Saturday, July 29, 2017

What To Expect When You're Expecting

We have been asked to take the premise that guns don't kill people, people kill people. With all of the stabbing with knives and crashing with trucks and vans, it's a pretty decent argument. How do we keep folks safe in these United States?
If you live in the state of Arizona, the Grand Canyon State, the legislature has a fix for that. Revisions to the driver's manual includes suggestions about what to do when you're packing heat. In Arizona, you don't need a permit to own and carry a firearm. Lawmakers down there have reasoned that since you don't have to take any sort of training to wander around with a loaded gun, maybe they can catch you at the DMV. Everything you need to know about driving, with a gun, can be discovered in the Arizona Driver License Manual. If you make it past all that stuff about fees and registration, safety belts and defensive driving, then head on over to page fifty-six where you'll find instructions about what to do if you are pulled over by law enforcement:

  • Put the car in park.
  • Remain in your vehicle.
  • Keep your seat belt fastened. 
  • Keep your hands on the steering wheel in a visible location.
  • Wait for the law enforcement officer to approach your vehicle and make contact.
  • Consider lowering your windows, especially if tinted, to allow to  allow for additional visibility and communication to ensure the safety of all parties involved with the traffic stop.
  • At night, turn on overhead passenger compartment lights to illuminate the inside of your vehicle and
  • Inform the officer of any weapons on your person or in the vehicle.

It's that last one that keeps Arizona in the clear. They told you right there that if you've got a gun, or a hatchet for that matter, you really ought to fess up. It doesn't say anything about how you don't have to give up your right to refuse a search without probable cause.
And even if they bothered to include that little bit of information, who is looking to their driver's license manual for their constitutional rights?
Or how to stay alive?

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