Tuesday, April 15, 2014

All laws are about fence-building or rent-seeking.

When last we left Don Davis, owner of Don's Guns, former Hoffa bodyguard, and all-around douchebag and general tool, he was engaged in an attempt to guard his indoor range rice bowl by enthusiastically speaking up in favor of expanding the ban on shootin' in the old Indy city limits all the way out to the Marion county line.

Well, how does it feel to want, Don?
But a ban has been on the books in ­Indianapolis since at least 1975. It prohibits target practice, hunting and random shooting of guns. Violators are subject to a fine.

City lawyers discovered that the ordinance was actually “void,” or unenforceable, because of the state law. Councilwoman Angela Mansfield pressed ahead anyway with an ordinance that would expand the ban to the outer county. She said those once-rural areas are now developed and populated and it was dangerous to allow guns to be discharged there.

Councilman Will Gooden said state law allows citizens to sue municipalities that pass their own gun laws.

“My concern is we are exposing ourselves to extreme consequences, ­extreme liability and extreme costs,” Gooden said.
Boom. Taste the preemption, beeyotches.
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13 comments:

Crustyrusty said...

KY has preemption... it's a beautiful thing :-)

Bubblehead Les. said...

Well, if your local Political Hacks wish to push it, I think the Fines should use the same standard as the Antis have recommended in the past, the $1,000 a Bullet Tax. Every day on the Books, One G to the State.

Sauce for the Goose...

Noah D said...

Don's has a range? I could have sworn they just had a long dark closet where they kept safety violations.

(Yes, I shot there a few times, in my youth. Never have I been in a more miserable atmosphere, in all senses of the word.)

Matt said...

Arizona has the preemption law in place. It has kept some of the lefty cities in line the last couple of years. It would be best if they would apply it to university and college campuses as well.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Angela Mansfield is a boil on the ass of the body politic. But that comparison is to demean boils, which have no conscious volition.

Hmm, wait a minute...

Anonymous said...

So Council peeps Gooden or his staff actually read the law.

I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised.

Gerry

joethefatman said...

Preemption laws FTW.

Anonymous said...

I am just trying to figure out how moving a gun from rural to urban makes it more lethal. Is there a special attachment that magically appears and disappears as you cross the pomerium?
Kishnevi

og said...

As if shooting were a zero sum game. We are having to stricture our membership requirements to keep our range from being overrun! Plenty to go around, morons.

Tam said...

Noah D,

"Don's has a range? I could have sworn they just had a long dark closet where they kept safety violations."

Congratulations on winning today's internets. :)

RandyGC said...

Preemption can be a wondrous thing.

I love the variant they were trying in Florida holding politicians at the city and county levels personally liable for damages for passing laws they knew to be in violation of state preemption.

Don't know if it ever came to pass, but hitting them in their personal (as opposed to taxpayers) wallets has much appeal to me.

Ed said...

The Florida preemption law has teeth:

https://www.floridacarry.org/issues/firearms-preemption

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/15/gun-rights-win-in-florida-state-law-will-soon-end-local-firearms-restrictions/

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String&URL=0700-0799/0790/Sections/0790.33.html

Buzz said...

Noah,

He doesn't want to make any money by forcing citizens to indoor ranges, he just loves to sell guns that people can proudly strap on their waists as flair.