Washington’s Obamacare Exchange Is Losing A Top Insurer In 2016

A top insurer is dropping from Washington, D.C.’s Obamacare exchange in 2016, leaving customers with fewer options than ever in the nation’s capital.

Aetna Life Insurance will no longer offer individual plans on D.C. Health Link, Washington’s own Obamacare exchange, in 2016, The Washington Post reports. Aetna is sending letters to customers notifying them that their plans will be canceled at the end of this year. The company says it has “determined we can no longer meet the needs of our customers while remaining competitive in the market.”

That will leave just one company on the exchange, CareFirst, that provides Preferred Provider Organization plans, or PPOs, which offer a wider choice of approved doctors and hospitals to customers. Just two other companies currently offer health maintenance organizations, HMOs, on the exchange.

That will leave customers looking for greater choice in their health care options with just one insurance company, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, which is drastically hiking premium rates across the region.

CareFirst has already proposed rate increases from 3 percent to 17 percent, according to the Post. In nearby Maryland, CareFirst has requested that state regulators allow it to hike rates by up to 30.4 percent in 2016, The Baltimore Sun reports.

DC Health Link’s director, Mila Kofman, told The Post that the shrinking number of options isn’t a loss for the competitiveness of the exchange and that Aetna’s decision to leave the exchange won’t harm residents.

“When you have products when there’s not a whole lot of interest to buy, that’s the market telling the carrier what they are selling, people can’t afford. So in terms of competition, it’s not a loss,” Kofman said. “I don’t consider that real competition.”

Aetna will continue to offer employer-provided plans on the exchange — including for Congress and its staff. Federal employees make a large part of Washington’s Obamacare customers, as they are required by the health care law itself to purchase coverage on the exchange.

Via: Daily Caller

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Constitutional Carrier Thwarts Robbery In Topeka Less Than Two Weeks After New Gun Law Is Signed

It’s amazing what armed citizens can do to help preserve the peace when government gets out of the way, and allows law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback just signed a bill legalizing so-called “constitutional carry”—allowing citizens to exercise their right to carry a firearm for self-defense without permits—less than two weeks ago.

It has already proven instrumental to thwarting a robbery.

24 year old Joey Tapley was a key witness in Friday’s armed robbery for weapons inside the Academy Sports and Outdoors store in Topeka.

He recalled the moments before the robbery, saying, “I was at the counter buying bullets with my cousin and I heard some loud bangs. I look up and they are just loading up weapons from the counter and then they run off and my instincts kicked in.”

Tapley followed the three suspects described only as white males ages 16 or 17, after they stole several rifles and an undisclosed amount of cash. Once outside, Tapley pulled out his own weapon.

“I told him drop the gun man, mine is loaded , just drop the gun. We made eye contact for a second or two and he dropped two guns and ran,” said Tapley.

Police officers arrested the teens along with an unidentified woman in the area of Southwest 6th and Fairlawn. The teenage boys were booked into the Juvenile Center on assault, burglary and robbery charges. The female was booked on conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery.

Tapley who carries his gun without a concealed carry permit says his heroics wouldn’t have been possible without Governor Brownback’s approval of the law that took effect just under 2 weeks ago on July 1.

“Thats why Kansas made the law. So citizens can carry and protect themselves and others. I guess my instincts just took over,” said Tapley.

The constant lament from opponents of constitutional carry is that without regulation and permitting that there will be “blood on the streets” from unlicensed carriers shooting at anything that moves… the same argument that they’ve been attempting to use (unsuccessfully) against concealed carry for more than 30 years.

Here in reality, we know that the very minimal “classes” required for concealed carry don’t have any long-term effect on students who take 8 or even 16 hours courses. People will default to their level of firearms training, which is not a required part of any concealed carry class in the nation (the shooting portion required in some concealed carry courses is a qualification test only).

Mr. Tapely used his common sense and his gun rights to thwart criminals from acquiring several firearms, and helped put them in jail, showing that constitutional carry works.

Let’s hope that the growing nationwide trend towards reasserting constitutional carry rights continues.

Via: Bearing Arms

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LOS ANGELES DOES NOT REFLECT AMERICA

It's a truism that will come as a surprise to few.

Los Angeles doesn't really reflect the rest of America. Sure, this is the United States. We are Americans (most of us, anyway). And L.A. is Hollywood's perpetual stand-in for Anytown, U.S.A.

But personal-finance website WalletHub confirmed that Los Angeles is in a league of its own compared with the rest of the nation. The site looked at metrics such as age, gender, income, household demographics and housing tenure to determine "2015's Metro Areas That Most and Least Resemble the U.S."

In housing demographics, which include how long people have lived in their homes, median home price and vacancy rate, we ranked a sad 379th — almost the bottom.

But you already know about the city's nation-topping housing crisis.

Among big metro areas, L.A. still ranked fairly low — 49th out of 166. A WalletHub spokeswoman broke out some other data for L.A:

330th – Race

152nd – Household Makeup

295th – % of Population with Health Insurance Coverage Housing

380th – Tenure (Renter-to-Owner Ratio)

105th – Household Income

144th – Wealth Gap

311th – % of Households Receiving Food Stamps

200th – Educational Attainment

This is a city where minorities outnumber whites and the gap between rich and poor is huge. But some of the stats are startling. The home of Caltech, considered by some to be the best university in the world, is 200th in educational attainment?

We need to elevate our game.

The city that most reflects America, by the way, is Indianapolis. 

Via: LA Weekly

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Sanders Battles Boehner on Min. Wage: ‘Who’s Out of the Mainstream?’

2016 Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders responded on Face the Nation Sunday morning to criticism from House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) that he was “out of the mainstream” with his desire to raise taxes to pay for his policies.

“Well, let me respond to that issue by issue, and you determine who’s out of the mainstream,” Sanders said.

“I want to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. A recent Wall Street Journal poll said majority of the American people want to do that. John Boehner is not going to bring up any legislation in the house to raise minimum wage. Many want to get rid of the concept of minimum wage.”

Sanders repeated the formula with Social Security and infrastructure.

“In terms of who’s out of touch with the American people, I’d say Republican party is,” he concluded. “They want to give tax breaks to billionaires, not help the middle class.”

Via: Mediaite

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Massachusetts: Charlie Baker, Marty Walsh field unique requests

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano has never been afraid to blast political enemies or even those in his own party like Hillary Clinton, waxing that her rollout offered more of a fizzle than a bang.

Turns out the former Somerville mayor’s had a lot of practice sparking explosions.

Capuano said he got a federal license back in 1973 to light fireworks, and worked behind the scenes on municipal fireworks shows throughout the state.

“I thought I could make a killing during the bicentennial. I was wrong,” the Democratic congressman joked during an in-studio visit with Boston Herald Radio.

Capuano didn’t spend a lot of time working the fireworks circuit, but said he gleaned one big takeaway.

“Everyone who worked there, they all had a little something missing,” he said.

Charlie’s chopper

Gov. Charlie Baker threw out his notes at a ceremony honoring the arrival of “The Wall That Heals” last week and instead regaled a veteran-heavy crowd with a slew of stories, including one during which he struggled to contain his emotions.

This one, however, got the most laughs:

Recalling a meeting with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society — which is holding its annual convention in Boston in September — Baker described himself as breezing into his “15th meeting” that day, quickly shaking hands amid introductions and pledging to do whatever he could to help.

One elderly gentleman had a request, Baker said: He wanted to go for a helicopter ride — a notion Baker laughed off. When it came time for a group photo, the same man sidled up next to him, and repeated his request. Baker told him he’d take “note of that” with an eye roll.

“Then he looks up at me like this,” Baker said, leaning back and turning his eyes toward the sky, “and he goes, ‘You know? You’re a pretty big guy.’ ... I used to fly with a guy who’s about your size. We used to call him Too Tall.’

“And so I looked at him and said, ‘You know, there’s a guy named Too Tall. His name’s Ed Freeman.” Freeman, Baker described, was a Medal of Honor recipient who bravely flew a helicopter in and out of a Vietnam War battle zone to bring supplies to soldiers and carry the wounded to safety.

“He probably saved dozens of lives,” Baker said. “I said (to the elderly man), ‘His flying buddy in that battle was a guy named Bruce Crandall.’

“This guy looks at me and says, ‘Yeah, me! Bruce Crandall! That’s what I said when I came in!’ ”

Baker, breaking into a wide smile, told Crandall — also a Medal of Honor recipient — that he was honored to meet “a real American hero.”

“So,” Baker said, “he looked at me and said, ‘So do I get my helicopter ride?’ ”

Pitching Marty

Since he took office in January 2014, Mayor Martin J. Walsh has gotten dozens of direct messages on Twitter. The majority are constituents offering complaints or compliments. More than a half-dozen address him simply as “Marty” or even “Martin.”

One, however, was an outright solicitation from a man who said he owns his own “pavement marking company.”

“... just wondering if you could help me maybe get a few contracts?” the DM reads.

Walsh didn’t respond, according to documents Herald reporter Jordan Graham obtained through a public records request. In fact, Walsh’s account had no outgoing DMs, according to his office.

Hillary Chabot and Jordan Graham contributed to this report. State House reporter Matt Stout can be reached at matthew.stout@bostonherald.com.

Via: Boston Herald

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'World's most powerful drug lord' escapes max security prison

The world's most powerful drug lord has escaped from a maximum security Mexican prison. Authorities have launched a manhunt to find drug kingpin Joaquin Guzman, Mexico's National Security Commission said Sunday.

The kingpin known as "El Chapo," who headed the Sinaloa Cartel, escaped through a hole in the shower into a tunnel complete with stairs, electricity and ventilation nearly a mile long, guards at the Altiplano Federal Prison discovered Saturday.

Guzman was "considered the world's most powerful drug lord until his arrest in Mexico in February 2014," according to the Department of Justice. He was on the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest men, with a personal net worth of over a billion dollars.

The U.S. Justice Department describes the cartel Guzman headed as "one of the world's most prolific, violent and powerful drug cartels."

This is Guzman's second escape. He escaped in a laundry cart in 2001 from a high-security prison and was not apprehended again until 2014.

Eighteen prison guards have been arrested under speculation that such an elaborate escape was not possible without corruption.

"The Sinaloa Cartel moves drugs by land, air, and sea, including cargo aircraft, private aircraft, submarines and other submersible and semi-submersible vessels, container ships, supply vessels, go-fast boats, fishing vessels, buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, trucks, automobiles, and private and commercial interstate and foreign carriers," according to the Justice Department.

In January, the Justice Department unsealed indictments of 60 members of the cartel, including Guzman's son, Ivan Guzman-Salazar known as "El Chapito," CNN reports.

The cartel imports cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, other drugs and the chemicals necessary to process methamphetamine into Mexico from Columbia and other countries, a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California said. It then launders money and smuggles drugs from San Diego to distribute throughout the U.S.

Guzman is the subject of best-selling books in Mexico and the "adoring songs known as narcocorridos," CNN reports. His drug exploits have become legendary. He is wanted in the U.S. for several federal crimes related to his drug trafficking and organized crime activities.

Via: Washington Examiner

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[VIDEO] Fiorina: Trump tapping into an ‘anger’

Carly Fiorina said in an interview Sunday that fellow GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is “tapping into an anger that I hear every day.”

People are angry that a commonsense thing like securing the border or ending sanctuary cities is somehow considered extreme,” she told ABC’s “This Week.” “It's not extreme, it's commonsense. We need to secure the border.”

“People are also angry at a professional political class of both parties that talks a good game, gives good speeches, but somehow nothing ever really changes,” she added. “And people are angry as well at a double standard in the media.

Fiorina said she had not been asked a “single question” about Trump’s comments on immigration during six days in New Hampshire.

Fiorina also blasted Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton during the ABC interview, saying the former secretary of State’s polices create more income inequality.

“Why? Because bigger government creates crony capitalism,” she said. “When you have a 70,000 page tax code, you've got to be very wealthy, very powerful, very well connected to dig your way through that tax code. … I will continue to point out … the fact that every policy she is pursuing will make income inequality worse, not better, crony capitalism even worse, not better. “

Clinton is scheduled to deliver a major economic policy speech in New York on Monday, when she is expected to call for a boost to the stagnating incomes of middle-class families.

Via: The Hill

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[VIDEO] US Marshals Employee Caught Having Sex On Roof

A Pennsylvania town is scandalized after reports that a couple, including at least one federal employee, was having sex on the roof of the courthouse.

A concerned resident in a nearby building took pictures of a sexual escapade on the roof of the Harrisburg Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, and now the U.S. Marshals is saying one of the bold culprits works for them, WHTM-TV reports.

The U.S. Marshals have said there was no security violation and that they are investigating the incident.

A woman saw the couple copulating and took pictures that she sent in to WHTM-TV. She said she has seen the couple frequenting the rooftop several times over the last few weeks. The pictures are in the video below.

The U.S. Marshals have been embroiled in scandal of late, but this sexcapade is a twist. (RELATED: Scandals Continue To Pour In As US Marshals Director On Way Out)

Via: Daily Caller

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ANOTHER COURT LOSS FOR OBAMA’S AMNESTY… NOT THAT IT MATTERS

If the rule of law still meant anything in Obama’s America, the President’s agenda of amnesty for illegal aliens would be in big trouble. It doesn’t, so the Administration just keeps pumping out amnesty documents, no matter how often federal courts order them to stop.

Team Obama even stooped to flat-out lying to a federal judge about the need for a temporary injunction to stop the amnesty printing press. Later they made a “surprise filing” to the judge disclosing that their previous statements were false, and – whoopsie! – they had already tossed 100,000 amnesty packages out.

So the news from Politico that “President Barack Obama appears likely to lose – again – in the protracted legal fight over his executive actions on immigration” doesn’t really mean much.

This all has nothing to do with laws, courts, elections, or the will of the American people. It’s a pure exercise in absolute tyranny. The Ruling Class has decided to import a new electorate, a perfect combination of cheap labor for Big Business and reliable Big Government votes for Democrats. No court, no vote, no crime wave, and no outcry from legitimate American citizens is going to stop them.

It’s all about using executive fiat to change the facts on the ground quickly. By the time courts and voters catch up, riding upon the relatively slow rails of legal and electoral process, hundreds of thousands of people will have been given citizenship and welfare benefits that cannot be taken away from them.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here’s the latest rusty shriek of outrage from the obsolete legal system:

Two of the three appeals court judges who heard oral arguments Friday on the Obama administration’s immigration programs were skeptical about the legal merits of the directive, which could halt deportations for more than 4 million immigrants here illegally who have family ties in the United States.

The chilly reception from the three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on whether Obama had legal authority to take such action seems to indicate that a lower court decision blocking the new programs would stay in place.

The Obama administration has argued that the executive actions were a standard use of prosecutorial discretion, since the federal government does not have the resources to deport the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally. But Judge Jerry Smith disputed that contention.

“It puts them one step ahead in terms of being eligible for lots of potential benefits, whether those are Social Security and Medicare, work authorization, earned income tax credits, and on the state level, drivers’ licenses,” Smith said of immigrants who would benefit from Obama’s actions. “Just seems to me that … it really is a lot more than prosecutorial discretion.”

As for the judge who was deceived and defied by the Administration, District Judge Andrew Hanen in Texas, he still seems to be operating under the impression that some sort of “law” applies to King Barack I and his imported supplicants. He ordered the Administration to rescind 2,000 work permits for illegals issued in defiance of his orders, and they simply ignored him. In fact, they issued another 500 three-year work permits after his block orders were handed down.

When last U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was heard from on the matter, they said they had been reduced to “pleading with the illegal immigrants to return the three-year cards,” but “they are having trouble getting some of the lucky recipients to send them back,” according to the Washington Times.

What an amazing spectacle!

People who broke the law and occupied the United States illegally are refusing to give back the work permits they were issued in error… and the almighty Leviathan State, the same government that will bring its boot down on your neck if you dream of defying ObamaCare or gay marriage orders, just shrugs and whines about how tough it is to persuade those who didn’t surrender their illegitimate permits immediately.

Via: Breitbart

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Hillary: Your Nose Is Growing – Dick Morris TV: Lunch Alert!

In this video commentary, I discuss how Hillary has been caught in a web of lies with the release of her private emails. Tune in!

Via: Your Tube

Jack Kelly: Don't blame Trump

Kate Steinle, 32, was walking with her father along the Embarcadero in San Francisco in the early evening July 1 when she was shot – apparently at random -- by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45, an illegal alien from Mexico who’d committed 7 previous felonies in the U.S.

Mr. Lopez-Sanchez had been deported five times. It would have been six, but for the fact San Francisco is a “sanctuary city.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had Mr. Lopez Sanchez in custody after his release from federal prison in March, but turned him over to sheriff’s deputies for San Francisco county, where a drug warrant had been issued for him.

ICE asked to be notified if San Francisco released Mr. Lopez-Sanchez, so he could be deported. But San Francisco does not honor such requests from federal immigration authorities.

In Laredo, Texas, the day after Kate Steinle was murdered, Juan Francisco de Luna Vasquez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, beat his wife to death with a hammer.

Mr. de Luna Vazquez had been deported four times. It would have been five if Laredo police had informed the Border Patrol of earlier violent episodes with his wife.

In 2013, ICE released back into local communities 36,007 illegal aliens who among them had nearly 88,000 criminal convictions – including 193 homicides, 426 sexual assaults, 303 kidnappings, and 1,075 aggravated assaults.

All were being processed for deportation, but were freed while awaiting final disposition of their cases. Most of the releases were discretionary (not required by law.) After their release, at least 1,000 committed additional crimes.

The 36,000 were in addition to 68,000 other illegal aliens with criminal convictions encountered by ICE in 2013, but released without being processed for deportation.

Last year ICE released 30,558 criminal aliens who, collectively, had almost 80,000 convictions, including 250 homicides, 386 kidnappings, 373 sexual assaults, 994 aggravated assaults.

Illegal immigrants comprise about 3 percent of the population in the U.S., 30 percent the federal prison population, 38 percent of those convicted of federal crimes in FY 2013. More than 40 percent of federal criminal cases filed by U.S. attorneys last year were in five districts along the Mexican border.

These statistics go unmentioned by Democrats and journalists who’ve assailed Donald Trump for remarks he made about illegal immigrants when he announced his candidacy for president June 16.

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

This was a crude statement from someone notorious for making crude remarks. The vast majority of illegal immigrants have broken no other U.S. laws. Most work long hours for low wages at scut jobs to provide a better life for their families.

Illegals are far more likely to be victims of violent crime. As many as 80 percent of illegal immigrant women are raped during their perilous journey here. In every major population group, only a relative handful of people commit violent crimes. The proportion of violent felons among illegal immigrants probably is about the same as for the native born.

But violent felons among the illegal immigrants commit lots of crimes -- crimes that would not have been committed if they hadn’t gotten into the country in the first place, been deported promptly, or kept in custody until they could be deported.

Mr. Trump deserves criticism for how he said it, but the thrust of what he said is indisputably true. Criticism of his infelicitous remark is hypocritical coming from those who’ve asserted or implied Republicans who seek stronger border security measures are “racist.”

I don’t like Donald Trump. I wish he’d said what he said in a more accurate, less provocative way. But it isn’t he who deserves condemnation. It’s the politicians whose policies have made them accessories before the fact in the murder of Kate Steinle, and so many others.

Via: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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[VIDEO] Judge Jeanine SKEWERS ‘sanctuary cities': ‘Don’t DARE’ demand lawless zones in America

As the Obama administration continues to run for cover over the illegal immigration policies that led to the death of Kate Steinle at the hands of a 5-time deported illegal alien, Judge Jeanine Pirro focused the spotlight on its failures Saturday night.

In the “Opening Statement” of Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” Pirro said “the concept of sanctuary cities” is “wrong” and “fundamentally flawed.”

The judge lamented what she called “politically correct nonsense,” and asked “What is correct about allowing a career criminal, who should not have been here in the first place, to walk the streets?”

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Pirro recounted the Steinle case and called her killer, Juan Francisco Lopez Sanchez, a “dirtbag career criminal” who was let go by San Francisco authorities in in April when federal immigrations officials asked for him to be handed over.

“Sanctuary cities are safe havens for criminal aliens, not their innocent victims,” Pirro said.

Pirro said Americans are generous but “don’t you dare ask us to create a zone of lawlessness and ignore the murder of innocent victims so some illegal criminal won’t have to go home.”

And she put the blame squarely on the Obama administration, mocking White House efforts to blame Republicans for the illegal alien problem. Obama is forcing his own sanctuary policy, she said.

“The Department of Homeland Security reportedly instructed that California criminal illegals be transferred to San Diego and Riverside counties. Why?” she asked. “Because they are sanctuary cities.”

Pirro pointed out that in 2010, the Obama administration said cities who did not enforce federal immigration laws would not be punished.

“Can you imagine what the president would do if sanctuary cities refused to enforce civil rights laws, integration laws?” she asked. “The federal response would be swift, certain and immediate.”

Via: Biz Pac Review

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States, industry groups sue EPA, Army Corps

SALEM, Ohio —  The ink barely dried on new federal rules expanding the Clean Water Act before dozens of states, agricultural and business industry groups filed lawsuits in courts around the country, claiming the changes hand the government an unreasonable amount of authority over land use.

The Clean Water Act already gave Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over “navigable” waters. The new rule broadens that to include other water bodies, as well as upstream waters, 100-year flood plains and ephemeral streams such as the kind farmers use for drainage and irrigation. It also would encompass lands adjacent to such waters. The new rule was published June 29, and will go into effect Aug. 28.

States sue

The EPA has said the changes, which were rewritten in recent months, should have little impact on agricultural activities and other uses. Dozens of states and industry groups remain unconvinced. Four lawsuits representing 27 states were filed in U.S. District courts in Ohio, North Dakota, Texas and Georgia, starting June 29.

Ohio and Michigan filed suit in Ohio. Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas filed in Texas. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming filed in North Dakota. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin filed suit in Georgia.

Via: Farm and Dairy

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SOUTH CAROLINA: Columbia City Council’s new gun safety law assailed

COLUMBIA, SC 

The president of a prominent South Carolina gun rights group said Friday that an emergency Columbia city ordinance enacted last week to allow police to quickly arrest armed and dangerous people is not lawful.

But a council member said members had checked state law and determined that they were allowed to pass the temporary ordinance.

Council passed the measure Thursday night after hearing warnings from law enforcement that demonstrations relating to the Confederate flag at the State House might attract violent gun-toting people and groups that might do harm.

“It’s illegal,” said Gerald Stoudemire, president of the Gun Owners of South Carolina, who teaches concealed weapons classes, runs a gun shop and has testified on gun laws before various S.C. House and Senate committees.

Stoudemire, 68, said the new city ordinance flies in the face of a state law that says local governments cannot pass ordinances that put more restrictions on firearms than state law.

The city’s emergency ordinance, passed Thursday night, made illegal the carrying of firearms by citizens within 250 feet of the State House. The ordinance will expire around Aug. 9. It basically gives police the right within that zone to check out people they think might be carrying concealed weapons and arrest them if they are.

Council members passed the ordinance after hearing from city police Chief Skip Holbrook that police intelligence units were picking up information that various “hate groups” whose members are known to carry weapons might converge on Columbia for Friday’s lowering of the Confederate flag ceremony.

Police are also concerned that armed and potentially violent people will show up at a planned July 18 Ku Klux Klan rally at the State House, according to the ordinance passed by city council.

While state law prohibits the carrying of firearms by citizens on State House grounds, state law currently allows people to carry guns – including concealed guns if they have a permit – just off State House grounds, Stoudemire said. Thus, council’s action to restrict the rights of people to carry guns around the State House property goes further than state law and is illegal, Stoudemire said.

Council member Tameika Isaac Devine said that city council had weighed Stoudemire’s concern as well as the section of state law to which he is referring.

Devine said city officials determined that under state law, city council does have the right to pass emergency measures when health and safety are at stake.

“We can do this on a temporary basis, but we couldn’t do a permanent basis,” she said.

The ordinance will expire after 30 days, unless council extends it, she said.

“It depends on how things go in the next 30 days, what law enforcement is picking up on the Internet,” she said. “I’m hopeful that we will just let it expire.”

“Irregardless – for one day, it’s illegal,” Stoudemire said.

Stoudemire said he intends to ask a lawmaker to get an attorney general’s opinion on whether the ordinance is legal. Previous attorney general opinions support his position, he said.

Stoudemire also warned that the city might get sued and have to pay damages if it wrongfully arrests someone who has the right to carry a concealed weapon.

“It’s going to look bad if they arrest somebody and they sue the city,” Stoudemire said. “I figure the first fellow who gets arrested, he’s going to be asking for some big figures.”

Under the ordinance, anyone arrested and convicted of carrying a weapon in the prohibited zone would be guilty of a misdemeanor and could be fined up to $500 and put in jail for 30 days.

After Friday’s Confederate flag lowering at State House grounds, Holbrook told The State newspaper that no one had been arrested. State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel also said officers had made no arrests.

Via: The State

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Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article27019810.html#storylink=cpy