TORONTO — A couple of years ago, I was in Minnesota to cover the NHL playoffs, and took some time to walk around St. Paul and take in the sights.
There are not a lot of sights in St. Paul. But there was a children’s museum, which was notable for the signs it had in the front window:
No Firearms Allowed.
This struck me as oddly funny. Was there such a demand to bring handguns into the kids’ museum that it needed a specific prohibition? “Sir, the Lego display is here and the Play-Doh is over there, and the bouncy castle is out back, and please put your Sig Sauer in this lock box before signing out your paint brushes.”
But as that trip wore on, I noticed there were no-handguns signs in a lot of places where weapons should, rather evidently, not be allowed. The Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild play, and the Target Center, home to the Timberwolves. Same deal in Chicago, at the United Center: specific signage that outlawed guns.
Again, this seems like the most obvious of precautions. What kind of lunatic would want to introduce loaded weapons into the highly charged atmosphere of a professional sports arena?
These lunatics: Matt Shea, David Taylor, and Bob McCaslin, three state legislators in Washington who have brought forward a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons permits to bring their handguns into arenas and stadiums in the state, which include CenturyLink Field (home to the Seahawks and Sounders) and Safeco Field, where the Mariners play. The proposed law would essentially ban handgun bans in any publicly-managed facility, which includes the big stadiums.
It would not shock you to learn that the three sponsors of the bill are Republican. It would also not shock you that in liberal Washington state, which legalized marijuana back when Justin Trudeau was still just a handsome backbench MP for Papineau, no one expects the bill to become law.
Let us hope this is true. The last thing America needs at this troubled point in its existence is a bunch of pistol-wielding drunks who are very unhappy with that roughing-the-passer penalty.
More.............
Republican proposal to allow guns in Washington stadiums is the last thing sports — and America — needs | National Post
There are not a lot of sights in St. Paul. But there was a children’s museum, which was notable for the signs it had in the front window:
No Firearms Allowed.
This struck me as oddly funny. Was there such a demand to bring handguns into the kids’ museum that it needed a specific prohibition? “Sir, the Lego display is here and the Play-Doh is over there, and the bouncy castle is out back, and please put your Sig Sauer in this lock box before signing out your paint brushes.”
But as that trip wore on, I noticed there were no-handguns signs in a lot of places where weapons should, rather evidently, not be allowed. The Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild play, and the Target Center, home to the Timberwolves. Same deal in Chicago, at the United Center: specific signage that outlawed guns.
Again, this seems like the most obvious of precautions. What kind of lunatic would want to introduce loaded weapons into the highly charged atmosphere of a professional sports arena?
These lunatics: Matt Shea, David Taylor, and Bob McCaslin, three state legislators in Washington who have brought forward a bill that would allow people with concealed-weapons permits to bring their handguns into arenas and stadiums in the state, which include CenturyLink Field (home to the Seahawks and Sounders) and Safeco Field, where the Mariners play. The proposed law would essentially ban handgun bans in any publicly-managed facility, which includes the big stadiums.
It would not shock you to learn that the three sponsors of the bill are Republican. It would also not shock you that in liberal Washington state, which legalized marijuana back when Justin Trudeau was still just a handsome backbench MP for Papineau, no one expects the bill to become law.
Let us hope this is true. The last thing America needs at this troubled point in its existence is a bunch of pistol-wielding drunks who are very unhappy with that roughing-the-passer penalty.
More.............
Republican proposal to allow guns in Washington stadiums is the last thing sports — and America — needs | National Post
