Romney Under Pressure, New York Times and Deseret Morning News, Aug. 6, 2007
Will work for fuel" designs June 2, 2008
2007 BugsGoneWild.com Calendar, Oct. 29, 2006
Fox and Friends, Fox News Channel -- Mancow with BMW’s Don't Taze Me, Bro! T-Shirt, Oct. 3, 2007
After watching a local television station’s interview of City Attorney John Hessel, I couldn’t help but think how he and other victims of Thursday night’s shooting tragedy in Kirkwood, Mo., might have fared better with the help of concealed firearms.
Taking place both outside and inside the St. Louis suburb’s city council building, the senseless shootings by gunman Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton left six people — including the shooter, three city officials and two city police officers — dead and two wounded.
Among the 30 or so gathered in the Kirkwood City Hall meeting room that night, only one trained and qualified person — Officer Tom Ballman — carried a firearm. Had only one other trained person carried a firearm into the meeting that night, the number of dead and wounded might have been greatly reduced. Surprisingly, Kirkwood city laws don’t entirely prevent it!
While Sec. 17-132 (a) of the Kirkwood municipal ordinances prevents ordinary citizens — including even those who’ve completed concealed-carry training and received permits to carry concealed firearms — from carrying concealed weapons into meetings of the Kirkwood City Council, it makes an exception for council members as follows:
…nothing in this subdivision shall preclude a member of the Kirkwood City Council, holding a valid concealed carry endorsement, from carrying a concealed firearm at a meeting of the City Council provided that it is not otherwise prohibited herein. Possession of a firearm in a vehicle on the premises shall not be a criminal offense so long as the firearm is not removed from the vehicle or brandished while the vehicle is on the premises.
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Note: The piece above is not intended to serve as a criticism of any of the innocent victims, including Kirkwood city officials, who’ve suffered so much as a result of the shootings Thursday; rather, it’s intended to serve as an observation about the need to put firearms in the hands of trained, responsible and law-abiding citizens in keeping with the spirit of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
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To read other posts about the Kirkwood City Hall shootings, click here.
For other gun-related posts on this blog, click on one of the links below:
To learn more about concealed-carry laws and firearms training in Missouri, click here.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Always On Watch // Feb 9, 2008 at 1:37 pm
“Had only one other trained person carried a firearm into the meeting that night, the number of dead and wounded might have been greatly reduced.”
Sure sounds that way!
Some years ago, Kinnesaw, Georgia, was experiencing quite a crime wave–burglaries, I think. An ordinance was enacted requiring all citizens to train in correct handling of firearms and to arm themselves. Voila! A huge reduction in the number of burglaries!
2 » Might More Firearms Have Helped in Kirkwood? NoisyRoom.net: Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace. Amelia Earhart // Feb 10, 2008 at 12:43 pm
[...] From Bob McCarty Writes: [...]
3 No Oil for Pacifists // Feb 10, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I agree; gun-free isn’t free. Unfortunately, I live and work in the District of Columbia, meaning I remain disarmed, at least for now.
4 stilletto // Feb 11, 2008 at 9:44 am
Of course, and for every innocent shot by a stranger with a firearm, three thousand innocent children are shot accidently by their parents firearm. The upside is that natural selection will eventually eliminate gun nuts by attrition.
5 hotoffthepress2 // Feb 11, 2008 at 9:51 am
stilletto — Let’s assume for a moment that you’re right about the 3,000 stat you cite above. I received an e-mail from a friend today that explains it: “At a recent rural elementary school meeting in north Florida, Hillary Clinton asked the kids in the audience for total quiet. Then, in the silence, she started to slowly clap her hands, once every few seconds.. Holding the audience in total silence, she said into the microphone, ‘Every time I clap my hands, a child in America dies from gun violence.’ A few seconds went by, then a young voice with a proud southern accent from the front of the crowd pierced the silence, saying,
“Well, stop clappin, ya stupid b_ _ _ _!”
6 stilletto // Feb 11, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Yes of course that explains it, in the same way that building a fence around the world’s oceans will keep all the ships from falling off.
7 hotoffthepress2 // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:00 pm
stilletto — Write when you find work, okay?
8 stilletto // Feb 11, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Quite the co-incidence, your getting that e-mail just when you needed it, assuming for the moment that you actually received said e-mail.
9 Bob McCarty « Loneranger’s Weblog // Feb 14, 2008 at 9:31 pm
[...] Bob McCarty Filed under: Uncategorized — loneranger2008 @ 8:31 pm Bob McCarty, a fellow blogger, wonders if more fire power might have helped in MO. Read about it here. [...]
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