Will Gun Packing Elephants Shoot Holes in the Big Apple?
Shouldn't they be searched first, since they are actually more likely to have illegal weapons—and use them?
I’m not scared of terrorist attacks during the convention. I’m not even as scared of massive police abuse that some of my colleagues are waiting for. What I am scared of is the roughly five thousand Republican delegates—one of the largest core supporters of what they call “Second Amendment Rights”—and the most likely population to be packing concealed weapons in any given crowd in NYC.
In the context of this administration’s having created the most divided (definitely NOT united) country in years, and having managed to polarize debate in this country to the level of shrill screaming and possible violence rather than informed and even reasonably respectful debate, there is tremendous potential for tragedy.
Add to that the GOP’s arrogance of locating their convention in a stalwartly Democratic stronghold resentful of the clear opportunism in linking the convention timing to September 11th by making it as close to the end of the September 1st cutoff as possible, and claiming New York for their ad campaigns, there are a lot of pissed off New Yorkers. To those glowing embers, add a few beers, a few political confrontations, anger on both sides, and I can easily see some family-values spewing conservative Christian pulling out his only true friend and blowing a few protesters away in the name of Jesus and country.
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to hear less about what the NYPD is doing to corral and control possible rogue protesters, who are mostly peaceful anyway, and what, if anything, they plan to do about 2nd-Amendment-obsessed, heat-packing Republicans in highly gun-restricted NYC attending the convention.
While I’ve heard tell that handguns are prohibited at the convention (not a bad idea considering they are highly restricted within city limits), I would damn sure want to hear that Republican delegates will be randomly searched for firearms at least as often as protesters will be randomly searched for whatever the PD can find on them. And, since it’s against city law, if they’re not also fined and confiscated, it’s hypocritical and cronyism in their clearest forms.
Handguns are highly restricted in the city of New York. Police are purportedly there to protect the public and enforce the law. I demand that the NYPD make random searches of Republican delegates to see if they are carrying concealed weapons illegally. Anything less is unequal administration under the law and should be brought to the courts immediately as a breach of the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
What to do? Put your computer down, and call the Mayor’s office, the Chief of Police’s office, and the ACLU to let them all know you demand that Republican delegates be searched both randomly and when there is good cause to believe they are carrying firearms that are illegal in the city of New York. And call the New York Times editorial desk to demand they do their job by covering this overlooked story.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
PHONE 311 (or 212-NEW-YORK outside NYC)
FAX (212) 788-2460
E-MAIL:
http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
NYC Chief of Police: 646-610-5000
NYC ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/feedback/feedback.cfm
NY Times Editors: 1-888-NYT-NEWS
Courtesy of GW Bush, you can use his contact media page to write to your local and NYC local media about this.
In the meantime, stay away from drunk angry God-fearing, "pro-life," pro-death penalty, pro-hypocrisy Republicans.
Send this article to a friend Printer-Friendly Version
More articles by this author, J Klein
J Klein is the creator of DemocracyMeansYou and occasionally writes and pens cartoons for the site. He lives in an undisclosed location in North Carolina with Dick Cheney.
DemocracyMeansYou was started as both an artistic response to the ubiquitous flag stickers after 9/11 (the THINK sticker was the impetus for the whole shebang), and a forum for liberal and progressive opinion, humor (always important), and inspiring / urging / demanding participation in the democratic process.
He has written for various publications and websites over the years, has worked as a licensed Psychiatric Technician with both the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled; worked as a mechanic for several years; worked for local government promoting ridesharing and alternative transportation in California; quantifying school accountability for California schools; and marketing writing and web design.
