City Councilor under fire for lawful firearm

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[align=left][font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]05.20.10
CITY COUNCILOR UNDER FIRE FOR LAWFUL FIREARM[/font][/align]





[font="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]A Fairview City Councilor and OFF supporter is under attack for, of all things, exercising his rights.

Ken Quinby , a long time supporter of the Oregon Firearms Federation, has a concealed handgun license. That makes some of his fellow councilors "nervous."

Barbara Jones, another council member said "I understand the Second Amendment allows you to bear arms; however my 'pursuit of happiness' and ability to live my life safely seems to be taking a back seat to those who run around with concealed weapons,"

" Run around with concealed weapons?" What planet is she living on? Apparently the same one Council member Larry Cooper is. "I agree and have felt that way for a long time," he said in an e-mail. Now some council members want to do yet another end run around Oregon law and try to ban lawful carry in the City Hall for council members!

If they are successful, this will be one more nail in the coffin of our disintegrating "preemption law."

Please contact the City Council and remind them that any effort to further erode the Second Amendment in Fairview will NOT be accepted.The email contact for Fairview City Council is council@ci.fairview.or.us[/font]

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So she wants to stomp on his right to pursue happiness and live safely because she has an unhealthy fear of weapons? Some people just don't get it, or maybe they do but they hope others will fall for failed reasoning like this.

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Both Ms. Jones and Mr. Cooper are failing to understand one very vital aspect of this situation. I am assuming that the city council is an elected group, and that each of the members have been chosen by the people that they REPRESENT to do just that.

If the people have chosen Mr. Quinby as the best person to represent them (or one of them) then the ideas, characteristics and knowledge that he possesses is what the people want representing them. To deny a person's individual rights and means of expressing those rights, means that Ms. Jones and Mr. Cooper have less concern about accurate representation in their local government than they do about pushing their own "personal" agenda. Even if some people were to agree with their assessment, the precedence it establishes for allowing councilmembers to set their own rules instead of letting the people be represented is a slippery slope indeed.

Point is, if the people were to elect an illiterate aborigine wearing a loin cloth and war paint to every public appearance, then the other members of the councilshould respect the public's decision of choosing said person to be the best representative of the people.