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Alan Gottlieb in Louisville this Weekend

gutshot II

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782
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Central Ky.
I started off my day by going to the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot, near Louisville. I hung around for 3 or 4 hours but I got really tired of walking, so I went back to my car and left. I decided to stop by the USCCA Expo at the State Fairgrounds. I went in and walked down the center aisle to about the middle of the show and noticed a small display table on my right with a few booklets and a "donations" bowl. The small sign said, "Second Amendment Foundation". I thought, "What? Is this little table the "real Second Amendment Foundation from Washington?" I walked over and sure enough, Alan Gottlieb, himself, was walking behind the table. There was a small dog and an older woman sitting on two chairs. I went over and stuck out my hand and told him what an honor it was to meet him and how much I thought of the work he has done. We talked for a few minutes and I mentioned that I did a little work with a Ky. gun rights group and he said, "Which one, KC3?" I was shocked and said so. I asked how he was aware of KC3 and he said that years ago when concealed carry had first been proposed in Ky., he came here to speak at a KC3 meeting at the Northern Ky Airport. Then he said, "I still get your newsletter". I told him that we no longer publish a newsletter, so I guess he hasn't tried to read it lately.

The show was really good. Lots of interesting stuff to see and lots of demonstrations. Joe Kalil is giving a presentation of his POST program each day. I caught the last 30 mins. of it today and plan on getting it all tomorrow. The Expo is well worth your time and money. https://www.usccaexpo.com/ Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. Knob Creek will be a mess. Nice and dry at the Fairgrounds.
 

BB62

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... I asked how he was aware of KC3 and he said that years ago when concealed carry had first been proposed in Ky., he came here to speak at a KC3 meeting at the Northern Ky Airport. ...
You mean the Greater Cincinnati/Northern KY airport! ;)

Speaking of airports...

If I'm remembering correctly, the Louisville airport used to post "no carry" signs. Have those been done away with, and if so, was it because of a law change?
 

gutshot II

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Central Ky.
You mean the Greater Cincinnati/Northern KY airport! ;)

Speaking of airports...

If I'm remembering correctly, the Louisville airport used to post "no carry" signs. Have those been done away with, and if so, was it because of a law change?

Right after KRS 65.870 took full effect in 2013, KC3 board members attended two meetings of the Louisvile Airport Authority and explained the new law to them. They weren't real happy about it, but they voted to remove the signs. I OC'ed into the terminal a few times after that and intentionally started conversations with airport police to see if they had gotten the message. They never said a word to me.

Nearly the same process was undertaken at the Northern Ky. Airport in Covington, except I didn't make the visits after the board meetings. Remember all the trouble we had with that place and the Police posting here on OCDO that they would "prone out" anybody with a gun in "their" airport? It went about the same way as Louisville. I haven't heard of any problems with either place since then.

Lexington was, and continues to be, a different matter. They had signs at the perimeter of the "property" that said "no guns allowed past this point", "no Guns" signs on the parking structures and "no guns" signs on all entrances to the terminal. They refused to comply with the new law, KC3 filed a lawsuit. The Airport hired an outside law firm to defend them against KC3's lawsuit. In settlement discussions, the airport offered to remove the signs in the open spaces and on the parking structures, but said that they would "never" allow a firearm inside the terminal and promised to appeal any loss to the Ky. Supreme Court and if they lost there, take the issue to federal court. Bluegrass Airport claimed authority to do this from KRS 183.8811. Here it is:

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statutes/statute.aspx?id=5874

Arguing about guns in airports with a federal judge didn't look like a winning proposition and a loss would have bankrupt KC3. We decided to settle on the concessions they had offered and try to fix it legislatively. In the 2014 session of the General Assembly, I got Representative Bob Damron to intoduce HB 127 to amend KRS 183.8811 and clear up this confusion. KRS 183.8811 was passed in 1982 and has never been amended. In 1982 there was no preemption of firearms laws in Ky. The original preemption law wouldn't come untill two years later, 1984. In 1982 there were no legal concealed weapons in Ky. We didn't get CC until 1996, so any concealed weapon was illegal. This should have been cleared up when CC was passed, but it wasn't. That bill never got a hearing and the Speaker of the House, Greg Stumbo told Rep. Damron, "we're not going there". It seemed futile to continue with that until the Dems. and Stumbo were voted out. Every year since that happened, KC3 has tried to get some fix for this. 2014 was Damron's last year in the General Assembly. So far we haven't found a sponsor for the old bill or for a different fix for this problem. I was trying to sell that bill to legislators again this year, with no luck. You can see HB 127 from 2014 by clicking on "HB127" of the left hand margin here:
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/14RS/HB127.htm

I have always feared that both Louisville and Covington would go back to doing the same, but so far, there is no indication of that.
 
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BB62

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Thanks for the history and the update.

One correction (besides the airport's name), though - the airport isn't in Covington nor in the county that Covington is in - it's in Boone County, the next county west, close to Hebron.
 
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