I admit, while I am no fan of either downstate Representative John Atkins (R-Drunk) or Senator Joe Booth (R-Georgetown), I thought the bill they were cosponsoring, HB 357, which allegedly would forbid Delaware’s housing authorities from prohibiting their tenants to own firearms, was initially innocuous, because on first impression it seems to be a law that would allow law abiding sane citizens without criminal records the possession of firearms in their own homes, no matter if their own homes are public housing. And it is obvious why HB 357 is being sold to us in that fashion, because even I as a liberal who recognizes that the Second Amendment does exist and people have a right to keep a gun in their own home.
My mistake was not reading the legislation yet, only reports about the legislation. Luckily for us, Governor Markell and his aides did read HB 357. In a letter to both Atkins and Booth earlier this week, Governor Markell indicates that the bill goes way beyond that.
The legislation, Markell wrote, “will put the public at significant risk if enacted. This legislation prohibits state and local governments, our universities and colleges, our schools and others from imposing or enforcing common sense measures designed to protect our citizens from illegal gun violence.”
If the bill were to become law, Markell wrote, it would undo regulations that prohibit guns:
• In day care centers and preschools.
• On school buses.
• In the classroom buildings, dormitories and sporting facilities of the University of Del- aware, Delaware State University and Delaware Technical & Community College.
• In neighborhood group homes for people with mental illnesses.
• On DART buses and in taxis and limousines.
• In state parks and forests outside of hunting seasons and areas designated for hunting, including on beaches and in playground areas.
The bill also would undo regulations prohibiting most state employees from possessing firearms while on state property or conducting state business, and in various facilities operated by public housing authorities.
“Reversing these protections would not be a rational extension of the right to bear arms, but rather a dangerous introduction of guns into settings where there is reasonable and appropriate basis to exclude them,” Markell wrote.Booth said he intended to address only the housing authority bans and protect the tenants’ Second Amendment rights, not to undo a laundry list of other firearms regulations.
Does Booth even read his own legislation? Did he even write it? Because listen to what an affliate of the NRA has to say about the bill:
House Bill 357 would address a patchwork quilt of regulations, such as those cited by Markell, according to John Thompson, president of the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association, a National Rifle Association affiliate. “This bill was written to reach any regulation by a state agency that would prohibit firearm possession or ownership,” said Thompson, a lawyer and the sportsmen’s association’s lobbyist in Legislative Hall.
Thompson and his underlings at the DSSA and his affliates at the NRA wrote this bill. And they intended this bill to do away with every common sense gun control regulation we have in this state. And they found Joe Booth and John Atkins to do their bidding for them. Joe Booth and John Atkins are either a fool in not knowing what their own legislation intends to do, or they are liars attempting to sell a bill of goods to Delawareans.
If Joe Booth or John Atkins wants to allow citizens who live in public housing to own guns, fine, let’s have that debate, and let’s write that narrowly tailored legislation. But for the love of God, do it yourself and do not be a stooge for the NRA.