rhodescholar
Gold Member
- Banned
- #1
Though this was written about the 2nd Amendment, it gets my vote as the WORST, most absurd editorial written to a newspaper I've ever seen:
The Last Thing New York Needs Is More Guns - WSJ.com
By Robert M. Morgenthau
You can be forgiven if you thought that Republicans are for states’ rights. The Republican Party’s 2008 platform insists that Congress should respect the limits imposed by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that authority not granted to the federal government is reserved to the states. But for some Republicans, federal preemption of state authority seems just fine if it promotes the possession of guns.
That is the message of a bill sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, John Thune of South Dakota. The bill, sprung on us as a proposed amendment to a pending defense appropriations bill, would overrule the laws in states like New York.
In New York, the state imposes careful restrictions on who may carry concealed firearms. With the Thune amendment, New York and other states would be obliged to recognize licenses from jurisdictions which choose to issue them practically for the asking.
For example, in Ohio and Missouri, virtually any resident without a criminal record or prior hospitalizations for mental illness can carry a gun. Under the Thune amendment, that Midwesterner could legally carry the gun straight into New York, despite New York’s more stringent rules.
It gets worse. States like Florida and Texas are willing to issue carry permits to nonresidents under policies just as lax as those of Ohio and Missouri. The Thune amendment would provide a legal backdoor to a New Yorker who does not qualify for a carry permit under New York’s state law. The undeserving local applicant could obtain a permit down South, and then be entitled by federal law to carry his concealed gun around New York.
This affront to states’ rights could not be more flagrant, particularly as it would come in a regulatory area that has always been the province of state and local governments. What happened to the Tenth Amendment?
Speaking from a policy perspective, the last thing New York needs is a federal rule that lets more guns into the state. About 85% of the gun crimes in New York City are committed with weapons smuggled in from those other states that make gun ownership easy. Federal action is needed to shut down the pipeline that brings these guns to our streets.
Edited to comply with copyright policy.
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While I realize that Mr. Morgenthau is about 90 years (term limits anyone?) and has served for what seems like some 3 1/2 centuries, that is no excuse for this idiocy...
The Last Thing New York Needs Is More Guns - WSJ.com
By Robert M. Morgenthau
You can be forgiven if you thought that Republicans are for states’ rights. The Republican Party’s 2008 platform insists that Congress should respect the limits imposed by the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution, which declares that authority not granted to the federal government is reserved to the states. But for some Republicans, federal preemption of state authority seems just fine if it promotes the possession of guns.
That is the message of a bill sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, John Thune of South Dakota. The bill, sprung on us as a proposed amendment to a pending defense appropriations bill, would overrule the laws in states like New York.
In New York, the state imposes careful restrictions on who may carry concealed firearms. With the Thune amendment, New York and other states would be obliged to recognize licenses from jurisdictions which choose to issue them practically for the asking.
For example, in Ohio and Missouri, virtually any resident without a criminal record or prior hospitalizations for mental illness can carry a gun. Under the Thune amendment, that Midwesterner could legally carry the gun straight into New York, despite New York’s more stringent rules.
It gets worse. States like Florida and Texas are willing to issue carry permits to nonresidents under policies just as lax as those of Ohio and Missouri. The Thune amendment would provide a legal backdoor to a New Yorker who does not qualify for a carry permit under New York’s state law. The undeserving local applicant could obtain a permit down South, and then be entitled by federal law to carry his concealed gun around New York.
This affront to states’ rights could not be more flagrant, particularly as it would come in a regulatory area that has always been the province of state and local governments. What happened to the Tenth Amendment?
Speaking from a policy perspective, the last thing New York needs is a federal rule that lets more guns into the state. About 85% of the gun crimes in New York City are committed with weapons smuggled in from those other states that make gun ownership easy. Federal action is needed to shut down the pipeline that brings these guns to our streets.
Edited to comply with copyright policy.
----------------
While I realize that Mr. Morgenthau is about 90 years (term limits anyone?) and has served for what seems like some 3 1/2 centuries, that is no excuse for this idiocy...
