I have known for quite awhile that you can’t bring a sign into the State Capitol Building. You can’t miss the signs telling you to leave your signs behind when you enter the august edifice. What I did NOT know until recently is that bringing a gun into that same building is A-OK. Thankfully, sanity is prevailing, at least on the side of Democrats who have introduced legislation to prohibit firearms in the Capitol and allowing people to express their First Amendment rights by bringing in a sign
As it stands today you can openly carry a firearm, but not a sign, into the state capitol. But two Democratic Representatives are seeking to flip which of those two items are permissible.
“If two people show up at the Capitol, one armed with a rifle and one holding a sign, only one of them will be turned away — the person with the sign,” said Rep. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, one of the sponsors.
“Signs aren’t designed to harm or kill, but apparently some politicians are afraid of them. Meanwhile, people who expect to be safe inside state buildings are often startled to see other visitors carrying rifles on their backs, or carrying handguns in holsters.”
I’m sure this will lead to poutrage from gun fetishists who feel a bizarre need to be armed everywhere they go. “What about our SECOND Amendment rights?!” they’re sure to shout. “Who is going to stop a bad guy with a gun if us good guys with guns aren’t there to protect you?!” they’re likely to spew.
The fact is that this not an abridgement of anybody’s Second Amendment right to own a weapon. It simply puts a limit on where they can tote that implement of destruction. We put limits on rights all the time in order to have a safe, sane society.
At the end of the day, if you’re more worried about someone saying or displaying words that bother you than some lunatic bringing a gun to the Capitol and shooting the place up, you have other more serious issues that have nothing to do with your Second Amendment rights being violated.
