Wednesday, the Texas legislature’s House voted to allow their members to install “Panic” buttons in their office. Isn’t that special?
The reason they might just need these panic buttons is because some folks are just getting out of hand. And in their hands, they want deadly weapons. Just about wherever they go.
The Texas Lege is voting on whether to allow “Open Carry” of guns. Texas would join 22 states where Open Carry is already legal. [For the record, I am astonished that that bastion of gun rights, Texas, does not currently allow folks to carry guns wherever they choose. Shocked, in fact.]
The vote to allow House members to install “Panic Buttons” all came about because of a group of folks, ummmm, lobbying for open carry rights. This group went to the office of a House member, Pancho Nevarez, who had the audacity to plan to vote “No” on open carry. And while these “lobbyists” believe strongly in the Second Amendment, they apparently haven’t read about the FIRST Amendment. They were aggressive. They were intimidating. They were, in a word, assholes.
But the thing is, rather than doing anything to prevent assholes and crazy folks from carrying guns, intimidating people and killing them, the Texas House voted to allow their members to install “Panic Buttons” to alert security.
You will be surprised to know this action just doesn’t sit well with me.
Perhaps I should be used to it. After all, there have been security measures in Congress and most Executive Branch departments for nearly 30 years.
Folks cannot bring their weapons into the State or Defense or Homeland Security Department. You can’t even bring it into the Air and Space Museum.
And, really, that’s OK by me. I don’t want government officials to be shot at their desks. It’s so messy.
But you know what? I don’t think anybody should be shot at a Walmart. Or at a movie theater. Or at an elementary school.
So why should we provide an extra level of protection for the very same folks who vote to put the rest of us at risk?
The folks who decide on the gun laws are voting to keep themselves safe. If they’re going to do that, they should damn well vote to make me safe. And you. And our kids.
What is wrong with this picture?
FiftyFourandAHalf 