Two libraries, two policies.

I'm what ALA classifies as a "non-salaried Librarian" which is their euphemism for "unemployed", or at least it better be, since that's how I re-upped my membership this year, with that category, which is slightly cheaper than "regular member". I was pretty bare bones with my selection, joining only RUSA and SRRT and letting everything else slip by the wayside, even ALCTS, because with RDA, I regard the cataloging profession as having lost its collective mind and I want out of that noise. I'm trying to re-brand myself a Reference librarian but it's a tough sell.

Last week I needed to go downtown to do some personal research on depreciation of firearms, using the Blue Book of Gun Values, which HPL central has in its reference collection. As a gun owner, I also have a Texas CHL, but I knew from past experience that there is a 30.06 sign posted on the front entrance to the library, which renders all CHLs null and void; a concession to property rights, basically, but pretty squirly when exercised by public institutions, I think. Anyway, I went downtown disarmed (something I would not normally do), parked in the basement garage, brought a sack lunch and my laptop. I worked through the morning doing my research, updating my MS Excel file, etc. and then stopped to break for lunch; I went downstairs with my laptop and my sack lunch and sat on the plaza and ate. There were a couple of bicycle cops on the square, some Mexican workers, and a band of African American young men who were eying the cops warily. I deliberately avoided eye contact but I also stayed aware of where they were relative to me at all times, and I admit, I became uncomfortable when they drew nearer to me and the group got larger. A third policeman emerged from the library on foot, to talk with his colleagues. Again members of the crowd of young black men noticed the police and shared information about where these officers routinely patrol, etc. I finished my sandwich and diet soda, picked up my laptop, and headed back inside the library.

Maybe I was just being paranoid, and maybe these young men were just socializing innocently in downtown Houston. But I felt on guard and uncomfortable the whole time, especially being disarmed as I was.

I live out in the Suburbs on the edge of town. My local branch library, of the county public library system, do not post 30.06 signs, and I have entered the library carrying concealed numerous times, just going about my business. These libraries also do not have groups of young men idling around their entrances, either. They feel completely safe, while the central city library does not. Yet it is the Central Library that disarms the law-abiding permit holder. Yes, the day I was down there, there was an elevated police presence inside and outside the library; I had seen the foot patrolman doing rounds inside the library before he came out onto the plaza during my lunch break. But I've also been inside the library when there were only unarmed security personnel who are not law enforcement officers. There's no non-awkward way to leave one's carry piece in the garage, then come back to the garage and return to the plaza on the surface carrying; the easiest way would be to pass through the library but that is illegal, and walking up the exit ramp would look suspicious at best, even though it's the only legal way to exercise your carry rights when visiting HPL central. If I am going somewhere that prohibits my CHL via a 30.06 sign, I tend to go disarmed altogether. I know some people carry and then disarm in their vehicle before entering such structures, but the more gun handling you introduce, the greater the risk of an ND, or at the very least drawing the attention of passers-by who might call 911 to report "man with a gun". I do usually keep a "glove box" gun for personal protection, but it's never a carry gun that I could use for concealed use outside of my vehicle.

Library administrators need to know--but do not know--that 30.06 signs in Texas disarm only the law abiding, and that criminals with guns ignore such signs with impunity. It's a "feel good", "politically correct" measure that in reality protects no one, least of all patrons or staff. I want to bring this to the attention of the Director of the HPL system, but on the other hand, since I periodically seek employment with them, I don't want my name flagged as a "gun nut" and have that as a mark against me when I send them a fresh copy of my resume, etc.

My local Teachers Credit Union also posts a 30.06 sign; again, someone should talk it over with the manager, but I don't want to be the one to do it; I've voluntarily agreed to curtail my political expression for the sake of domestic peace; Due to my economic circumstances, I'm living with my parents, and they don't want to suffer any blowback from my otherwise outspoken political opinions, and I understand and respect that. The CU normally has an armed law enforcement officer sitting at a desk in the lobby, so I could understand why a bank manager might feel justified in posting a 30.06 sign. But even still, if a hardened criminal wants to rob the place, the 30.06 sign isn't going to make them bat an eye. The first thing a determined armed robber would do (assuming they "cased" the place beforehand) would be to barge in and shoot the peace officer first, then hold up the place. I know it must seem unthinkable, but security experts need to be able to think the unthinkable. If the uniformed officer goes down, and you've got a 30.06 sign posted, your staff and customers are then sitting ducks. If you don't have a 30.06 sign posted, there may be a customer with a concealed weapon who can take the robber by surprise if the opportunity presents itself. It is a second line of defense, potentially. Not a sure thing by any means, the customer might decide discretion is the better part of valor and allow the robbery to proceed. Or he might try to surprise the robber but fail and get himself shot. Introducing legal concealed weapons only improves the odds on the part of victims, it is not an iron-clad guarantee that the "good guys" will win.

There's an alternate sign that both of these institutions could use, and that is the sign barring *unlicensed* concealed carry, which includes a hefty fine and jail time, but does not affect legal CHL permit holders. By targeting criminals specifically, it does everything these managers are trying to do without the unconsidered negative consequences of a 30.06 sign, namely disarming the law-abiding.

I have attended two state library conferences in recent years, and at every one of them I was carrying concealed. I felt safer in the downtown areas while doing so, I used deep concealment methods so as not to alarm anyone, and I kept my mouth shut, except when having lunch with a non-library friend who is himself a CHL holder and asked casually if I too was carrying, which I confirmed. Nearly all of my Facebook contacts who are librarians are utterly afraid of guns, won't own them, etc. I accept that's the way it is, but I wish it were not so. It makes us look like hypocrites when we work so hard to defend 1A freedoms but shy away from 2A freedoms.

Alan Dershowitz, who also does not like guns, at least has the intellectual honesty to state:

"Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution by claiming it's not an individual right or that it's too much of a public safety hazard don't see the danger in the big picture. They're courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the Constitution they don't like."

I'm eagerly awaiting the final decision of MacDonald vs. Chicago from the Supreme Court, and at least from the transcript of the oral arguments, there seems to be cause for hope that the absolute ban on handguns in Chicago will be struck down and the 2nd Amendment will be incorporated against States and Localities, a ruling long overdue.

I also recently joined an internet forum called "The Liberal Gun Club", and also began listening to a podcast (unrelated) called "The Liberal Guncast". Both are excellent sources for technical information sharing about firearms with none of the odious right-wing cultural politics that tend to infect NRA publications and other forums. The Liberal Gun Club is a great place to meet people who realize that supporting gun rights does not commit you to a whole host of truly obnoxious Right of Center political positions. Max of the Liberal Guncast rightly states that armed self-defense ought not to be a Right vs. Left issue but a core American value untainted by partisan bickering. I agree. Sebastian of the Pro-Gun Progressive Blog (now defunct) used to argue that it wasn't so much Right vs. Left as it was Totalitarian mindset vs. Pro-Liberty/Freedom mindset, and that there are Left and Right "flavors" of both. I still keep up with Seb on Facebook, but I really wish he would go back to regular blogging. Still, I'm one to talk, eh? My updates here are once in a blue moon these days, I know. I have created a separate blog on VOX dedicated exclusively to Anime and Manga, and I even eschew my library persona on VOX and talk purely as a fan-boy. It's kind of liberating, in that respect.

With that, I bring this somewhat rambling and ranty entry to a close; More later when I have something else to grouch about in Libraryland.