Palin, Lubbock, and a Gun ban?

[G.A. Heath]

Did anyone go to the Palin event in Lubbock today? According to this article there is a gun ban at the Lubbock Civic Center Theater. As the article points out the facility is owned by the city of Lubbock, but according to the Lubbock City Secretary and Julia Gonzalez (Event coordinator for the facility) they are following all state laws. I guess that this could be considered a school sponsored event since it is a fund raiser for the Lubbock Christian School. I guess they didn't know about Silver Spur Gun Shows being there on the 8th and 9th of January or they fail to understand that Beef Jerky, Nazi/Confederate memorabilia, and knives are not the only things in a Gun Show.
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[A-R]

I thought your title was going to be a word game like "which of these things does not belong"

[G.A. Heath]

Lol, I hadn't thought of it like that, and I did forget to mention that the article is from the POV of an anti.

[5thGenTexan]

Glad to see the City of Lubbock and it's Chief of Police is just following state law by banning handguns. Sounds like they have a City Attorney that needs to learn to read state statutes.

[lrb111]

Makes me wonder if the stated reasons are bogus, and the real reason was Secret Service related. Maybe she is considered a candidate for national office, and we just haven't been informed yet.
My explanation is much more eloquent than saying the DA is a dummy (remember no abreviations).

[RPB]

well darn, My uncle was in UMC hospital, ... If I'd have known he was going in the hospital there a few days and known Palin was going to be there and those "rules" I'd have gone to Lubbock, and if I'd had time, gone to the Palin event to show support for her, and if anything occurred where someone made a bad faith arrest for something not illegal, I could use the money from the civil rights suit to pay my uncle's hospital bill.

I might even have made National headlines
"MAN WITH CONCEALED HANDGUN LICENSE AT PALIN RALLY LEGALLY CARRYING CONCEALED GUN CONTAINING 21 ROUNDS and CARRYING 2 MORE "clips" WITH 20 ROUNDS EACH, PLUS ANOTHER BACK-UP-GUN, NONE OF WHICH ANYONE KNEW ABOUT, DID NOTHING BUT CHEER AND CLAP"

[sjfcontrol]

Makes me wonder if the stated reasons are bogus, and the real reason was Secret Service related. Maybe she is considered a candidate for national office, and we just haven't been informed yet.
My explanation is much more eloquent than saying the DA is a dummy (remember no abreviations).

Perhaps that 1000-ft no-gun-zone-around-politicians thing is already in effect??

[troglodyte]

1st off the article is wrong...and stupid.

Spouting off without facts is foolish.

City had nothing to with it. The Civic Center is not posted. Private events may be.

HIGH security after AZ events. No Secret Service...to my knowledge...

I felt much safer in AND around the Civic Center last night even if I was unarmed, than when I go to the Library next door by myself armed and I wouldn't say that lightly.

Leave it at that.

Edit - And yes it was a wonderful event.

[G.A. Heath]

1st off the article is wrong...and stupid.

Spouting off without facts is foolish.

City had nothing to with it. The Civic Center is not posted. Private events may be.

HIGH security after AZ events. No Secret Service...to my knowledge...

I felt much safer in AND around the Civic Center last night even if I was unarmed, than when I go to the Library next door by myself armed and I wouldn't say that lightly.

Leave it at that.

Edit - And yes it was a wonderful event.

Was the event posted? If so exactly how was it posted?

[ScottDLS]

Did anybody read the article/site? This is the tin-foil hat nutbag crowd. "Free Pvt. Manning!!!!".

Bush caused 9/11 to make money for Halliburton. Sorry, black helicopters surrounding the house, gotta dive into my Y2K shelter.


Carry of a handgun by a CHL in a (state/county/city) govt building is matter of state law and is generally legal. I'm not saying it wasn't prevented, but it's not due to Texas law.

Wasn't it a few months ago that someone was open carrying a rifle (in a state where legal...like TX) when Pres. Obama was nearby? All he (carrier) got was dirty looks from USSS, if I remember.

[G.A. Heath]

The reason I am asking about the event being posted, and started this thread, is to find out if the event was posted and who ordered it. That is my point of interest in the article, if this drivel had been on a more reputable source I would have taken a different approach.

[troglodyte]

Proper 30.06 sign at north entrance. This was the only entrance used.

Sign was 18" high by 4' long (landscape), 1 inch black block letters on white background, proper language in English and Spanish.

Sign was conspiculously placed on a fluted silver metal easel in east end of vestibule.

Sign blew facedown sometime during the evening when the front settled in...to which you can argue it was not visible...and you would be correct.

As much as I didn't like it and it stuck in my craw I will have to say posting was the prudent and discreet thing to do.

Also, it was a private event. If I did not wish to abide by the rules, I didn't have to go.

Could a firearm still have gotten through? Certainly. And no sign, security check points or LEOs could have stopped it.

The point is, the City had nothing to do with it, the private event was properly posted, security was high, inside and out, and it was a great evening.

[G.A. Heath]

IT was properly posted, EXCEPT for the fact that the facility was government(City of Lubbock) owned. For reference see Texas Penal Code Section 30.06(e). Based on your information I must now lower my opinion of Mrs. Palin.

[troglodyte]

We do not have all the facts so you may wish to withold your judgement. What Mrs. Palin knew of or demanded is not known. Neither is it known if the school decided to keep out weapons. There may have been other contractual agreements between parties unknown to us. I can say with assurance it was not the City. And no, I am not associated with the City. There may have been other issues that we are unaware of. For all we know it could have been a do-gooder thinking they were doing the correct thing. Yes, it may have been an simple, honest mistake. Kind of takes the fun out of any conspiracy theory, black helicopters, political agendas, and 2A diatribes.

As to the government owned Civic Center it was leased by a private party, a private school in this case. Control of the facility belongs to the private party. They "own" the building for the duration of the contract. They may decide who may or may not come in. My understanding of the mentioned code is that governments cannot post publically owned and accessible properties when open to the public. The Civic Center is not posted when it is open to the public for public use or events. Private events are that, private and those private entities may do as they please within the terms of the contract. The mentioned code concerns Trespass. If a private party is leasing a public building they can Trespass anyone they would like to.

Before we get all bent out of shape on this and start thinking poorly of someone or an institution we need to understand
that it may not be as simple as we may like it.

Without all the facts we simply cannot know. I know what I know buy that doesnt mean I know it all. It would be rash to
make any real judgment without knowing much more. Unfortunately we will probably never know enough to come to any
real conclusion.

I suggest we leave it as a blip on an otherwise wonderful evening. Gov. Plain gave a stirring 45 min. Speech followed by a 30 min. Conversation with the school's superintendent. Spike Dykes served as MC and three lovely young ladies sang God Bless America that would have brought a tear to your eye.

The City didn't post. For all I know Palin didn't even know the sign existed, she certainly didn't come through that door. It may have been considered a school premise. It could have been a simple mistake or misunderstanding. Or maybe there were some other logical reasons. For example, if you were discovered with a firearm at such an event, how far do you think you would get? CHL, legal or not? How would they know you were carrying? Ladies purses were being searched. Coats were being left at the coat check. Bump frisks were performed Who knows what else was going on. Maybe the sign, legal or not, was a discreet way of telling you that if you are found out you are not going to make it into the theater

May not be the answer we like but it just may have given enough heads up to someone.

I didn't like being unarmed but LPD was out in force and I'm sure I only saw the tip of the iceberg. No telling how many undercover LEOs were there. I had to be content with their protection. And I was.

We can Monday morning quarterback this to death. It happened. It may have been right. It may have been wrong. It may have been somewhere in between. Regardless this was a one-time event with a (facedown) sign removed at the end of the night.

[G.A. Heath]

To be completely honest, I am looking into getting more information on this. As it stands something was wrong with the situation (Improper posting). I will say this, the city of Lubbock has a history of trying to post the 30.06 sign when it shouldn't, since they were not the culprit here we have to consider the following options:
1: Lubbock Christian posted the event: If so Sarah Palin (and/or her staff) is raising money for someone who doesn't think very highly of folks second amendment rights.
2: Sarah Palin (and/or her staff) required the posting: If this is the case she is a hypocrite on gun rights and an elitist.

Either way Palin (and/or her staff) fell down on the job and has therefore lost some of my respect. How much respect has been lost remains to be seen.