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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Alaska anti-gun-control law goes into effect Wednesday JUNEAU, Alaska — Starting Wednesday, a new anti-gun-control law in Alaska will allow handgun owners to carry concealed weapons without a permit in the seven Alaska cities where permits are now required. Gun owners will be allowed to keep their firearms in their vehicle, even if the car is parked on private property where the owner has a no-gun policy. And, some police chiefs say, local ordinances that ban guns from public buildings such as city halls will no longer be enforceable. Alaska's new law forbids municipalities from passing gun laws that are more restrictive than state law. The National Rifle Association, which helped Republican state Rep. Mike Chenault draft the new law, said it wants to prevent cities from passing restricting laws in the future. It's what the organization calls state pre-emption, and Alaska will be the 44th state to have such a law on its books. ``We are looking to make it uniform to all 50 states,'' said spokeswoman Kelly Hobbs from the NRA's Fairfax, Va., headquarters. ``Without it, it creates an unfair, inconsistent and confusing patchwork of local firearm ordinances.'' Chenault said a law-abiding citizen should be able to carry a firearm wherever he wants to, but in Alaska, that citizen may be breaking the law and not even know it. ``You could leave Homer with a gun in your vehicle and find yourself in conflict with laws in other municipalities just by driving through those municipalities,'' he said. The part of the law that most concerns Alaska police chiefs is the lifting of bans on guns in public buildings. That could leave government workers inside vulnerable to attack, said Anchorage Police Chief Walter Monegan. ``There are lots of people, myself included, we really value our constitutional rights,'' Monegan said. ``But if we had the same enthusiasm to also support our constitutional responsibilities, then I would be less concerned over this issue.'' Across the state in Bethel, Police Chief Ben Dudley said he also is concerned that he will no longer have the option of charging people with entering a municipal building with a weapon. But he's more philosophical on the effects of that city law when it comes to stopping somebody who means to do harm. ``If there were people with bad intentions entering into municipal buildings, the law isn't going to stop those people anyway,'' Dudley said. ``They're going to stick a pistol down their pants anyway.'' The new law would allow cities to keep guns out of places beyond a restricted access point, such as a metal detector, but the chiefs say their cities can't afford to staff and equip such points. Plus, ``It runs counter to the intent of public buildings to establish the checkpoints,'' said Juneau Police Chief Richard Gummow. Chenault said his interpretation of the new law differs. State law now does not specifically prohibit weapons in municipal buildings, but it does in state buildings. If municipalities pass their own weapons bans for public buildings, those laws shouldn't be considered any more restrictive than the state's ban, he said. But he acknowledged that it may take a court challenge to see if his interpretation is correct. The police chiefs are less concerned about the concealed-weapons permits. Two years ago, the Legislature removed the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon, but the state continues to issue them. The NRA says those permits are still required in seven cities: Anchorage, Bethel, Juneau, Petersburg, Sitka, Valdez and Wasilla. Even opponents of the law seem fine with getting rid of the permit requirements. But state Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, who voted against the bill, said he objects to its stance of putting gun rights over private property rights. The law says a government or person cannot create a rule that would prohibit someone from keeping a gun inside a car, wherever the car is. ``In that tension between the legitimate right to protect yourself, and, for me, the more absolute right to do as you see fit with your property, this tips the balance a little too far toward guns,'' French said.
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#1. To: NOLAJBS (#0)
Good work, Alaska. Outstanding.
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