Letter wrong about gun law
August 24, 2005

Statements in Apple Valley City Council Member Tom Goodwin's recent letter ("Gun law makes it hard for cities to protect citizens," Star Tribune South, Aug. 10) that it is "illegal to take guns into a school building" and that "it is illegal to take a gun into a Dakota County library" are nonsense. Goodwin is wrong, and I suspect he knows he is wrong.

Permit-holders are allowed to carry firearms into a school building if they first obtain "written permission of the principal or other person having general control and supervision of the school or the director of a child care center."

Likewise, I carry my firearm on my person anytime I visit the Dakota County library. All I had to do was notify the sheriff as specified by statute. The same is true of carrying on the Capitol grounds or at the State Capitol -- notify the Public Safety commissioner and you are good to go. But then again Tom Goodwin knew this, as he heard this when this was first debated by the Apple Valley City Council in 2003.

Goodwin further writes that "the nature of some of the people who are getting permits under the new law makes it essential that cities have the right to ban guns on city property." I find it quite disheartening that Goodwin has to be reminded so frequently that cities do not have rights -- people have rights. Goodwin's form of government would reverse that.

Lastly, Goodwin writes that some "bad apples" slip through the process. So they slip through on city councils, also. Let us not forget that city council members in San Diego were recently found guilty of taking bribes, as was a Minneapolis council member in the not-too-distant past. Why there have even been council members and mayors who have been found guilty of murder. It even happens with police officers.

As with any microcosm of society, you will have a few "bad apples," as Goodwin writes. But he is being disingenuous in the case of the person who shot and killed the doorman at a Minneapolis restaurant; the man charged in the killing was not carrying a handgun. According to authorities, he left the bar and fetched a weapon from elsewhere. The permit to carry had nothing to do with this heinous act.

Gary Shade is a resident of Apple Valley.

I find it quite disheartening that Goodwin has to be reminded so frequently that cities do not have rights -- people have rights.