None so blind...

Jim Thompson, columnist for the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald, believes that GeorgiaCarry.org shouldn't insist on challenging the state preemption laws which, like Kentucky's, ensure responsible, law-abiding citizens are not subject to a mish-mash patchwork of local regulations. His article, "Looking at the world through a gun sight", would be better titled, "The view through my rose-colored glasses".

Here are a couple of excerpts. The first shows Mr. Thompson's casual disregard for the law. Apparently he only wants us to obey the laws he believes worthwhile or worthy. The second shows a degree of naiveté that is hard to credit to a reporter who should surely know that bad things always happen to someone else - until they happen to you. Has there never been a single mugging or other attack in a Georgia park? I doubt it.

In truth, it may not make sense. The appeals court's reading of the statute seems reasonable. The law does, in fact, say that local governments can't regulate the "carrying" of firearms, and as far as Athens-Clarke County is concerned, it seems clear that keeping guns out of public parks is regulating where guns can be carried.

Never mind that it's likely that if GeorgiaCarry.org wasn't pressing this case, 16-11-173 (2)(b)(1), at least as it relates to carrying a firearm, would be a little-noticed provision of state law that would, as is apparently the case in Athens-Clarke County, be breached to no ill effect. (my emphasis-gbw)

and

Of course, the immediate answer to that question from gun rights advocates is that an unarmed populace is at the mercy of anyone who might decide to turn a public place into a shooting gallery. And in this day of the 24-hour news cycle, that can seem like a real danger. Just last week, a troubled young man walked in to an Omaha mall and gunned down eight people before turning his gun on himself. Almost before the last shot was fired, network news anchors and reporters were in place at the mall, giving non-stop attention to the incident.

But when was the last time anyone was gunned down in an Athens-Clarke County park? Yeah, I know - it could happen tomorrow. But I'll bet that it won't. And I'll bet that it won't happen the next day, or the next, or the next. (my emphasis-gbw)

Mr. Thompson is free to believe what he wants to believe. Many who held this view have changed their minds after they were raped, robbed, or beaten. While I hope Mr. Thompson might come to see the light, I pray his personal wake-up call isn't as traumatic.