Somebody call the NRA

Another threat to freedoms!

What's next? A national requirement that you have to meet the same basic requirements to own and operate a gun that you must meet to own and operate a car? Or a bicycle? Or a Segway? The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!!

Associated Press (copyrighted, excerpted under Fair Use guidelines)

NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to make it illegal in New York City to possess a firearm while drunk.

The mayor is proposing a local law that would impose a one-year jail sentence and fine of up to $10,000 for offenders.

The law would use the same definition of intoxicated as the legal limit for driving.

Many states, including South Dakota and Missouri, have laws similar to what Bloomberg is proposing for the city.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed.

Seriously, just wait for the gun lobby to start screaming. They've managed to hang up a similar bill in the New York State Assembly with everything from bused-in "spontaneous demonstrations" to millions in TV ads
to Republican Assembly Members citing everything from the Minutemen to John Wayne to the Wyatt Earp.

Just for the record, the various militia groups in New England (including the one that, in 1774, flogged the British Imposed Magistrates in the Mass. colony back to Boston, and stole the cannons, muskets, and ammunition from British supply depots that Regulars were later sent to "rescue" from Lexington) had very strict regulations about not showing up to muster "having indulged excessively in Strong Drink" or otherwise not ready to perform their assigned duties. Fines and floggings were the usual punishments. George Washington had several sentries hanged for being drunk on duty.

John Wayne may have had a drinking problem (and a HUGE domestic violence problem), but he rarely showed up for work over the limit, and did a PSA in the 70's on gun safety where he stressed the message of not shooting or hunting while intoxicated.

Wyatt Earp? get past the TV and the myths spread by Ned Buntline and look at the history.

We put restrictions on driving a vehicle because, sometimes with serious effort, a drunk driver/rider can do damage to people and property. Why is it so difficult to consider it just as important to try and limit the number of times some drunk starts firing in a crowded place for whatever reason bubbles through his/her alcohol-sodden brain?