Foolish lawmaker wants to jail gun-control supporters
Yael T. AbouhalkahThink you’re serious about protecting the Second Amendment and the right to own as many guns as you want?
Then meet Missouri lawmaker Mike Leara, a St. Louis County Republican.
He’s really intent on going over the top in embracing our gun-mad world.
On Tuesday he was gaining national media attention (here and here) for introducing a bill in the Missouri General Assembly that says this:
“Specifies that any member of the General Assembly who proposes legislation that further restricts an individual’s right to bear arms will be guilty of a class D felony.”
In other words, Leara wants to jail any fellow lawmaker who would even try to propose a gun control measure.
It’s such a silly idea that even Leara says it won’t pass and become law.
I hope he’s right. But then again….
Given the ultra-conservative mindset of the Republican-controlled legislature, a bill aimed at throwing (basically) liberal-leaning Democrats in prison for up to four years might actually have a chance of passing.
Remember, this is the same group of lawmakers who keep trying to pass laws that say Missouri doesn’t have to listen to the federal government when it comes to rules about guns and health care.
It’s a charade, but it’s a time-wasting practice the Republicans have perfected in Missouri.
Leara’s bill comes at an inconvenient time for gun lovers.
A new study shows gun murders in Missouri have gone up 25 percent since the state’s “permit to purchase” law regarding guns was killed by lawmakers.
Leara claims that his new bill is his way of standing up for the rights of gun owners and for the Second Amendment.
He’s also standing up for his right to look like a fool.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoYup, kind of like the “legislator” who proposed a law giving the local sheriff the right to enter an assault weapon owner’s house, only once per year of course, without a warrant to “look around”.
I must have missed your blog on that proposal yt since I am sure you were “fair and balance” with respect to “legislators” doing crazy things…..
Warren Ripley
3 months agoOnce again, Yael doesn’t allow facts to get in the way of his opinion. According to FBI/ATF statistics a.) over 90% of gun crime is committed with Illegally obtained weapons (pay attention now, Yael, that means they weren’t purchased at Wal-Mart). b.) The same report notes that the States and cities with the most gun control laws (NY, Chicago, etc.) have the highest rate of gun violence. The 2nd amendment is an “unalienable” right and gun control people are the “Extremists” not people who revere the bill of rights.
K.C. Maynes
3 months agoGeorge, I don’t agree with him either, but you shouldn’t expect “fair and balanced” from a piece marked “Opinion” written by a member of the Star’s editorial group. He can write whatever he wants because it’s not being represented as news or fact, only his opinion.
Mark Hastert
3 months agoAnother example of the ignorant folks that can get themselves elected to the Missouri Legislature purely for the purpose of making grandstanding proposals that have the unique combination of being both unlawful and irrational.
How about they go about fixing our roads & bridges? It’s really hard to imagine that this is what he got elected to do. Guys like this are an other example of what Bobby Jindal called the “the stupid party”
Have you been reading that in many small ways universal background checks are moving forward as well as restrictions on high capacity magazines. A recently published legal opinion suggested that both fall comfortably within the SCOTUS’s ruling. Not as inalienable as you might think…. actually if you’d do a little homework you’d find that it never has been.
Greg McFarland
3 months agoThis is in response to the bill that basically makes gun owners felons. Maybe he should have written the bill to state that it was a felony to knowingly write an unconstitutional bill.
Next problem is that the study Yael references doesn’t pass the smell test. See http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/mocrimn.htm as well as the FBI data. The data was cherry picked and I am actually not even sure where they got it other than just making it up since it does follow any official reporting method.
Greg McFarland
3 months agoOops. Does not follow.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoI do not expect it from him KC… I was tweaking him for his OBVIOUS PARTISANSHIP while he will bitch and moan at the lack of bipartisanship or “fair and balanced” commentaries……
the star is stocked with like-minded thinkers to yt each bemoaning fairness and all that other lib crap. They do not practice what they preach and I enjoy exposing them for same!
Johnathon Busby
3 months agoJust when I thought the GOP could reach no lower, they resurrect the old theological stick: heresy. Not only must we believe as they believe, that people should be allowed to carry any weapon they please, but you aren’t even allowed to propose anything to the contrary, else you’re burned at the stake (or thrown in jail in this case). The similarities between the GOP methods of control and the religious institutions’ methods of control are not coincidence. (I suspect they would howl and rage if the left proposed a law to jail anyone who wanted to restrict abortion, just as a parallel.)
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoyessiree… these government bureaucrats are topnotch….
How much longer are we going to have to put-up with this type of crap from bureaucrats??
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/tsa-detains-3-year-old-in-wheelchair.html
Mark Hastert
3 months ago“This is in response to the bill that basically makes gun owners felons.”
…and what bill would that be? Let me ask the question of our gun totin’ friends that’s gone unanswered for more than a month now. Is there ANY kind of firearm that you believe ought to be restricted? How is it possible to assert a constitutional right to own firearms that could never have even been imagined by the framers of the Constitution and thus never within the known intent? Actually I know your answer 1. No, which is why you’re losing the argument 2. You can’t which is why you’re losing the argument. Ridiculous laws proposed by silly lawmakers aren’t helping either. The more irrational the NRA and proponents act the more reasonable the restrictions look.As Bobby Jindal said, the stupid party.
Greg McFarland
3 months agoHB 545
http://www.house.mo.gov/billsummary.aspx?bill=HB545&year=2013&code=R
I just wish they would do something about criminals. Nothing that is being proposed at this point would have an impact on gun crime.
Matt Henry
3 months agoGod bless your heart, Johnathan, but you are such a tool.
This one lawmaker proposes something stupid and now its “the GOP.” Care to make a list of the stupid, crass, and asinine laws that are designed to restrict even the smallest liberties by any state lawmaker anywhere in the country by your adorable little progressives? Shall we then extrapolate that to every democrat? Grow up so we can have a real conversation.
And for Pete’s sake. Heresy? From those who brought us Global Warming “deniers”? Or how about hate crime legislation, so that people serve a harsher penalty based on WHAT THEY ARE THINKING when they commit a crime…
Is this doofus of a lawmaker over the top? Of course he is. But to suggest that the thought police don’t exist on the left, that political correctness as societal bludgeon isn’t a “progressive” weapon is arrogant, naive, stupid and narcissistic all rolled into one.
Kent Mueller
3 months agoWell said, Matt. You and I acknowledge there are some pretty poor legislators who are Republican. However, the list is much longer for the Democrats.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoEverything is ok now, the TSA says they were sorry for traumatizing a 3 year old. How much longer do we put-up with this bureaucratic crap? Where are the phils of the world helping this family????????
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/tsa-apologizes-for-detaining-3-year-old-in-wheelchair.html