Lest ye forget, gun control is not about guns, it's about control.
I'd like for y'all to meet a public servant. Dan Pabon represents House District 4, which is an area of northwest Denver, Colorado. Mr. Pabon has proposed a bill similar to a bill in New York that became law there. It's not an "assault weapons" ban, but it operates on a similar premise.
State Lawmaker Wants To Take All Misdemeanor Offenders' DNA
Any offense, under his proposal, would permit the state to keep a sample of your spit. Quoth the humble public servant:
“It does same thing that fingerprints do, but just in more a accurate, sophisticated way,' Pabone {sic}said."
Let's skip over the fact that the article mis-spelled the fellow's name. The all knowing state, keeping a person's spit in a jar, is a sophisticated approach to combat crime?
"Pabone {sic} says statistics show people who commit minor crimes go on to commit more serious crimes, and DNA would be a way to both convict criminals and exonerate the innocent."
Under that theory, people who wear clothing are prone to committing crimes, so perhaps we should start peremptory detentions of folks who dress, have them hock on a hanky and make sure they didn't leave any saliva at the scene of a random, senseless jaywalking.
"Pabone {sic} says the bill would not cost the state any additional money because the offender would have to pay for the DNA test."
Y'all will have to excuse me, I'm not as up on pricing for certain fetishes as I used to be. What is the going rate for saliva play in the adult entertainment industry? Or would it be more appropriate to base the fee on the holistic healthcare practice of spittle cures?
“There will be plenty time for the public to comment on this issue, to hear back from them,' Pabone {sic} said. 'But the bottom line is public safety has got to be number one in this building, and I think that’s what the people of Colorado are asking for right now.”
I may be out of touch with folks in Colorado, but I had no idea they were asking to be charged for spitting. Maybe he just read That Sumbitch Ain't Been BORN and missed the point?
Public safety though. That's the justification. There are some other things Paon thinks involve public safety. According to a site that is presumably his own, he thinks that access to affordable healthcare is a Right. He also supports taking Colorado to a single payer system. Let's not bullshit about this, he wants a form of socialized medicine. He wants to "reform" TABOR because I presume he thinks the government should not have as many restrictions on spending and taxing as it currently has, and he claims TABOR is slowing down the recovery.
According to Project VoteSmart, Pabon voted on 3 gun related bills. One would have eliminated Colorado's "baby Brady" system of background checks (which is currently causing a 6+ day wait, down from 9+ a few weeks ago, to get permission to exercise a Right). Another would have prevented firearms restrictions being implemented during an emergency, and the last would have repealed the prohibition on exercising a Right without a permit (i.e. Constitutional Carry). Pabon voted against all of those measures.
So I am not surprised he wishes to treat every person who breaks a law as a career criminal. Gun control is about controlling people, not firearms, but don't think for a moment that this impulse to dictate only arises when projectile throwers are mentioned. It's about control. Period.
I've often said that gun legislation is a litmus test; if a government wishes to restrict your freedom to own or possess weapons, that's likely a sign they wish to inhibit your freedom in other areas. I see no reason to reassess that conclusion by looking at the example of public servant Pabon.
Posted by Publicola at January 31, 2013 02:25 PM | TrackBack