PA Bill Number: SB1198
Title: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and ...
Description: In plants and plant products, providing for plant and pollinator protection; conferring powers and duties on the Department of Agriculture and .. ...
Last Action: Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Last Action Date: May 17, 2024
Gun-free zones issue fires up crowd :: 11/26/2015
The Fernley City Council received a full house Nov. 18 at its regular meeting and sought to alleviate concerns and mixed messages concerning Councilman Cal Eilrich’s request to bring forth an agenda item about gun-free zones and Second Amendment rights.
Recently, Eilrich had requested an item be brought forth to create a gun-free zone ordinance that requires entities to draw up written plans establishing the use of security enabling trained officers, whether uniformed or undercover, to protect the unarmed public in facilities in which firearms typically would not be allowed.
Otherwise, according to Eilrich’s proposal, such facilities should not be allowed to declare a gun-free zone and therefore citizens would maintain access to their own concealed carry weapons as allowed by Second Amendment rights.
“I have been gravely concerned for years regarding declared ‘Gun Free Zones,’ in public facilities operated by both government and private entities,” Eilrich read from a statement he wrote on the issue at the meeting. “These declared ‘Gun Free Zones’ amount to an invitation to a ‘killing field’ for everything from one mentally disturbed individual all the way up to organized groups of criminals or which is now becoming a more grave concern for our nation, Islamic terrorists. Almost all mass shootings have been committed in so-called Gun-Free Zones.’ ”
The proposal specifically addresses two types of public facilities.
Type one is a designated governmental or privately owned facility accessible to the public at which it has no choice but to enter for critical services, as in the case for emergency medical needs, health or welfare or government meetings such as city council.
Type two is a private facility in which customers have a viable alternative to receive similar services.
According to Eilrich’s own website, he posted a letter in which he states that as a member of the Cowboy Fast Draw Association, often he is called upon by local, state or national groups seeking permission to help the CFDA hold its events and often is approached by city or county officials perplexed by mixed meanings of gun ordinances within their own jurisdictions.
Eilrich also disclosed at the start of the discussion that he is a member of the National Rifle Association and supports the Second Amendment.
But many residents appeared at the city council meeting after confusion on Eilrich’s request circulated on social media and stirred up discussion on the Ferntuckians’ Facebook page
The conversation hearkened many residents back to mass shootings or acts of terrorism in recent years that resulted in talks of stricter gun laws, including Columbine High School in Colorado and the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.
About 10 residents gave public comment.
“My mind goes to places like, when I get ready to walk into an establishment and I see a sign on the door that this is not a gun-controlled building, ‘Enter at your own risk,’ that makes me a little nervous,” resident Sandy Staples said. “I just really, really hope everybody pays close attention to what they’re doing because, if you think about it, I only heard two airplanes with no guns take down the Twin Towers.”
Nina Brown, who moved to Fernley seven years ago, said she considers the area home but recalls less savory memories from her former life in Montana.
“A guy with a couple of bombs came and he sure ruined the day for a lot of people,” Brown said.
“There have been a lot of towns like Columbine. We stopped taking away cellphones from kids at school because of Columbine. An awful lot of people lost their lives that day simply because emergency responders weren’t able to get in there in time to stop the bleeding. I’m totally in favor of making sure people who are trained have CCWs. Get us out of these killing zones. Let us be able to protect our children, our loved ones, our community.”
In between public comment, mayor Roy Edgington spoke and said there was a meeting that had been scheduled for Monday to discuss language on congested area ordinances setting boundaries where residents could go and safely shoot firearms and said the intent of the item never was to confiscate firearms or quash gun owners’ rights.
“I inherited as your mayor a series of laws that need to be cleaned up,” he said. “We’ve been in survival mode for five or six years. … My dad was a deputy for 26 years, and my first oath, and one I took to heart, not just an oath to be a mayor, was when I was 18 from the Air Corps: ‘I solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution and obey all lawful orders.’ Ordering to take someone’s gun is not lawful.”
Councilman Sue Seidl, a retired officer and said she carried as part of her duties, echoed Edgington’s message.
“What we’re working on as a council is modifying the ordinances in the city of Fernley pertaining to emergency powers,” Seidl said. “Not the mayor, no one during a state of emergency can mass confiscate your guns. This council is very much looking after your Second Amendment rights.”
