Tuesday Night Meltdown

Being a libertarianish guy, tonight was not a good night for me. I can handle living in a world where things don't go my way, as often they don't, but tonight is the first night since I have lived here that I am seriously considering leaving San Francisco.

Here are the two propositions passed tonight that have enraged me:

Voters approved ballot measures to ban handguns in San Francisco and urge the city's public high schools and college campuses to keep out military recruiters Tuesday.

With 98 percent of San Francisco precincts reporting, 58 percent of voters backed the proposed gun ban while 42 percent opposed it.

Measure H prohibits the manufacture and sale of all firearms and ammunition in the city, and make it illegal for residents to keep handguns in their homes or businesses.

Although law enforcement, security guards and others who require weapons for work are exempt from the measure, current handgun owners would have to surrender their firearms by April.

A coalition led by the National Rifle Association has said it plans to challenge the initiative in court on Wednesday if the measure passes, arguing that cities do not have the authority to regulate firearms under California law.

Only two other major U.S. cities — Washington and Chicago — have implemented such sweeping handgun bans.

The military recruitment initiative also won with 59 percent in favor and 41 percent against.

Measure I, dubbed "College Not Combat," opposes the presence of military recruiters at public high schools and colleges. However, it would not ban the armed forces from seeking enlistees at city campuses, since that would put schools at risk of losing federal funding.

Instead, Proposition I encourages city officials and university administrators to exclude recruiters and create scholarships and training programs that would reduce the military's appeal to young adults.

Tonight, I lost my 2nd Ammendment right, and the voters of San Francisco came out in full force to spit on the men and women that are shedding their blood to die for them.

I don't own a gun, but after Katrina, I have seriously considered purchasing one after seeing what happened to a disaster area when order breaks down. However, this one bothers me more in principle, in that, typical of San Francisco, they don't behave like they respect the United States Constitution, so they try and pass laws to avert it. If they have a problem with our Constitution, then they should go and try to get enough support to go through the Constitutional process of Ammending the Constitution. That would be too difficult, and would never happen, so they are stuck with taking our Federal Rights away on the local level.

But, again, this doesn't bother me directly as much as the second measure. San Franciscians have been rallying for the past 4 years about "caring for the troops" so much, that they wanted to "bring them home." Instead, their hypocrisy knows no bounds as they seek to actively work against them. Having family memembers and friends of who have sacrificed and put their lives on the line for these people, they have in turn, shown their gratitude by, ironically, voting for a measure against them that can only be made possible and paid for by the blood of those that wear that uniform.

I'm gonna get some Alka-Seltzer...