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State Debate: Concealed carry still a bad idea

a 6/16 roundup of editorials in state papers

compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  6/16/2008 10:30 am

Concealed carry still a bad idea, says the Beloit Daily News.

Illinois' Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers is a smart guy, but recently he came out in favor of citizens carrying concealed weapons. "I do not have a problem with concealed carry," Meyers was quoted as saying by the Rockford Register Star. "Twenty years ago, I would have told you different, but we're at a point where we don't have a choice."

Many states allow concealed carry. We haven't heard of violent crime being abolished in any of them. Wisconsin's Legislature repeatedly has declined to adopt a carry law. We're pretty sure this state is safer than most.

If a Wild West environment is a proper alternative, how about this: Scrap the idea of concealed carry in favor of strapping guns on one's hip. If the idea is to send a message to bad guys that the good citizens are ready and able to shoot them down, why hide it?

Seem silly? So does concealed carry.

Let go of city seizure law, says the Beaver Dam Citizen.

The Beaver Dam Police Department wants to allow officers to confiscate motorized scooters, skateboards and similar vehicles for five to 30 days. Shockingly, it was revealed that city ordinances already allow police to seize bicycles for up to 10 days for municipal code violations.

There are multiple problems with such seizures, including the lack of due process.

If this is such a good idea, why don't we apply it to motor vehicles? Caught speeding? The police will take your car for 10 days. No need to see a judge.

The bicycle ordinance should be repealed. If seizures are necessary, make it the job of a judge to decide that matter, not a police officer.

Congress must step in to ban bisphenol A, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Federal regulators should have done a better job of protecting Americans from the health hazards of chemicals, such as bisphenol A, commonly found in many household products, from baby bottles to dental sealants. These chemicals have been found to cause cancer and other health problems in laboratory animals.

Lawmakers in both houses are now stepping in, and appropriately so. A bill introduced last week in the House by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., would ban the substance in food and drink containers. Lawmakers in the Senate have been working on a separate bill that would ban the substance in food containers and children's products.

The Constitution can still work, says the Kenosha News, as the paper praised the Supreme Court ruling against the Bush administration on habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus, the Great Writ, is a legal principle first articulated in medieval England that gives a prisoner the right to be brought before a judge to hear the charges and challenge his imprisonment. Years ago, the Supreme Court observed that "habeas corpus is the fundamental instrument safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action."

Following 9/11, the American people seemed distressingly willing to go along with the Bush administration's assertion that it could jail anyone, indefinitely, without charge simply by designating them "enemy combatants" as opposed to prisoners of war.

Last week, the Supreme Court spoke for the third time on this issue: The detainees at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to challenge the terms of their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

This decision will have a satisfactory outcome if it finally puts an end to the Bush administration's insistence that it is entitled to operate outside the Constitution.

The La Crosse Tribune agrees: Supreme Court was right to call for reviews of detentions.

This decision should not have taken anyone by surprise. In Justice Anthony Kennedy's words, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times. Liberty and security can be reconciled, and in our system they are reconciled within the framework of the law."

That's the heart of this difficult and controversial -- but ultimately correct -- ruling.

compiled by Judie Kleinmaier  —  6/16/2008 10:30 am