Back in July, I wrote about a prefiled bill that would allow the governor and attorney general to appoint interim police chiefs for cities, effectively allowing the state to take over their police departments.
The bill from Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) doesn’t name Montgomery explicitly. But lawmakers have signaled that’s who they have in mind.
Rep. Kenyatté Hassell’s bill requiring permits for assault weapons stopped me.
Not because there’s anything unusual or objectionable about the legislation. Instead, it was how it laid out the damage a modern, legal firearm can do.
Take the bill’s definition of “assault rifle.” At base, it’s a semi-automatic gun that can accept a detachable magazine. We should all be familiar with that. AR-15-type rifles can fire at least 30 rounds a minute. With training or weapon modifications, that number can go higher.
