Protection is personal

This morning I wanted to give a shout out to Ken, (Can I call you Ken? I feel like we need to be friends or drinking buddies now) aka Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, over his recent legal opinion on what constitutes "a good and sufficient reason" to carry a weapon to church, to wit:

Cuccinelli wrote that the self-defense is at the heart of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.

The statute Cole questioned is in the penal, or criminal code, section of state law, and because of it must be “strictly construed against the Commonwealth and in favor of a citizen’s liberty,” Cuccinelli wrote.

Because of that, he said, “I conclude that lawfully carrying a firearm for self-defense and personal protection constitutes ‘a good and sufficient reason’” under the law.

Telling it like it is! Way to go! Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and. . . . .oh, wait. . . .well, I can't give you my sister; she's already taken by a Good ol' Boy with an affinity for having his own weapon pointed at him - but I promise you that if you stop by we will smash into the Stella Artois or Woodford Reserve, your choice.

Now, it should be known that this legal opinion is not codified law, but it might as well be. Virginia has made it known that they like to do things their own way - for better or for worse - and the weight of the state's Attorney General is on the side of gun owners on this one. Regardless, there are some (like you know who) who are very butt-hurt over the idea of someone discreetly carrying a modern self defense tool to church without accruing a $250 fine:

“Places of worship don’t need loaded guns brought into them,” Malte said. “The way Attorney General Cuccinelli states it, it looks like he’s giving an opening to guns in churches, and we oppose that.”

Well, Mr. Malte, to the best of my knowledge, churches don't have the funds these days to spend on spree-shooter forcefields to keep the lunatics out; so if you look at things in that regard, nothing has changed. Instead of having one or two churchgoers in the congregation carrying their heaters because they value their gift of life, there will now be like five. Why don't you jump up and down while holding your breath?

This opinion is common sense squared. There is simply no good cause in fining non-violent people for an act that hurts no one. Also, Ken Cuccinelli is my hero.