"On handguns and airports."

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

On handguns and airports.
By Jay Bookman
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution


In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling on the Second Amendment, you could
sense that gun advocates had become so giddy with success that they might
get carried away and try to press their new advantage in ways that would
provoke a public backlash.

The showdown at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport may very well prove
the point. Holders of concealed-weapons permits claim that they have a right
under state law to carry handguns inside airports but outside the security
zone. Airport officials and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin insist they do
not, and have promised to arrest any civilian with a weapon at the airport.
City officials are also using the case to press for federal laws or rules to
support their position and override state law.

Like so much about the gun issue, this is more about symbolism than
practical effect. But the symbolism in this case works against the gun
lobby, which may find it has significantly overreached and chosen poor
ground on which to fight.

In the wake of Sept. 11, the public has come to accept airports as a
no-rights zone, a place where their expectations of privacy and legal bans
on warrantless search have been magically suspended. The Constitution just
doesn't apply there. 

I've never been comfortable with that concept - I think there are probably
less intrusive ways to ensure airport security - but the idea of airports as
a special, almost sacred place is nonetheless real and widely accepted. So
when gun advocates insist that they have the right to carry concealed
weapons on airport property - I just don't think the public is going to have
much patience with that argument.

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