More Guns, Less Budget in Juneau

Last month a woman took her own life on the steps of the Courthouse in Juneau. The Legislature went on lockdown — after ushering aides and press out of the room. As a result, the Legislature is considering new protocols to keep their own precious souls safe from any gun violence that might befall them while at work. I get it. The Capitol building is a no-gun zone. But what I find truly remarkable is that Sen. Pete Kelly will even go to work in a “gun-free zone.” According to the “logic” in his op-ed on SB 174, the Legislature is really just asking for a bad guy with a gun to come in blazing since Pete is so sure there’s no good guy with a gun to defend them.

Oh, that’s fantasy thinking. The ammosexuals who think they’re going to be cool-handed heroes when the time comes have a better chance of figuring out how to fly should they ever get shot out of a cannon. Sailing through the legal process like a cop-killer bullet hitting a Kevlar vest is the Guns on Campus bill. I guess it’s too much to wish the Common Sense Fairy would visit Juneau and put some sense under the pillows of Alaska lawmakers.

Since all our fiscal woes have been solved, it’s really fantastic that the Republican majority in both houses has seen fit to make sure the governor can’t accept money from the federal government unless they deem it fit for spending. Brilliant move. Oh, and that pesky Daylight Saving Time will save about the same to our treasury … nothing.

This crop of cronies would be comical if they weren’t so dangerous. The majority of Alaskans have testified that our institutions of learning — including dorms — be gun-free. I know, it’s like we remember how passionate and sometimes confrontational the conversations got during our college years.

Since I know not everyone finds “Gavel to Gavel” as riveting as I do, here are a few highlights from the floor speeches this week regarding the university Stand Your Ground bill:

Sen. Pete Kelly of Fairbanks is pretty sure every university shooting could have been prevented by a gun-toting glory wannabe. Really. When I interviewed Colin Goddard, a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting, he told me the most offensive thing anyone ever asked him about the shooting was, “Don’t you wish you’d had a gun?” He was shot four times. The University of Alaska doesn’t want guns on their campus — well, at least the “elitists” don’t, according to Kelly. You know, the elitists who want to learn stuff without getting shot. Learning — bad; packing heat — good.

Sen. Mike Dunleavy was really adamant about young college women being able to protect themselves with a weapon in the face of danger. He says he’s worried about the 1 in 4 women statistic for college females being assaulted. His answer? Give her a gun! Woot! Remember when the appropriate high school graduation gift was luggage? Sigh. Now it’s a Glock. He says restraining orders don’t stop violence. You don’t say, Mr. Dunleavy. Welcome to our world. Remember, this is the same man who apparently thinks an 18-year-old female on campus should have a gun to keep men from harassing her, but an 18-year-old female in her senior year of high school can’t handle information about her reproductive system from Planned Parenthood. Let’s trust the ladies with a gun, but not with knowledge about their own bodies.

In closing, Sen. Charlie Huggins, a Republican who apparently has a time machine and is visiting from 1952, introduced a special guest. He was tickled pink that a lobbyist from the NRA was in the gallery to watch the Legislature arm our campuses. What a day! He was introduced as “Mr. NRA.” Thanks, Charlie. He is really proud of the gun shows in high schools in his district. Just so we are clear, I’m old enough to remember when the NRA was an organization for citizens with guns and not just gun manufacturers — also known as the good old days.

I swear, if the legislative brain power were ammo, none of us would have to duck for cover.

But wait, here’s the kicker. The law doesn’t hold up to that pesky Constitution that makes a bunch of rules for us. The liberal giant the late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the Heller decision, “Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

Here’s a note to the Legislature: “Schools and government buildings” means the universities and the very building you darken the door of, the Capitol. If you’re going to drop safety for professors and all of our students, then you need to drop it for yourselves. When you have to think of your constituents the way teachers now have to think about their students, how are you going to decide if they are a good guy with a gun or a bad one?

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