Ben DeCosta and Shirley Franklin are so worried about licensed and probed concealed carry permit holders carrying weapons in the non-secure areas of the airport that they are currently violating state law, and this story comes out in the AJC in which a Delta employee finds a dismantled shotgun and various supplies in a break room. In my experience, employee break rooms are not only within the airport, but also beyond the TSA security checkpoint. How in the world did the declaration of Hartsfield being a “Gun Free Zone” let this happen? Obviously, this shotgun did not attend their press conference on July 1st and waltzed into the airport, disassembled itself, and hid under the Coke machine. He (or she) then lay in wait for some unsuspecting victim, so that he (or she) could re-assemble and blow them away. If we have learned anything from gun control activists, it’s that people don’t kill people, guns do.
For those of you that have been following the the dust-up at Hartsfield between the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta, some recent developments have occurred in regard to the lawsuit filed by GeorgiaCarry.org that have not gone the way of the plaintiff. The most recent legal papers, restraining orders, continuances, and decisions are available here.
The mayor of Atlanta & general manager of Hartsfield’s willful disregard of the freshly-on-the-books law allowing concealed carry permit holders to bring their firearms on public transportation has made enough waves to be featured on the national media. Laura Ingraham, who is certainly not among my favorite people, does a pretty good job presenting the facts when faced with an irrational and unrelated argument by the man from the Brady Campaign to remove all guns from America (NOTE: That MAY not be their actual name). One thing was not stressed enough to combat the Brady argument, and that is the fact that the state law does not supercede the authority of TSA, their security checkpoint, and the “sterile zone” beyond the checkpoint. Perhaps Ben DeCosta and Shirley Franklin could tell the law-abiding citizens that the “Gun Free Zone” will also apply to the security personnel since their signs and words will keep criminals from carrying guns as well. It was also interesting that no one has mentioned that the part of the intent of the Second Amendment was to allow for an easily assembled militia to battle an oppressive government, should it be found necessary to commence a revolution.
Interesting sidenote:Hartsfield Airport is located entirely within Clayton County, and the City of Atlanta’s jurisdiction there is only due to their revenue hungry budget.
***UPDATE #2: A copy of the complaint filed by Georgia Carry and Tim Bearden, represented by John Monroe, can be found here.***
***UPDATE: A .pdf copy of the press release by the airport general manager, Ben DeCosta can be found here. I guess the mayor and airport GM personally distributed the announcement and official press release to all the criminals living in Atlanta that adhere to the gun laws currently on the books.***
In a more local note, July 1st is the day 400 new laws in Georgia go into effect. One of those laws being the state granting permission for gun owners to carry concealed, registered weapons in state parks, on public transportation, and establishments that serve alcohol. The City of Atlanta and officials at Hartsfield Airport here in Atlanta take issue with the law, and they have defied the state law by refusing to lift the ban on guns in the airport’s non-secured side. Mayor Shirley Franklin and airport general manager Ben DeCosta were served with a copy of a lawsuit by Georgia Carry this morning at a 10 AM press conference called by the city and the airport touting the “gun-free zone.” The last time I checked Shirley Franklin had bigger issues in her administration to grapple with, like $120 million the city is trying desperately to recover in the “revenue shortfall.”
