Some pro-gun bills advance while others founder

Pass:
-Concealed handguns allowed in bars
-Handguns can be stored in lockboxes inside cars
-Murders of fire marshals and auxiliary police officers eligible for the death penalty
-Convicted drunk drivers can’t get a concealed handgun permit for three years after their conviction
-Juveniles who are arrested and alleged to have a firearm must be held in jail

Fail:
-Ability to purchase more than one handgun per month
-Those that participate in a killing but don’t pull the trigger receiving death penalty

Observation:
Drunk driving: often involving a bar…always involving a car.
Bar: bring in your guns!
Car: bring in your guns!
Drunk driving punishment: no guns for you!

I find this strange. I don’t like this. I will lose this argument.

Obama backs national DNA database, tests

This article has two points: 1. Obama wants the DNA database to be national (versus state-by-state) and 2. Obama supports DNA being taken at time of arrest (versus time of conviction).

First on the national database idea: DUH. Obama explained that if two neighboring states have a database but don’t share information, the criminal in Illinois can get out of jail, drive to Indiana, and begin committing crime again with Indiana officials starting from scratch when investigating his acts.

If it’s going to exist, let’s not waste time and money making it inefficient. Remember Bonnie and Clyde zipping in and out of state lines because there weren’t federal laws to police their crimes? It’s kind of the same thing.

Onto the time in which we should or should not take DNA…

Several states already take DNA at time of arrest, and a portion of those allow the accused to petition to have their information removed from the state database if they are not ultimately convicted of a crime. Officials say this request rarely comes.

Several civil rights groups are in opposition because they say racial minorities are already wrongfully arrested at a high rate and this will further skew the statistics because minorities will now have a higher percentage of DNA in the database.

Obama and America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh both compare this to taking fingerprints and a booking photo at time of arrest. Opponents cry invasion of privacy.

Again, I’m in agreement. Guess who else is? George Bush. That’s right. W implemented a 2006 law before leaving office that allows DNA to be taken from federal arrestees—including immigration detainees.

Yes, the database numbers will probably be skewed with minorities’ profiles. However, it’s simply storing the information. It will take a crime committed by an owner of that DNA to make an impact on his or her life.

Think outside the box: If a minority’s DNA is in the system, and our skewed police force want to arrest Person A due to profiling, etc, but Person A’s DNA is already in the database clearly vindicating them, they won’t get harassed again.

‘Haunted’ Cavalier to make paranormal experts feel at home

The Eastern Paranormal Investigators Co-Op Conference is being held this weekend at the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach. It will include those whose stories inspired The Sixth Sense and Haunting in Connecticut.

This article explains the conference and why it chose the Cavalier as its location. There are two ghost stories provided, neither of which are anything more than local lore, but it was still a fun little read.

No mention if any of the haunting events are open to the public, however.

TR’s Notebook: The American Way

Veer is a monthly local publication, so its current content could be two weeks old for some of you, while others may not have read it yet. I read this editorial on one local writer’s experiences with free thinking in Hampton Roads last night over a Hoegaarden at Taphouse, the pop-out quote beckoning me to a vast page of text with the words “I’ve always felt that debate is inferior to conversation.”

Indeed. Once I found this section of the article, its author, Tom Robotham goes on to indicate that—in debate—the entire dialogue is fuelled by both sides hoping to “win”, which is, in essence, more like an argument than a conversation—and the real way to make change is to communicate. His experiences with our region’s business and religious leaders…their verbal attacks and retreat to such intellectual responses as “shut up” when asked for more substance in their criticism, makes me want to scream from the top of Dominion Tower with a bullhorn, “Open minds DO exist in Hampton Roads!!! “

My favourite quote: “…each of us is capable of valid insights and…if we piece these fragments together we can eventually create a mosaic of luminous ideas.” This is true for religion and politics, but also true for all the change we want to see culturally and economically in Hampton Roads.

Sadly, he ends the article requesting feedback and commentary, sparking this newfound respect his readers will show for one another’s opinion. The only comment this morning under the online version of the article? “ A spam ad for Gucci and Louis Vuitton…