Legislation Would Ban Guns Near Lawmakers
New York Rep. Peter King is considering introducing the latest piece of hasty gun legislation after Saturday's shooting spree: Making it illegal to carry a gun within 1,000 feet of government officials. Everyone else can fend for themselves.
King is more receptive to gun control measures than most Republicans, and has a lifetime "D" rating from the NRA. And he's named other "measures he would like to see the President adopt, including overhauling the federal background check system, better information-sharing in background check databases, and actually appointing a head of the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), which incredibly has had no appointed director in nearly five years." (It's true! They've all been acting directors since 2006. The NRA is powerful enough on its own to block any candidate — especially from a Democratic president — from Senate confirmation. Then add tobacco and liquor lobbies! Obama would have to make a recess appointment.)
But his plan to introduce this 1,000-feet perimeter bill — which King's office hasn't confirmed yet — sounds very... arbitrary. How would it ever be enforced? And wouldn't King, who isn't that pro-gun control ultimately, label this a terrible violation of the Constitution if it applied to non-Peter Kings? Just keep a cop or two nearby when you do street-corner sessions from now on.
[Image via AP]