greater risk, I would suggest that the prohibiting of firearms at the Capitol is not a constitutional issue. The Constitution clearly states of the right to bear arms but I do not believe that it ever suggests, neither implicitly nor explicitly, that you can bear those arms wherever you want. Neither our freedoms nor our democracy will be threatened if the Legislature says “not here.”

Dale Anderson, Eagan

The letter is about the issue of prohibiting guns at the Minnesota Capitol, an argument refreshed by the assassinations of Mark and Melissa Hortman and the attempted assassinations of John and Yvette Hoffman, who have miraculously survived.

Here’s the commentary from Rob Doar that the letter addresses. “Respect for constitutional rights and a desire for civic participation must guide any policy decisions. The Capitol should remain genuinely open and accessible.”

So here’s the question: What limits civil participation more, a) having to leave you pistol at home, or b) facing a phalanx of sweaty, screwed-down-way-too-tight gun nuts (see video below) when you’re there? My vote is for b). I’ll bet yours is, too.

This is not a new issue; it has been the subject of hearings before. Rob Doar, chosen for his job because he can breathe through his nose and not drool on himself, was involved in prior opposition to a weapons-in-the-Capitol ban.

This video is a brief clip of a hearing on the issue held in the room below the Rotunda at the Capitol held some eleven years ago. The remarks made by the gunnies were so innane that I just made a little silent picture.

The video features Rob Doar, former House Representative pistol packin’ Tony Cornish, and the intellectual lawyer giant Joe Olson. The video opens with a grinning Kris Kranz who used to like (maybe still does; I haven’t been there for a while) to prance around Cap sporting his handgun. Watch while Andrew Rothman scurries around the corridor encircling the room to tell Kranz that it was a bad look.

Note also the leering, dismissive expressions of the gunnies while anti-guns-in-the-Capitol witnesses testify. All in all, it was an odious, disgusting performance by the gunnies.

Rob Doar is the same person who expressed keen disappointment recently when the Minnesota Supreme Court refused to sanction the brandishing of weapons on a light rail platform.

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You don’t get to bear arms everywhere

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