Truman's Conscience

Guns, drinkin' and porn [insert rebel yell here]

Well now. I just want to make sure I've got this straight.

Anytime I want I can fill my car with as many guns as I can buy along with all the Jack Daniels I can get my hands on with any variety of porn magazines and literature for recreational distraction and pull up to a school or day care center and no one can do a thing about it. This includes any courthouse, any place I'm employed, public or private, and not a soul can say or do anything to stop me. Oh yeah, let's not forget my favorite place I might want to go, especially if I've got "female problems" and I find out where my estranged wife/girlfriend is hiding out from me and I pull up to the halfway house where she's staying for protection. No one can do or say anything about it. Or so says the HB 1417 Individual Personal Private Property Protection Act of 2007 which just passed the Florida state Senate Criminal Justice Committee 7 - 1.

Forget the school or the battered spouse or employer who just fired someone. The most important thing is guns and the right to have them in your car, anywhere and anytime. [insert another rebel yell here].

Just for the record, in the state Senate the bill number is actually S2356. Major kudos to the lone dissenter on the committee in the 7 - 1 vote: Vice Chair Dave Aronberg (D - District 27, Ft. Myers). If you get a chance send him a thank you for not voting for this wingnuttery nonsense. On the other hand let the other two Democrats on the committee know how displeased and disappointed you are: Sen. M. Mandy Dawson (D-Ft. Lauderdale/District 29) and Sen. Frederica S. Wilson (D - Miami Gardens/District 33).

The actions of Dawson and Wilson here are real head scratchers. If nothing else this demonstrates the power the NRA has at the state level. Even on Democrats. I'm wondering just how beholden Dawson and Wilson are to them? The NRA even had the resources to overcome the business lobby on this one. This is disturbing on so many levels I'm not sure where to begin. Even on your own property, private or commercial, you cannot prohibit firearms, alcohol or pornography as long as it is in someone's car? Especially where children are concerned? I really need someone to explain this "family value" to me.

You really can't make this stuff up, can you?