Arizona's First Political Blog

E-mail Anonymous Mike at zonitics4-at-yahoo.com

By Anonymous Mike, pseudonymously.

 
A Tale of Two Guns

In reading about New York Giant Plaxico Burress shooting himself with his own handgun, it's hard to feel sympathy for him because:

1) His gun went off accidentally

2) He did it in a night club while carrying a drink

Remember kids, drinking and firearms with the safety off don't mix.

Still the fact that the man faces a mandatory 3 1/2 year prison sentence on each of 2 counts for carrying a handgun without a license seems a bit excessive. 7 years in the slammer for self-defense? It does however show the differences in gun laws across our great land.

I'm a big believer in federalism, different strokes for different folks. If you want to live in an emerging nanny state where the mayor of your largest city bans trans-fats for "your own good," the state government jacks up taxes to pay huge salaries and bennies to unionized state workers, and you have to jump through more hoops than a circus lion to get a gun permit then New York is your cup of tea. If you like living in a state where it's "right to work," the gun laws are shall-issue, and there's an abundance of earth-toned stucco; might I suggest Arizona.

Now once again Mr. Burress is not exactly a sympathetic person and let's face it besides being a candidate for the Darwin Award he broke the law; Ignorantia juris neminem excusat. Amen

However judging from the remarks of Mayor Bloomberg and his almost fanatical glee in pursuing both Mr. Burress and the hospital that treated him, you have to ask from what emotional bearing the city is being run. While New York has improved, the Thin Blue Line has not yet made it a crime-free utopia. Mr. Burress works in a profession that was chronicled in a recent issue of the ESPN The Magazine about how professional football players fear for their safety a year after Sean Taylor's death. New York does not allow non-residents to hold gun permits, Mr. Burress resides in New Jersey, and both the city and state make any gun permit process onerous.

Perhaps the obvious solution is for Mr. Burress to hire an armed security gurard, with proper permits of course, so he wouldn't fear for his safety. You and I get to hope and pray and hope there is a lead pipe laying around.

That reminds me of an amusing story. I used to frequent a sushi place when I lived in Chandler; great place, a dive, where I thought they kept the lights low so you couldn't see how bad the carpeting was. Anyway one night as they were closing, I was watching the local news on TV with some of the staff when one of them recognized an (now ex) Arizona Cardinal player who was in court on a DUI (a number of Cardinal players would go there.) The staff member in question mentioned what a great guy he was, how neat his fiancee was, and how shocked she was to see him in such a situation. Thereafter when the player would go out to this place, he would rent a limo; I on the other hand made sure I stayed within the DUI laws by walking home.

See the ultimate solution for the Plaxicos of the world is to hire the limo, the rest of us have to get by with walking. When it comes to personal safety on the streets, that's what a Mr. Bloomberg run city will get you.
posted by Anonymous Mike at 6:17 PM