If guns are outlawed ...
MANIFESTO<
When I first saw this story's headline, I felt that there had to be more to it. Sure enough, though,The nation's busiest airport duelled with gun rights advocates Tuesday over whether a new Georgia state law allows visitors to carry firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.Perhaps travelers are to be consoled by the fact that
City officials in charge of the airport declared it a "gun free zone" when the new law took effect Tuesday. Gun rights supporters, including a state legislator who helped pass the law, quickly filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the designation ...
The new state law allows people with a concealed weapons permit to carry guns into restaurants, state parks and on public transportation.
John Monroe, an attorney for the gun rights backers who filed the lawsuit, argued the Atlanta airport qualifies as public transportation.
The gun group argues that weapons should be allowed in the terminal up to the point where passengers pass through security to board their flights.Thus, guns wouldn't actually be on the plane, but only in the airport. It's hard to imagine anything crazier, but there it is. At the least, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "packing for a trip."
posted by monocle at 7/01/2008 01:19:00 PM
4 Comments:
Unfortunately for James Monroe, he is an idiot and unfamiliar with the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Commerce Clause and the application of Federal Law, through, in this case, FAA regulations.
Unfortunately for America, there are likely 4 Supreme Court justices who disagree with at least part of the precedent that established the current understanding of the Commerce Clause. Given the the Commerce Clause was the hook used to desegregate the South, another like-minded justice could do far more to change this country than simply overturning Roe v. Wade.
Adding that I'm not sure the state law, as described, currently withstands preemption from federal law under the Commerce Clause. A lawsuit to overturn parts of the state law (permission to carry on MARTA trains, etc.) on the grounds that federal gun laws don't allow it (if they don't, I'm not sure) seems much more likely to be successful.
Thanks for the attorney's observations, Chill.
I should add the caveat that I'm not exactly an expert in Constitutional law. That said, if Ollie's Barbecue is subject to Federal Law by extension of the Commerce clause, I'm pretty sure Hartdale Airport would be covered.
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