NH House Bill 1693 was killed in the House yesterday by a vote of 191 to 167 almost entirely on party lines. (Roll Call) Four Republicans voted with the majority of democrats that the measure was Inexpedient to legislate; DiFruscia, Messier, Pilliod, Vallincourt. Ten democrats voted with the Republicans in their effort to move it forward. So the legislative facilities commission restriction stands until at least next year–what a short few years of freedom it was.
Many of the bans supporters like to point out that until 2006 deadly weapons were not permitted in the State House. That it shouldn’t make much difference after only three years. But that is a line of logic you will never hear applied to anything progressives want. Once they enact something any effort to repeal becomes an epic battle for ‘families," "the children," or "the globe." Whatever the victim class might be, freedom lovers are second class citizens unworthy of their compassion.
The lack of evidence that there was ever a problem was not a reason to leave well enough alone, so they hyped up gallery rowdiness after the democrats killed HCR6 and used it to justify a pointless, paranoid shift back in time. If only we could get them to think about the budget and spending in pre-2006 terms we might not be in all the trouble we are in fiscally now.
So I submit for your approval, from the public record, the list of those 187 democrats and four Republicans, who are not prepared to trust you with weapons on the State House campus regardless of the evidence. (With a reminder that they rescinded that permission in a democrat majority committee with no vote by the full House. Just the way Liberty Deniers like it.) May we never suffer any consequences their selfish abuse of power and a decidedly myopic world view.
What was once a mainstay of the home entertainment zeitgeist is about to be altered, perhaps forever. Blockbuster has announced that it may have to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Apparently the once mighty rental giant does not fall into the too big to fail category nor does it qualify for some kind of TARP-like bailout. Of course Blockbuster backing down on a buyout of Circuit City retail stores saw the end of that national chain, so it almost seems appropriate that the management of a company that would even consider buying Circuit City might face a similar fate.