With liberty and guns for all

My oh my is the political right good at making themselves look like imbeciles and rednecks sometimes. Reasons such as those that follow make me, at times, embarrassed to have some conservative views, and therefore be lumped in with "conservatives."

Rep Stephen Sandstrom of Orem has decided that, along with championing a bill similar to the mind numbingly idiotic piece of immigration legislation recently enacted by the Arizona state legislature, he will put forth a bill that would eliminate the need for a permit to conceal a handgun in the state of Utah. Now, Utah residents may already conceal a weapon in their car, or homes, and can even, God help us, open carry. In other words, any redneck jackass can wear a gun on a holster and scare the hell out of those who aren't accustomed to being around firearms, while ordering a burrito at Del taco. So Mr. Sandstrom is proposing that any person be able to pack heat where nobody can see, no questions asked.

I own a .45. I sometimes conceal it. I have a permit to do so. I grew up around guns. I am familiar with them. I'm not going to accidentally blow my nards off, nor the nards of any other person. In order to get said permit, I had to take a class familiarizing me with the different gun laws of the state, and handgun safety in general. All pretty necessary things, I think, in order to be a "safe" carrier.

This dummy of a right wing conservative said this:"It's just like freedom of religion: You do not have to go and get an exercise-of-religion card." Did I copy and paste that right? Did he really say, "exercise-of-religion card? " Does that even make sense? Or is it as incoherent as I think it is? And is he really comparing the right to carry around a deadly weapon to the right to worship? Last time I checked, you can't blow your own nards off with a bible. Nor the nards of your fellow church goers. Unless, of course, you are an Islamic extremist, and you filled a bible full of C4, and strapped that to your genitals. I guess what I'm saying here, is this is ridiculous.

People on the KSL comment board, bless their little ultra conservative hearts, were saying things like "The bad guys are gonna carry guns anyway. They don't care about permits, blah blah blah I have tunnel vision."
Well, while it is certainly true that "bad guys" will carry guns regardless, that doesn't mean that I want just any moron to waltz into Cabbellas' and buy his first 9mm, and walk out the door with it stuffed in his waist band.

"It does not say you have the right to keep and bear arms as long as you have a permit from the federal government or your local or state government — it just gives you that right. Bearing arms means carrying them." While I agree that the constitution certainly gives people the right to carry weapons, there is nothing wrong with the fact that we have added a little responsibility to that right. The founders didn't say, "You have the right to keep and bear arms unless you are a felon," but we certainly have added in that clause. So I guess if this "purist" Sandstrom wants any asshole to be able to pack secret heat, then he should probably include felons in his crusade. Or is he simply going to pick and chose what he likes vs what he doesn't like? Typical.

The bottom line is, I want responsible people to carry guns. There is an inherent responsibility that goes with requiring a permit. It isn't expensive to get. People aren't being truly limited, or even overly regulated. I think the state is just trying to make sure that those who chose not to exercise their right to bear arms, aren't harmed by idiots who do, but are too stupid or lazy to learn how to do it right.

Since we're obviously shooting for a more wild west friendly state theme, maybe if we arm everyone, we can just force all those pesky immigrants out at gun point, and then we wont even need to emulate Arizona's legislation.

Kill every bird with one stone.