Having trouble keeping track of all the gun related legislation going around lately? Yeah, me too. Well the Wall Street Journal has put together a nice summary of all the legislation enacted or sent to the governor since the Newtown tragedy.
Click the graphic for a larger version.
You can see the actual legislation and status of each bill at the Wall Street Journal.
Besides being a great resource that I wanted to share, I think there’s also something important we can learn from this map: there are more states enacting pro-gun laws than there are enacting anti-gun laws.
While this is encouraging, it also reinforces something for me. For quite some time now I have been worried that gun control is heading down a States’ Rights path, and I’ll be honest in saying that I fear where it might lead. This country is becoming more and more polarized, a polarization that we haven’t seen since the issue of slavery in the early to mid 1800’s.
That isn’t a good thing by any measure.
Umm, there’s got to be something wrong with this map. Wyoming just recently passed laws that basically told the federal gov’t that we won’t follow any gun restrictions that they try to press on us. (source: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2013/introduced/hb0104.pdf). And I’ve heard nothing, nor can I find anything, that leads me to believe that Wyoming is enacting legislation that would restrict gun rights. Does anybody have information on this?
There’s nothing wrong with the map. The WSJ classified WY H 216, which prohibits people from carrying a weapon in the courtroom, as “strengthening” gun control, which is the reason why Wyoming is on the naughty map.
HB 104 has not yet passed the Senate, which why is why it’s not on the good map.
Interesting, I didn’t realize that HB 104 hasn’t gone all the way through yet. Thanks for the info.
Never mind, I see that their showing Wyoming as restricting gun rights because there was a small law passed saying that only a judge and law enforcement can have weapons in the court room. I don’t really consider that a big deal.
Nor do I, and I still think Wyoming is a model that more states should follow (Wyoming is way better than my home state of Texas for example), but the law passed DOES strengthen gun control if you look at it objectively.
I was surprised to see Wyoming on the “naughty” list as well. As far as passing a law that restricts firearms in courtrooms, I am shocked their isn’t one already. As a Texas Peace Officer I would not want people to be able to carry firearms into courtrooms. Often times courtrooms are places of intense emotional trauma and allowing firearms to be carried by anyone other than L.E. is absolutely foolish. I do not consider this to be an example of firearm rights “infringement” either but, a step forward in “common sense” firearm legislation. If it makes sense fine, I have no issues. When it doesn’t is where I have problems. Gotta go, my M4 is dirty.
@Brandon – I agree that looking at it objectively, it does strengthen gun control.
@SSG Becker – Completely agree as well. I view a court room to something similar to a police station. When you have L.E. directly in the room with you, there’s a good chance that the bad guys aren’t going to barge with a guns a blazing! 🙂
This seems more like a common sense law that I’m all for.
I understand your point, I just don’t agree. Gun free zones are never acceptable to me, personally.
Is it really a gun free zone if you already have L.E. with gun there?
Of course it is – LEOs can always carry in gun free zones, and so can criminals in most cases.
Good point, however, my point I was getting at is that the reason why I don’t like “gun free zones” is typically you do not have an LEO there all of the time, if ever. If a criminal walks into a “gun free zone” at a school, most of the time there are no LEOs to be found. However, if a criminal walks into a police station, or a court room, there will always be LEOs there.
I guess the point I’m trying to get across is that you are much less likely to have a criminal attempt a shooting in a room that always has LEOs present. I just don’t feel as bad about not having a concealed weapon if LEOs are always going to be present in the same room.
I agree that taking guns away from people in a courtroom is better than taking guns away from people where an armed LEO isn’t on duty, but less wrong doesn’t equal right.
I think I can agree with you on that point.
Totally agree!! Have you ever noticed the demeanor of some LEO’s in a courtroom?? SA is non-existent and I know a lot of LE that are a bunch of shit heads, depending on them to protect anyone is a joke.
Why isn’t Mryland on that map. I feel like the rest of the country has forgotten about us. We need your support to fight our tyranical govenor.
Because the map was created before SB 281 passed the House.
Damn, saw all the bitching and moaning on Facebook…no wonder this country is in the mess that it’s in. People can’t even read anymore. Unbelievable…
Thanks for posting this Brandon.
It is also interesting to note that this issue is literally polarizing America – citizens concerned about gun grabs are actually locating to “2nd Amendment Friendly” States. If the administration keeps pushing it’s Socialist agenda, we will actually have a divided nation, literally.