Citilink to let riders carry guns on its buses [Fort Wayne]

[salvorhardin]

Citilink to let riders carry guns on its buses

Benjamin Lanka | The Journal Gazette
FORT WAYNE – Starting next month, Citilink patrons will be allowed to ride with their guns, despite safety concerns from the transit company.

Citilink’s board of directors on Thursday is scheduled to vote on a new weapons policy to comply with state law, essentially allowing passengers to bring their guns on board.

Ken Housden, Citilink general manager, said the transit system’s current weapons policy does not comply with the new law. He said he isn’t thrilled with the changes, but his organization can’t ignore the new state statute.

“Guns and public transportation are not a good mix,” he said. “We can’t change the law.”

Senate Bill 292 generally pre-empts local ordinances that regulate firearms, including cities with specific gun bans and rules prohibiting weapons in public buildings and parks.

Housden said this means Citilink has no authority to ban firearms from its vehicles. The law, which takes effect July 1, does exempt the Statehouse, meaning people are not allowed to carry firearms where legislators work.
Full story: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110607/LOCAL/306079957

[indypaul]

1. Another perfect example

of a General Assembly that campaigned on the economy and
then, as typical reactionaries, only considered legislation
pertaining to guns, God and gays. There are three questions
one should ask any member of the assembly who is up for reelection.

1. What plans do you have for putting people back to work?

2 How much will it cost?

3. How do you plan on implementing your program?

Failure to ADEQUATELY answer any of the above and it is very simple, no vote.

[salvorhardin]

2. Yep

Of course, we're starting to see Daniels and cohorts positioning themselves as having won the economy by not raising corporate taxes when Illinois did. 30 jobs here, 60 jobs there, moving to Indiana... It's a big win for Daniels' PR department. Just never mind companies like Navistar which are leaving Fort Wayne and moving those 1,200 or so jobs to... wait for it... Illinois.

[eqfan592]

4. While I tend to agree....

...that those other issues are in desperate need of being addressed, that by itself does not make this a bad law worthy of a "no" vote. People who take public transportation should have just as much of a right to carry for defensive purposes as those who drive a car.

[indypaul]

5. If one does not have a job

there is little need of transportation public or private. Unless one is
in need of going to the unemployment office to file a claim or seek help
in finding employment. I'm sorry that I did not mention one other very
important consideration of this last session of the General Assembly.
This was also the year that the members got to choose their voters.
That, above all, was indeed given much consideration.

[Kevin Cloyd]

3. I thought about going to the 500 this year

and looked into parking away from the track and taking a bus to the speedway. Seems that public transportation companies that take public subsidies can no longer transport people to private sporting events...So privately owned companies have a nice monopoly thanks to Uncle Sugar.

Public buses can carry guns in Indiana but not people to the Indianapolis 500.

Would somebody tell Franz Kafka to let us out of his novel.

[AngryOldDem]

6. And yet the freeways were backed up for miles...

...and street traffic, I heard, stretched as far back as Methodist Hospital.

:crazy:

[Brigid]

7. Their argument makes no sense.

If it were true, then why wouldn't IndyGo in Indianapolis permit guns on its buses? KIt does not. On IndyGo's website, it specifically states that suns are not permitted.

[salvorhardin]

8. Maybe IndyGo hasn't reformulated their policy yet?

Here in Fort Wayne the library system just changed their policy to take the new gun law into account.

The library’s old policy allowed security employees to ask a person suspected of carrying any kind of weapon to leave the building or to prohibit that person from entering.

Effective immediately, patrons may bring a handgun onto library property or into a library, but only if they provide a valid permit. Any person carrying firearms must provide proof of license upon request to library personnel.

“This new policy sends a message that while guns can no longer be banned from the library, certain standards of behavior will not be tolerated,” said Jeffrey Krull, director of the Allen County Public Library.

The firearms must be secured to prevent potential injury or serious bodily harm to others, and no one will be allowed to point, brandish or display a firearm in any manner intended to threaten, according to the revised policy.

A separate policy states that staff members may not carry firearms in the library or on library property unless authorized to do so. And any firearms brought onto library property by staff members must be stored in a locked vehicle out of public view, according to the policy.

Source: http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110624/LOCAL/306249943/-1/LOCAL11