Are they willing to give up their liquor licenses?

walmart et all could allow handguns and keep their license

Theres no need to advertise where your weapon is. If someone wants to jump you, thats the FIRST thing they'll grab

If I'm a nutjob and/or terrorist contemplating shooting up a room full of people, who do you suppose I'll shoot first (out of nowhere, with the element of surprise)? Open carry is painting concentric rings on your back.

And those idiots strutting around with their open-carry guns believe they will be the heroes that will save the day. They spend too much time watching TV and living in their fantasy world.

We live in very strange times.

types will always be with us.

Unless its a cop or security official

fools -- those who very helpfully make it obvious and the more insidious ones, like some GOP candidates, who conceal it better. A joke. Get it?

Noticed your tag line; why would you think there could be as many as 4 SCOTUS vacancies in the next term? I'd only see 2 at the most.

and if the next president served 8 years and left office in 2025 that more than 4 spots could be open

Ginsberg is holding out hope that we elect another D and have a strong majority in the Senate. She's 82 and perhaps has a few more years left.

Both Scalia and Kennedy are 79 (they would be 89 in 2024, Breyer is 77 (he would be 87 in 2024)

Right there is four. Not all of them will go, but I would bet three will.

Whomever is president after the next probably won't see much action on SC justices unless someone develops a health problem.

probably serve 2 terms.

But notably, we're still only looking at age, not at unforeseen but hardly unlikely medical problems. We've never had so many older justices, and it's such a demanding job. Medical science is magnificent but still can only do so much for elderly bodies.

Btw, you guys're thinking about all this. Do you think Scalia may be suffering from early dementia? A subject for another post probably.

I havent seen anything that would point to that regardless of how i might feel about what he's said.

up more speculation in the opposite direction. Of course.

have been with us always, but the times we are living in are out of the ordinary. Probably because people in power cater to the idiocy and validate the fools delusions.

Edit - P.S. Love the cartoon!

techniques harnessed to information technology is an extremely dangerous new reality.

To the point that I would like to see the worst and largest types of that behavior in the same legal class as yelling fire in theaters. The survival of our democracy may depend on controlling massively marketed lies.

are like out-of-control children, thriving on the reactions they receive, with no thought to the consequences of their words, aside from good ratings, fame, and wealth. Being they are incapable and/or unwilling to police themselves, perhaps we do need laws about willful incendiary language. That of course would be a slippery slope.

Who would have thought with access to so much information, that so many people would be so gullible and ignorant?

been encouraged to become the worst versions of themselves politically, and I don't think it's an accident. This march to the democratic bottom is being orchestrated, not entirely well, but, hey, the orchestrators are doing amazing well considering they don't have proper control yet.

Better than I'd have ever thought possible. A better educated people would probably not be so easily manipulated. If this was a movie, it would be considered too far-fetched a few years ago.

but there are actually well established standards and rights in law that could be built on. A special court set up. Truth would have great power, be in itself virtually impossible to quash. A major focus should be on size of audience. Just as many regulations only kick in for large companies, so these laws would only kick in for people and organizations, and agglomerations, whose influence reached very large numbers of people, directly or through careful dissemination. Methodology and purpose would come under close scrutiny.

Might even make owning 300 newspapers less functionally useful to political puppeteers. Although, obviously, that should be illegal too.

I'm a hard-core First Amendment supporter, but, given how freedom is being used to subvert democracy, I'd support a No Yelling Fire in a Crowded Nation law in a heartbeat.

changes in Congress and some courageous legislators to make this happen, something that will be difficult with the corporate influence in politics today. I want to believe it is possible. We've had bold leaders in the past who took on big corporations and monopolies, but few can get heard today. Bernie Sanders is clearly one, but as president, he'd need a cooperative Congress.

"No Yelling Fire in a Crowded Nation law" - Yes, that is what it should be called!!!

Coincidentally, I just saw the NY Times' article from yesterday on that. Turns out a far smaller menace (ISIS, but after all they are Muslim and mostly brown-skinned) is causing some to consider whether First Amendment application needs to be tightened up -- for terrorism. So now we need to be careful that very uncourageous legislators don't try to damage our freedom of speech by passing be-afraid; be-very-afraid laws.

The issue they're discussing is the established legal standard of "clear and present danger."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/28/us/isis-influence-on-web-prompts-second-thoughts-on-first-amendment.html?ref=business

Personally, I'd exchange the Kochs and Murdochs and their ilk with the Middle East for ISIS any day, and then we'd smash ISIS like a malignant wasp.

It is much easier to get people to sacrifice their personal freedoms with fear of the outsider (worked so well after 9/11), while keeping them oblivious to the dangers within. "The Koch brothers look so much like Grandpa", not intimidating at all.

History clearly shows us that these tactics have been used successfully many times, but education is no longer high priority in our country.

And this is how kings are made!!! "What do you think of my AK 47 and high capacity magazines now you peace lovin' Hippies?"

in the austin area for example the 2 grocery chains are heb and randalls which is owned by safeway which is banning guns.


to the ammosexuals wont have any grocery they can shop at.

Wish we had more HEBs up here in the Dallas area. I think Tom Thumb is part of Safeway, though.

Last edited Sun Dec 27, 2015, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)

Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain that was acquired by private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management in January 2015. The new merged company which includes the Albertsons supermarket chain has more than 2,200 stores
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeway_Inc.

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is an American private equity firm.,[1] specializing in "distressed investing".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus_Capital_Management

Edit: I just looked at Transactions and initiatives for Cerberus Capital Management, L.P...
Wow, almost need to start new post about this. Oh, and Dan Quayle is a chairman.

But there are few things I get at Tom Thumb that I can't find at Kroger. I don't know, guns or Cerberus? Helluva choice.

Glad they are able to do what they want. Concealed carry is much better anyway.

is that now it is easier to tell the idiots from the rest of the public. Open-carry=idiot.

Great produce and organics. I never have carried a gun to do my grocery shopping, or anything else for that matter.. I think that's pretty much a male affliction. In my opinion, anyone who feels the need to carry a weapon wherever they go here in America is just, plain sick.

WTF is WRONG with people? How did America end up with so many fucking cowards?

Texas law allows open carry only if the person already has a concealed handgun license (CHL).
So the only real difference will be whether or not shoppers will know that other shoppers are actually armed or not.

Open carry makes a whole lot of people nervous and afraid, one of the reasons it's a stupid thing to do in most circumstances. That's the primary reason for a place of business prohibiting it. Fearful customers leave.

Dumb A**es while there. People who said "Hey, when yer huntn', yr shoot at any bush that moves. Most likely'd be a varmint." Or all those folks who constantly bragged about just how many guns they owned! I'm originally from Pgh,, Pa. and I remember how un-nerved I was the first time I saw a guy walking down the street with a black fringed shirt, black pants, boots, hat, and a chrome revolver on each hip! Yep, I got out of there quick until he disappeared. I don't live in Tx. anymore, but if I did, I wouldn't shop at a grocery store where I had to see open carry.

People who said "Hey, when yer huntn', yr shoot at any bush that moves. Most likely'd be a varmint."

I remember how un-nerved I was the first time I saw a guy walking down the street with a black fringed shirt, black pants, boots, hat, and a chrome revolver on each hip!

Since a lot of my mom's family lives in TX, hate to see this law coming to pass. Glad to see that some grocery stores still care about their customers and workers lives.

Wonder how much the deaths/injuries from gunshot wounds will increase over the next year due to this new stupid law?

If Texas plays out like all the other states that permit open carry, there will be zero increase in gun deaths/injuries.

If you do I would like to read them. Just make sure it's not something from the NRA of Fox Nooz please.

Has been legal just about everywhere except Texas for forever. The few states where it is NOT legal (California, DC) are deadlier than most. Not sure what data you want.

http://www.kltv.com/story/30815074/with-open-carry-texas-joins-vast-majority-of-states

And on edit, wanted to clarify once again that I am not a proponent of open carry. It serves no purpose that isn't already covered by concealed carry and makes many people uncomfortable. That said, I've lived in states where it was fairly prevalent (Montana for example) and it never bothered me.

The link doesn't address that.

I tried to find some stats addressing changes in murder rates after open carry was enacted but difficult since the vast majority of states have allowed open carry for years. The only time I'm aware that open carry caused a problem was when the 911 dispatcher in Colorado ignored a call about someone carrying a rifle down the street and that person ended up shooting others. I guess what I can say is that I'm unaware of any news stories (other than Colorado) where open carry was an issue. But again, I would reiterate that I'm not a fan of open carry since it tends to make people uncomfortable. Not sure why you would even want to open carry if concealed carry is an option.

I'll just stay home.

...you'll be restricting your travel to five states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and South Carolina. And DC...

You could also come here to Portland! Oregon allows open carry, but local governments have the right to restrict it, and Portland does. =)

Surprised me that SC still has some common sense.

may end up being the most effective way to moderate this behavior within the current environment.

gunfights galore there.

Just about every state in the union allows concealed carry. I'm not aware of any "gunfights" between concealed carry folks, though I admit that I haven't read every news story from every state that allows concealed carry. I'm much more concerned about getting shot by the criminal who shouldn't have a gun than the person who is legally carrying. As a first step to safety let's get the guns out of the hands of criminals.

at least with gun laws, we can take them away from the criminals when we see them. with no gun laws, you can't tell who is who.

have a concealed handgun license and would, if they were inclined to be carrying, have a firearm on them and the policies at these grocery stores will not have them posting against legal concealed carry.

People have been predicting gunfights will be commonplace if concealed carry becomes legal every time a state proposes introducing it/ Now, with the very large majority of states having "must issue" CCW laws (or no permit at all...which I don't support), the predicted outbreak of gunfights simply hasn't occurred. While it's risky to predict Texas will follow the norm in ANY matter (only kind of kidding there!), I'm not sure I see any reason things will be different there.

people who need to be armed to go the grocery store?

that is pretty fucking obvious

Evening training and awareness can fail a person. The PPE just gives you an extra measure of protection...

It is possible to run license plates online. Someone with evil in his heart could easily follow an open carrier out to his car, memorize his plate, go home and run the number, watch his house to find out when it's empty, then just stroll right on in and clean it out.

expect a rash of home breakins for the guns these nuts are advertising though. It won't only be thugs, it will be more gunnuts with penile jealously over the size and cost of each others weapons.

The most serious gun fanatics love to use the phrase "molon labe." It's an Ancient Greek expression which means "come and take it."

If someone were to relieve someone wearing a garment with this phrase on it, or wearing a tattoo of it (yes, I have seen Molon Labe tattoos), of their gun, would "but officer, he told me to!" be sufficient defense?

It's not actually one of the larger sources of guns for criminals (street sales and straw purchases are), but it still happens. "Got guns? Lock 'em up when not in use" should be a matter of law, imo.

....is because of Gun Enthusiasts, themselves. What if all your guns are locked up, and a middle-of-the-night house break-in takes place? There you are, fumbling around for a well-secured firearm, while the Bad Guy either shoots you or (more likely) gets the hell out of the premises, taking that ultimate bit of your wish fulfillment---being able to put a bullet in another human being---with him? Nope, nope, nope, better to keep that sleek little semi-auto in the bedside drawer, within quick, easy reach. And hope that little kids don't find it.

That would constitute "in use."

a major source of how guns got into criminal hands.

Only 1.4 friggen MILLION guns were stolen in burglaries from 2005 to 2010. Meaning every one went directly into the hands of a criminal.
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/fshbopc0510pr.cfm