THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 12, 1995 TAG: 9510110202
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Let's get this out front right away:
If there's any type person in this world I'd approve for a concealed-weapon permit, it's someone like Richard R. Harris. He's a licensed gun dealer of long standing, he knows the capabilities of all sorts of weapons, and he's about as unlikely as anyone around to abuse his right to bear arms.
I do not think for a minute that Mr. Harris packs a pistol just in case he needs to protect himself from his critics at City Council meetings. Nor do I believe his critics, most vocal among them NAACP President Paul C. Gillis, truly think Mr. Harris poses any threat to their safety.
Still, I'm appalled - indeed, I'm sickened - by the notion that Mr. Harris would take a weapon when he goes to work, at City Hall, on behalf of the people of Suffolk.
Mr. Harris is more than a private businessman, more than a private citizen. He's a city councilman, and I don't expect my elected representatives to go about the business of Suffolk citizens while packing heat - not under their coats, not in briefcases outside the meeting chambers but still within City Hall, not out in the open.
Citizens expect some places - churches, courts (except for law officers) and other government buildings among them - to be free from instruments of violence. And no matter the intent of those who arm themselves, guns are ultimately instruments of violence and death.
That accounts for the sinking feeling we get when our expectations of safety are shattered - when a judge is killed in a courtroom by a maniac who thinks a gun will resolve all his problems, when a disgruntled employee comes into the workplace and sprays death in a hail of bullets, when a gunman opens fire in a restaurant drive-through in Suffolk.
Mr. Harris can argue endlessly about his constitutional right to arm himself, but citizens can argue more forcefully their right to peace of mind.
The right to bear arms, oh so precious in the eyes of a dismaying number of people, dims against citizen entitlement to freedom from fear.
This revelation that a city councilman takes a gun to council meetings - no matter how much I trust him, no matter where he stashes the gun - shatters my comfort. Who else, I have to wonder, shares his perceived need to be armed?
The City Council needs to take a stand. Municipalities can decide whether people can bring guns to council chambers. As things stand now in Suffolk, the city attorney says, permit holders can.
The council must address the question of whether permit-holders should be allowed to bring weapons to council chambers, and I have no doubt about the proper answer. NO!
It seems foolish that the matter would even have to come up. It's even more amazing that it would be advanced because at least two Suffolk City Council members allegedly have warned NAACP President Gillis to watch what he says in appearances before City Council because Mr. Harris now carries a gun to protect himself.
The councilmen, identified by Mr. Gillis as Vice Mayor Curtis R. Milteer and Charles F. Brown, surely don't believe Mr. Gillis' often-harsh words for Mr. Harris would cause Mr. Harris to open fire. Both even deny telling Mr. Gillis any such thing.
That's a whole different matter. What's important now is that Mr. Harris has valued his own comfort over that of people who believe the council chambers should offer sanctuary against the insanity of gun violence.
There are too few such places, and this one should not be sacrificed. Not for Mr. Harris, not for anyone. MEMO: HAVE YOUR SAY. Call 934-7553.
by CNB