Sarah Brady's press release to the U.S. Newswire dated 4/11/2005.
"The Kansas Legislature last week passed a bill that should be called the 'No Local Rights' bill. If Senate Bill 195 becomes law, no city or town in Kansas would be able to pass its own regulations about guns, if those regulations are stricter than state law. That's a lot of nonsense, and Governor Sebelius should veto it, and the legislature should uphold her veto.
Nonsense? Exchange any other unalienable right with the right to bear arms and tell me this is nonsense. What if a city in Kansas decided that there is no explicit freedom of religion and that everyone in the city must worship at a Church of their choice each Sunday from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. Still think it's nonsense?
Why is it OK for local governments to regulate guns but not religion or speech? I mean why do we have a Constitution proclaiming and protecting the rights of the individual if some local politicians can remove them with a majority vote?
"Since 1860, local communities in Kansas have been regulating firearms because locally elected officials understood that different laws are necessary in different communities.
Is Mrs. Brady saying that some people in Kansas do not deserve the right to self-protection? How does one determine such a thing? Americans, are supposed to have equal protection under the law. Shouldn't we also have the right to equally protect ourselves from those outside the law?
People can feel the way they want about gun laws, but we should all agree that in a democracy, the people of a local community should be able to take the appropriate steps to ensure their safety locally. That's what democracy is all about. To pass this wrong headed language into law is contrary to democracy."
Pet peeve alert!!! I wish that people who insist on characterizing our form of government as a democracy would, at the very least, add the word constitutional to the beginning of their sentence. This would help ensure they realize there is a difference between a democracy and a Constitutional Democracy.
Mrs. Brady is a little confused by our system of government. We are not a democracy. We are a Representative Republic and the distinction is important. The founding fathers knew the danger that a majority or the mob, if you prefer, could pose to the minority. They set up a government where the individual would have equal access to everything America offers. When that access is encroached on by a third party such as the governments the individual can seek relief through the courts.
She may be right about putting such wording into the law. It may be anti-democratic if, in fact, the majority does disapprove of it. However it is not unconstitutional and that is all that should matter when it comes to such things.
By the way, I found this press release via this post from the War on Guns who follows it up today with this one.