[BITList] Oklahomans Unconceal Their Loaded Handguns - NYTimes.com

[x50type at cox.net]

Oklahomans Unconceal Their Loaded Handguns - NYTimes.comappears in some parts of the USA their clocks have not moved forward, they are still in the 1800’s....................

can’t wait for the gun toting drunks to have at it.

‘no guns allowed’ must surely be contrary to somebody’s civil liberties?

yee-haw...................................

From: M.j. Feltham 
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2012 11:06 AM
Subject: [BITList] Oklahomans Unconceal Their Loaded Handguns - NYTimes.com

What about the last paragraph ! 


Mike
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/03/opinion/oklahomans-unconceal-their-loaded-handguns.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1351958633-NtkuOoCQVc8FTdQAyMpOIQ&_r=0


Oklahomans Packing Heat
Two dozen men with guns entered an Oklahoma City diner promptly at midnight on Wednesday, intent on inaugurating a pernicious new law allowing the state’s 142,000 citizens with concealed-handgun licenses to begin wearing their loaded weapons publicly. “I just feel more secure and safe,” Joe Wood, an aircraft mechanic, told The Oklahoman newspaper, his Taurus PT145 pistol ready for action against any sudden attack by the eggs and burgers. 

Other Oklahomans’ sense of security and safety was not on the midnight menu, though law enforcement officials made their objections clear when “open carry” was signed into law in May by Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican. A previous version was vetoed in 2010 by Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat, over such questions as how to sort out licit gun wielders from perpetrators at a crime scene. 

Statehouse proponents, ever obeisant to the gun lobby, contend that anyone with a handgun license has to pass a strict state check of criminal and mental health records. The dangerous loophole here is that Oklahoma is grossly delinquent in such oversight, submitting fewer than four cases last year to the federal mental health watch list. 

Oklahoma is the place where “going postal” became an unfortunate American cliché a generation ago after 14 co-workers were shot dead by a postal worker who then killed himself. It is the 15th state to legalize open carry on the fatuous promise that public safety will be enhanced. The only obvious purpose is to allow macho gun enthusiasts — not true sportsmen — to display the intimidating power of the gun before the rest of the public, as was the case two years ago when protesters showed up at political gatherings with holstered weapons. 

Business owners are in a muddle over whether to exercise their right under the new law to put up polite “no guns allowed” signs for the sake of the family crowd, or to allow guns at the table, plain as salt and pepper shakers. The law proclaims that inebriated people must never strap on their guns. But even the owner of the diner where open carry was inaugurated wonders about that one. “What it is that scares me is Fridays, Saturdays, the bar crowd — people come sometimes drunk,” Renee Masoudy, the owner, said. 





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