Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hurricanes and such..

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-charlotte/north-carolina-governor-suspends-gun-rights

Seems that in a state of emergency here the second amendment can be suspended at will.
This is a troubling thing, no matter if its the state legislature that enacts these laws or really who ever puts them in to play and acts upon them.

So... you can stand your ground at least upon your own property but god damn if your neighbors need help in a dire situation you can be turned in to a criminal for helping or carrying anything off your own property, or outside your home.

This is troubling sort of situation in regards that in any state of emergency your constitutional rights are suspended.

Now I can understand that you don't want roving gangs pillaging a wasted countryside. You want to be able to say its against the law to loot or...,... wait a second. Is it not already illegal to do these things? I'm pretty sure that its easy to identify a group or an individual robbing an electronic store. That however is already illegal. So in theory here if you for some reason were getting ready to vacate an area and decided upon protecting yourself your now a criminal for having weapons with you? Really?

Oddly enough for some reason I'm reminded of when Katrina hit No. I was in Camp Navistar Kuwait at the time, we had just hit ground and were assuming our mission of convoy security for missions on all points in Iraq. I sat in the dining hall watching the media coverage of the disaster and it was CNN, and the female reporter was commenting on much of the pillaging and looting. "Oh these people are with out supplies and basic needs, yet as she did that the camera panned out to show a couple individuals making off with a big flat screen TV. Did appear that much of the looting going on was for basic needs at that point, just seemed to be a number of people were taking advantage of the absence of law to take what they wanted.
My observations in events such as this breaks firearm possession down in to two distinct groups.
One the group that was using them to further their own means by robbery, pillaging or general trouble. The other group is people either defending what they have a right to defend, or at times banding together to defend neighborhoods and the like.

There are very few people that I know that want to kill or cause harm, but they have no trouble defending what they have a right to.

And this goes beyond situations of a natural disaster. I would be greatly happy if I never once had to fire a shot at anyone, no matter how deserving of it in the totality of my life. I was fortunate enough that though two Army deployments that I did not have to do that. But if I had no other choice to defend either myself or a anyone around me, Either in my own home or someone in the general public? God yes. I wouldn't think twice of doing so.

General terms police do a hell of a job, but when called to a scene they are a reactionary sort of thing, or whom ever it may be that is able to answer your call. In a natural disaster sort of thing when you are either disarmed in the situation for many people in the aftermath of Katrina or have no means of defense, your relying on the ability first off to call for the police, and the ability that they can get to you in time.
There was a case, and for the life of me I can not remember the details but it broke down that someone brought a lawsuit against a police department for not responding in time to stop a crime. (If memory serves me it was a violent crime) Basically the judgement was right in the fact that the police could not be held responsible for not getting there in time to prevent the crime. Now while I understand that, in some situations, police can be several minutes to a half an hour away. That isn't their fault so long as they upon receiving the call have done all they can to get there. And they do just that. Time and time again and its a thankless job. But you are the first line of defense in your home, and often times the last. In no way am I advocating vigilante justice. Let the police and criminal system do their job. But I know for a fact that if something happened in my home I would love any and all help neighbors could give to me in the time that it may take for a police officer to arrive. Or who ever it may be.
Stripping us of a basic right because of an "emergency situation" is a very dangerous thing. What else can they suspend in a disaster? That is a very broad thing. Could that not be attributed to a drought or something that goes beyond a quick happening storm? Perhaps I am not reading this right. However its a dangerous sort of situation where when it is not convenient you can have rights stripped away. Any of them.
All of them.

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