So, Markell is still the turd I thought he was...
Saw this in this mornings paper...
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100305/NEWS02/3050343Move to allow ownership in public housing goes much further, he says
By J.L. MILLER • The News Journal • March 5, 2010
DOVER -- Gov. Jack Markell has blasted proposed
legislation that would bar Delaware's housing
authorities from prohibiting their tenants to own
firearms.
The effects of House Bill 357 would go far beyond
Delaware's four housing authorities and extend to
almost every facet of life, Markell wrote in a letter
Wednesday to Millsboro Democratic Rep. John
Atkins and Georgetown Republican Sen. Joe Booth,
sponsors of the bill.
The legislation, Markell wrote, "will put the public at
significant risk if enacted. This legislation prohibits
state and local governments, our universities and
colleges, our schools and others from imposing or
enforcing common sense measures designed to
protect our citizens from illegal gun violence."
Dover resident John Sigler, former two-term
president of the National Rifle Association and a
former Dover police officer, said Markell's letter is
"obviously designed for emotional appeal." The
letter shows that "a broad bureaucracy" of state
agencies have taken it upon themselves to write
regulations better left to the General Assembly,
Sigler said, and "it shows a total disregard for the
law-abiding citizen" by assuming they would misuse
firearms simply because the restrictions were
removed.
If the bill were to become law, Markell wrote, it
would undo regulations that prohibit guns:
•In day care centers and preschools.
•On school buses.
•In the classroom buildings, dormitories and
sporting facilities of the University of Del- aware,
Delaware State University and Delaware Technical &
Community College.
•In neighborhood group homes for people with
mental illnesses.
•On DART buses and in taxis and limousines.
•In state parks and forests outside of hunting
seasons and areas designated for hunting,
including on beaches and in playground areas.
The bill also would undo regulations prohibiting
most state employees from possessing firearms
while on state property or conducting state
business, and in various facilities operated by
public housing authorities.
"Reversing these protections would not be a rational
extension of the right to bear arms, but rather a
dangerous introduction of guns into settings where
there is reasonable and appropriate basis to
exclude them," Markell wrote.
Booth said he intended to address only the housing
authority bans and protect the tenants' Second
Amendment rights, not to undo a laundry list of
other firearms regulations.
"That's the only thing we were intending on doing,
and he's reading a very liberal interpretation into
this bill," Booth said.
"We weren't aiming at all to allow guns on DART
Advertisement buses," he said.
Booth noted that the bill hasn't had a committee
hearing yet -- it was introduced during the
legislative recess -- and that there is ample time to
address the governor's concerns.
He bristled at the last line of Markell's letter: "For
these reasons, I urge you not to proceed with HB
357."
"The governor and his staff need to examine the
legislative process before they start dictating to duly
elected officials," Booth said.
Atkins, the bill's House sponsor, said he intended
for the bill to address only the housing authorities,
and that "we may need to go back to rewrite the
legislation so it's specifically aimed at the housing
authorities."
Markell's stance was applauded by Greg Jaskolka, a
Holly Oak resident whose son Joseph was
accidentally shot in the head and seriously
wounded during a New Year's Eve celebration in
Philadelphia in 1998. Jaskolka now heads
Delaware's Million Moms March, which is affiliated
with the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence.
"I agree with him 100 percent. I voted for him and
I'd vote for him again," Jaskolka said from a hospital
emergency room where he had taken Joseph for
treatment of a migraine headache related to the
bullet wound.
"Public safety first," Jaskolka said, adding if there
were better controls on firearms, "I wouldn't be here
in the emergency room."Delaware has a pre-emption statute that prohibits
municipal governments from regulating firearms
possession. That law was implemented to keep
Delaware from having a maze of regulations that
could snare law-abiding citizens simply because
they cross a municipal boundary.
House Bill 357 would address a patchwork quilt of
regulations, such as those cited by Markell,
according to John Thompson, president of the
Delaware State Sportsmen's Association, a National
Rifle Association affiliate.
"This bill was written to reach any regulation by a
state agency that would prohibit firearm possession
or ownership," said Thompson, a lawyer and the
sportsmen's association's lobbyist in Legislative
Hall.
In passing the pre-emption statute, Thompson said,
the General Assembly reserved to itself the right to
regulate firearms.
"What's happened is these agencies have started to
do it for them," Thompson said.
"We'd like to see these things cleared up," he said.
"I'm not sure why people who happen to go on these
[college or university] campuses are prevented from
defending themselves."
"The conclusion that [Markell] wants to draw is all
kinds of terrible things will happen and that people w
ill do all kinds of terrible things," Thompson said.
"The conclusion that he's attempting to draw is
completely wrong."
