Tuesday, December 7, 2010

first, without the second

Here I am, sitting in a place that is considered to be a bold and unyielding champion of the First Amendment. In the fight for free speech, libraries brook no compromise. All information should be available to anyone who wants it. Banned books are proudly displayed, controversial meetings are hosted, and if you need information, librarians will go to great lengths to find it for you. We search all available resources, check the catalog, request interlibrary loans, scour databases, try keyword after keyword, narrowing the search until (at last!) an answer is found. And libraries will do this all without judgment - because it is your right to say and know and read whatever you want and we will damn well help you do it.

And yet this place, according to the sign on the door, is more than happy to deny me my Second Amendment rights.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah yes...the no guns in the library sign! The sign on our library actually isn't a legal sign, isn't large enough and the letters aren't the right size.

Mr. Casey said...

mupedal I was over at your page today and was unable to publish my comment w/r/t your posted video. Alas, a tech glitch. It was near the same as this; I, you, Breda, every reasonable person I know is dumbfounded and angered about the fact that our supposedly inalienable rights are treated as malleable, deniable privileges.

I paraphrase Uncle Ted who said something to the effect of, "The Constitution is my carry permit and right to Keep and Bear means, yeah, I've got it on me and you can't have it!" I think that each day more and more Americans are waking from their consumerist, sheeple comas and coming onboard. Alas, when will we win?

Mike W. said...

Felony or misdemeanor to ignore those "no guns" signs in Ohio? Not that I'm suggesting ignoring it, but thankfully such signage isn't legally binding here In Delaware.

Buckshot said...

mupdealpusher,

No required signage for Ohio, except on govt. buildings and then it only prescribes that it be posted and a general idea of what the sign should look like.

We have no 30.06 law like Texas.

Buckshot

ViolentIndifference said...

Don't worry. The the FCC will go after #1 soon enough. Then your library won't have any items that the gov't considers to be right wing radical. Like any do-it-yourself book: the gov't will do it for you.

FatWhiteMan said...

I had the same thought last night when I took the kids to the local library to see Santa. Yup, gunbuster sign hanging right under the posted library hours.

Tango said...

heh... You know, JayG. We have a LOT of businesses doing a mass exodus from California to here in Utah. Perfect opportunity to live in the land of the free where "No Gun" signs on libraries are illegal and the guns aren't only allowed, but welcome! Adobe... EBay... Yahoo!... and a few dozen others are coming this way, and they'll need employees!

Tango said...

Oops! I meant breda. That's what happens when you read all of your blogs at the same time!

Jay G said...

Oddly enough, that's one of the (very few) things that MA does right - there is no "binding signage" in MA. The only prohibited areas are Federally prohibited (courthouses) and schools.

Ed Rasimus said...

One of the proudest moments of my professional life was when I was serving on the Board of Trustees of the Pikes Peak Library District, in fact I was president of the board that year, when one of the members proposed restrictions on concealed carry in the district facilities. She whined about whether it was possible that someone might already have entered those hallowed grounds bearing a legally concealed weapon.

Since I was carrying at the time, and always had been in the past at board meetings I assured here that, yes it had definitely occurred and without harm to her.

The motion was voted down unanimously. You might try discussing the rationale with some board members to get reason to prevail.

RobertSlaughter said...

I've comparisons of 2nd Amendment with owning and operating a car. Apples and oranges.

What would it be like if you had to do the same things to exercise your First Amendment rights that we do for our Second Amendment ones -- get an NFA tax stamp for writing a novel, or get a permit to be a reporter, for examples.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Hopefully, when the new Administration takes over in Columbus next month, some of these silly rules will be changed. But I'm not holding my breath.

T said...

I work at a freakin' newspaper, that holds an annual Sunshine Week, and prints the First in every issue...and it's company policy to ban it EVEN IN MY OWN CAR.

The Packetman said...

Breda,

Perhaps you could do your part by asking those who would use the library's resources if they had their 1A permit (not their library card).

Just as a point of interest ...

Sigivald said...

Banned books are proudly displayed

That there's funny, is what it is.

Oh, I know what you mean by it, but it's still funny.

(Sidenote: I've always considered most of "Banned Books Week" to be feel-good posturing.

I mean, "Oh, no, somebody somewhere asked for someone to remove this book from an elementary school library!" is what a stunningly large portion boiled down to the last time I looked.

Or "This book was banned somewhere... decades ago!".

I'd feel a lot more positive about it if there was more acknowledgment that book banning is not actually a significant threat to freedom of information anywhere in America these days - even if we exclude the internet.

How do librarians feel about it?)

1st1shot said...

Many libraries are considered government buildings and would therefor be a felony to enter in Ohio.

PPPP said...

I know, I know. All states are different. Still. Here in my town in Oregon, the local library has a no weapons allowed sign, but has at the bottom "in accordance with ORS . .. " with the relevant statutes pertaining to carry of weapons in public buildings.

Included in that particular statute range is an exemption to the rules for CCP holders. So, I can carry my loaded pistols, but I can't carry my pocket knife. Go figure.

B Smith said...

Homey, what's irony?

@violentindifference: yeah, but the government already MONITORS what you read in the library...gotta catch those budding terrorists, you know.

Chris M said...

To paraphrase one of those books that at least used to be in almost all libraries, "Some rights are more equal than others." Or at least that seems to be the premise of too many of those given even a little authority in this animal farm in which we live.