The More Democrats I Meet

The more I like my dog.

On Tuesday, Kim du Toit posted about the New Hampshire Legislature’s attempt to head off at the pass gun confiscations like the ones we saw in New Orleans immediately after Hurricane Katrina.

House Bill 1639-FN, prohibits the confiscation of lawfully owned and lawfully carried firearms during a state of emergency, making a felon of any law enforcement officer who attempts to seize such a firearm during a disaster.

Text:

“Any law enforcement officer, person acting as a law enforcement officer, or other public official who confiscates or attempts to confiscate lawfully carried or lawfully owned firearms in this state during a declared state of emergency shall be charged with a class A felony.”

Well, I live in Washington, where the only thing that they learned from Katrina was that people cried when they had to leave their pets behind. So they are now of the mindset that I am too stupid to care for my pets during a disaster.

I give you Senate Bill 6265 from the 2006 session of the Washington State Senate:

Section 1: The Washington State Legislature finds that pet animals are important to their owners. In addition, their presence may bring comfort and enhance recovery for victims distressed over injury or damage resulting from disasters caused by all hazards, whether natural, technological, or human caused.

Section 2: It is the policy of the State of Washington that in the event of an emergency or disaster, and for the purposes of search and rescue activities, an emergency worker will make every practicable attempt under the circumstances , when engaged in emergency management, to rescue the victim’s pet animal.

(Entire text here in PDF form)

You may want to avoid the below the fold section if you don’t like me when I’m angry.

OK, who backed the whole truckload of stupid up to the senate chambers? They do some really ignorant things on a regualr basis, but this just about takes the cake.

“Every Practicable Attempt�, just like the rules of the government agency with those initials, this is just way too vague a phrase to be taken seriously.

Does a National Guard helicopter pilot have the right to refuse to let a scared and pissed off Rottweiler on board when he is rescuing the dog’s owners off the roof of their flooded house?

Does a firefighter have to make a third or fourth entry into a residential structure fire to look for Fluffy the Cat after the owner noticies the animal is not outside?

In my mind, and most other reasonable folks’ minds, no, they don’t.

But wait until some ambulance chasing rat bastard of a trial lawyer gets talking to the grieving family members and reminds them how callous the pilot or firefighter was for not risking their life to save the animal.

I can hear the babbling whines now “Little Jakey just sits and cries because he wants to know why Fluffy had to die when our house burned down? Little Suzie is in therapy and my wife is just listless and rarely feels like eating. I haven’t worked since the fire because of the nightmares and only $100 Million from the county fire department will set things right.�

Some may think I’m exaggerating with that example, but remember that today is Seattle’s 26th straight day of rain. A number of rivers have already overflowed their banks and people near them are evacuating and/or sandbagging. The weather forecasters are predicting more rain throughout the weekend and into next week, so it is not going to get any better anytime soon and I am predicting that one of the ‘If it bleeds it leads’ local stations will be out there talking to sobbing evacuees and that at least one of them will talk about their missing pets.

And while the language in this bill clearly says “Pets�, what animals can be considered a “pet�? Cats and dogs I can see, but who about gerbils? Or maybe a couple pot bellied pigs? Would a first responder be required to try and rescue horses? Or how about the sheep, like in this story from the Poor Schmuck?

The reason I’m so pissed off about this is that it is going to pass without fail. What legislator in their right mind is going to vote against ‘saving the lives of Fluffy and Sparky’? Their next opponent would eat them for lunch with picture from the Humane Society.

And one more thing to think on with this; does this proposed law mean that the state is going to be required to stock dog food at the disaster shelters? Doesn’t that mean that they’ll need more money or have to cut back on the total amount of human food? What about separating the animals once they get to the shelter? Will they have areas for “Dog People� and “Cat People�?

I forwarded the bill that du Toit mentioned to my state Rep even though I know that this being Washington, and that a confirmation of my Second Amendment right will get shuffled into committee by the Dem majority in both houses and be forgotten.

Yet this clear violation of the appointed task of first responders will get the fast track to approval and when it passes everyone will feel so sugary sweet and warm that they’re teeth may just fall out.

How about a bill requiring pet owners to have an appropriate sized animal crate for each one of their animals along with a weeks worth of food so that, if the time comes and they need to evacuate, the animals and their owners and the first responders will all be safe and ready to roll?

No, that would require some personal responsibility.

To the dingleberries who thought this turd up….