The Real Gun Guys

I could go on and on. Sunday and Monday, stories told of twentysomething men being gunned down. Tuesday’s headline summed it up: “Indianapolis has seen 8 slayings in 8 days.”

Day after day, just like every summer, Indianapolis has been filled with gun violence. So what do we do?

I posed that question to Paul Helmke, the former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne who now leads the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Helmke spends his days pushing what he calls, and I agree are, “sensible gun laws” at a time when the political will for such is as weak as it’s ever been.

What else can the city do except go with the flow? That’s what presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barrack Obama appears to have done. Although Obama has campaigned for gun control and against gun violence, he issued a statement praising the Supreme Court for overturning the District’s gun ban.

Ricochet shooting like that might even inspire a specialty gun shop all its own. Call it Shot in the Foot or, to capture the sentiment of betrayal expressed by some Obama supporters: shot in the back.

During the Supreme Court deliberations, members of Congress signed petitions calling for the District’s handgun ban to be overturned. They deserve a gun shop of their own. So let them have it: the Hamilton and Burr, perhaps. Motto: Why talk ‘em to death when you can leave ‘em bleeding on the floor?

In a culture that loves the faceoff, the showdown, the high-noon drama –at home and abroad — there is no reason that D.C. residents should be denied such an essential tool for conflict resolution.

Walt Disney Co. fired a security guard who protested a company policy that bars employees from keeping guns in their cars at work.

Edwin Sotomayor, 36, told reporters last week that he objected to Disney’s position that it was exempt from a new Florida law that lets employees with permits keep guns in their locked cars. When Sotomayor arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando on July 4, he refused to let security managers search his car. He was suspended that day and fired Monday.

“He would not confirm or deny he had a weapon in his vehicle,” Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said Tuesday in an interview. “He refused to allow a search of his vehicle. He was terminated for a violation of company policies, including failure to co-operate with an investigation.”

Sotomayor’s firing follows the July 1 enactment of a law that supporters say protects a citizen’s constitutional right to bear arms. The Florida Retail Federation and the state’s Chamber of Commerce sued in federal court to strike down the law, saying it exposes employees and customers to “physical harm and death.” A judge is expected to rule later this month.

The law doesn’t apply to schools, jails and nuclear power plants or employers in national defence, aerospace, homeland security and explosives manufacturing and storage. Suarez said Disney, which operates theme parks and resorts in the Orlando area, is exempt because it stores fireworks.

“The exemption is clear,” Suarez said. “The safety of our guests is our top priority, and we don’t want it compromised.”

Walt Disney World Resort has 62,000 employees, she said.

Sotomayor said he alerted the media last week that he would bring a gun onto Disney property to protest the company’s “ridiculous” stance on the new law. He said he was concerned for his safety on his 37-kilometre commute to work because of rising crime in central Florida.