Lawmakers Debate Ban on Firearms in Maine Subsidized Housing

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Lawmakers-Debate-Ban-on-Firearms-in-Maine-Subsidized-Housing-370043341.html

Lawmakers Debate Ban on Firearms in Maine Subsidized Housing

Second amendment rights clashed with property owners' rights at the Maine State House Wednesday afternoon, with lawmakers considering a bill that prevents landlords from banning handguns in subsidized housing properties.

Republican State Sen. Andre Cushing sponsored the bill after an incident in Rockland last fall.

Harvey Lembo, an elderly and disabled man, was the victim of several home invasions and robberies. He bought a gun to defend himself, and days later, used it on an intruder. The property management company told Lembo to surrender the gun or be evicted. It was against the policy in the subsidized housing to have firearms...

..."Tenants routinely give up rights when they move into an apartment building," said Bill Harwood, founder of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.

What other rights do they give up, Mr. Harwood? The rights to:

Privacy?
Free practice of religion?
Speech?
The right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures?

Lembo is suing his landlord, and I hope he wins big time.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

1. It's awful when people are helpless

It's even worse when others work to make them more helpless and defenseless.

[CommonSenseDemocrat]

2. And worse when they do it as a condition of poverty

[Eleanors38]

3. Some years back, state-run housing for the poor attempted to prevent 2A exercise...

The court rule (MD?) that such prohibitions on posession of a gun in public-owned housing was unconstitutional. This instance sounds like Section 8 housing: privately-owned housing landlord agreeing to the terms of federal or state regulation in order to qualify for renting to the poor. It appears to be unconstitutional infringement of 2A rights.

[benEzra]

4. Ummm, disparate impact?

Not to mention that there is plenty of court precedent overturning similar bans on low-income residents owning guns, including in public housing, on equal-protection grounds.

This shows, again, that the gun control lobby's idea of "reasonable gun control" includes no guns at all, at least not in the hands of people who aren't wealthy enough or have the wrong color skin.