Gun rights advocate challenges St. Louis Zoo policy barring weapons
Source: STL Post Dispatch
Jeffry Smith, 56, who in October led a march of about 40 people through downtown St. Louis to assert their right to carry guns openly in public, said he might defy the zoos signs that say no firearms or weapons are allowed on the property. State law does prohibit guns in gated areas of amusement parks, but Smith questions whether the zoo fits that description because it is a public, taxpayer-supported attraction.
That signage, unless its backed up by case law or statutory law, is nothing more than the zoos attempt to reinforce their biases and to deceive people into not exercising their rights, said Smith, of Cincinnati. This is not about protecting oneself from the wildebeests in the zoo. This is about the zoo deceiving people into thinking they dont have that choice of whether to bring a gun in or leave it in a car.
Zoo spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said she could not answer questions about the issue but provided a statement saying, It is the St. Louis Zoos position that all weapons, including concealed firearms, are prohibited within the gated area of the zoo.
The statement said the zoos weapons ban also relied on numerous state statues including several provisions of state statute 571.107 that support our position that weapons are prohibited. The statement did not specify which parts of the law applies to the zoo.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/gun-rights-advocate-challenges-st-louis-zoo-policy-barring-weapons/article_4dcdc258-822a-5187-847a-590e9634b65f.html
Skittles
(153,321 posts)is there nowhere people are safe from these paranoid freaks?
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)overturning the decision to NOT pass the law legalizing it, in most of the St. Louis area, No Concealed Weapon signs popped up everywhere, not just at the St. Louis Zoo, but every bank I've seen, every grocery store, department store, restaurant, movie theaters, pretty much everywhere you would want to go, outside of shooting ranges and a few isolated places owned by other gun nuts, you can't really carry your gun anywhere around here, legally that is, unless you stick to publicly accessible places, outside of government buildings and offices, of course.
On the outskirts of the Metro area, and further out, I'm sure its different.
Skittles
(153,321 posts)fucking idiots
The only phrase in the second amendment is the only part they yell about.........."the right to bear arms". The rest of the amendment is meaningless to them.
They are all cowards.
melm00se
(4,998 posts)keep quoting (hell it's a mantra) the part of the 2nd Amendment that the US Supreme stated:
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
joshdawg
(2,653 posts)Gotta love that part. That's why gun-nuts believe they have to have 10 or more rifles, two dozen handguns, and a few thousand rounds of ammunition. For "protection." Yeah, right.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)> "self-defense within the home"
Maybe that dumb fuck actually *lives* at the zoo (in a cage marked homo nonsapiens?)?
If not, then the 2nd Amendment *still* doesn't give him the "right" to carry a gun at the zoo,
just in his home.
melm00se
(4,998 posts)"such as". the phrase "such as" is interpreted by most folks as "for example" not "limited to".
I get the sense that from your perspective owning 1 gun is 1 too many. that's too bad, shooting sports are just as enjoyable as many outdoor pursuits and sports.
joshdawg
(2,653 posts)The point I was trying to make is that there are too many gun nuts out there who seem to believe that they have to own the most guns of anyone. How many is too many? That's not for me to say, but how many does one really need for "protection." How many is not enough?
Just seems that the more guns one owns, the nuttier they are.
Target shooting I have never had a problem with. I've killed lots of clay pigeons in my time. Lots of beer cans, too.
Killing animals for sport is just wrong. And, this is just my opinion, handguns are made for killing people.
Skittles
(153,321 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)Its not like much of the rest of the park, sans buildings, where you can wander around, theoretically, 24 hours a day. The Zoo, like most attractions in the park, is free, but not openly accessible to the general public.
All citizens of St. Louis City and County pay an extra tax so that most of our attractions, including the Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, the many parks, and other attractions are free to enter. Special exhibits you may have to pay extra for. But this does NOT mean that these attractions and facilities have no right to lay down rules, as specified in many state and local laws, to prohibit or restrict firearms, for everyone's safety.
Besides that, why the fuck would you want to carry a gun at the zoo? Its not a fucking game park!
OldRedneck
(1,397 posts)You ask: "Besides that, why the fuck would you want to carry a gun at the zoo? Its not a fucking game park!"
Obviously you don't understand the mind of the gunnut -- don't ask them logical, reasonable questions.
There's nothing logical or reasonable about these people. I know -- my son is a raving rightwinger, gunnut, tattooed biker who will not visit me because I don't allow him to carry a pistol on his hip when he comes into my home. We talk on the phone once a week -- for about one minute then he starts raving about guns, Obama about to declare martial law, liberals are racists -- I thank him for his views and hang up. Sad, but that's what a steady diet of Fox, Drudge, Coulter, Malkin, Pajamas Media, and the like will do to a person who was once a happy, smart, friendly person.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Novara
(5,878 posts)I can't imagine going through life so a-feered of everything and everybody that you have to be armed at all times. How long would it be until one drunk asshole shoots a protected animal?
randome
(34,845 posts)And they're not afraid of anyone. They are lonely, bitter people who have latched onto this issue as a way of feeling important.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]
3catwoman3
(24,147 posts)...long, sad to say.
Judi Lynn
(160,707 posts)People like them are exactly nasty enough to decide they'll just make some statements at the zoo about "coddling" or protecting animals, treating them with respect he/she doesn't believe they deserve.
Can't believe our courts have let our society get this dirty, and destructive. We've shot straight backwards, gained technology, while the spirit of the times has entered a primitive wilderness. So many sick, belligerent people.
Novara
(5,878 posts)There's little sense of a collective society anymore. Everybody's all about their own personal beliefs and every single person - no matter how misguided - insists on being taken seriously and having their opinions respected. Excuse me, a Sarah Palin should never be taken seriously. Neither should Ted fucking Nugent. People used to consider the effect on others. Now they only care about themselves. And those with money - such as the Kochs - can buy government to represent THEM, not anyone else.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)it.. I just cannot stand to even LOOK at the weapons
secondwind
(16,903 posts)logosoco
(3,208 posts)to take a gun there (But I have also lived 50 years without needed a gun at all, but I don't think it is just me here).
The thing about this that really bugs me is there is no substance to this argument. He just feels like since the Constitution gives him the right to have a gun that no area in the country can say "please keep your guns away from here", as if the right to say that is forbidden.
Or maybe the zoo could open an exhibit where people who have to have guns can hang out, and only there. That way I know I can avoid people who think like this and carry weapons.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)And we could all stand outside laughing at the morons. Micro-penises?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)A pretty heavy one, in fact (the M240-G). These folks who insist on doing it for free are suckers.
TheCowsCameHome
(40,169 posts)Maybe you'd be better off staying at home polishing your barrel.
Check out the top photo in the linked St. Louis Dispatch article - 'ol Jeffrey has a big bulge in his shorts.
Nihil
(13,508 posts)> This is not about protecting oneself from the wildebeests in the zoo."
Like your itsy bitsy handgun is going to stop a 270kg, 1.5m tall wildebeest if it takes
a dislike to you?
Or, maybe, just maybe, your illiteracy was showing through (as well as your cowardice)
and you actually meant that you were so scared of the caged "wild beasts" in the zoo
that you needed your comforter to let you pretend that that "right" was truly protecting you?
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)more dangerous....300 million WMD's in the hands of millions of self-loathing nobodies is getting 30,000 folks killed every year...not a one by an Iranian.
Turbineguy
(37,427 posts)should have a "Gun Nut Day" where all gunhumpers are welcome to walk around and play "I'll-show-you-mine-if-you-show-me-yours." Maybe they'll even have time to look at the animals too.
Hi guys how are you
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)gopiscrap
(23,768 posts)StevieM
(10,500 posts)Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)What is this bullshit "exercising their rights"? If you have a right to own a firearm, you "exercise" that right simply by purchasing or possessing a firearm. Why do they need to exercise the right to piss ordinary citizens off and make them so nervous they want to leave the zoo, with their kids crying, "Mommy and Daddy, we just got here!!".
gopiscrap
(23,768 posts)I personally think all private weapon ownership should be illegal
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)progree
(10,957 posts)against serving people carrying guns. I'm sure there are plenty of Bible verses one can cite (the Bible says just about everything about just about everything).
Paladin
(28,290 posts)...rather than (1) properly authorized concealed carry, or (2) carrying no firearm at all, has left all notions of personal safety behind. What open carriers are interested in is public intimidation and the chance of taking part in violent altercations. They are exhibiting all the twisted character traits that should prohibit them from having any access to guns, at all. Such people should be considered risks to you and your family and friends, and avoided---yes, that plays into their desire to intimidate, but there's no sense in taking chances.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,604 posts)Big game hunting also includes tigers and rhinos from the Indian subcontinent as well as kudu, antelope, hartebeest, moose, elk, and deer.
So many animals, and all within a short drive from your house.
Using gun-nut logic, all you have to be is "feel threatened" by an animal at the zoo to justify blasting away with your AK-15.
Next they'll want to carry their weapons into movie theaters...