Gun shop owners should know when to cut off would-be killers

President Obama visited Roseburg, Ore. on Friday to meet with families of the shooting victims from Umpqua Community College, and the visit brought out protesters worried about what the president would do.

“The Second Amendment says no infringement. That means no in-fringe-ment,” one protester said.

Yes, but the Second Amendment only limits the government from infringing on your right to arm yourself. However, it does not apply to gun shops, which are perfectly free not to sell you a weapon. In fact, last summer, a gun shop owner in Florida, Andrew Hallinan of Florida Gun Supply, announced he would do just that.

“I have a moral and legal responsibility to ensure the safety of all patriots in my community,” he said. “So effectively immediately, I’m declaring Florida Gun Supply a Muslim free zone.”

OK, well that’s absurd since almost all of these mass shootings are committed by non-Muslims. And when CNN pressed him on the matter, he admitted he said that for the publicity. But, look at what he says next.

“When the ATF gives me the authority to deny service to anybody that I feel is a threat for any reason &#8212 and it happens on a weekly basis that we have people come through the gun shop and they pass their background check, but they seem a little off.”

Here’s a gun shop owner saying gun sellers should know their customers. So that just as trained bartenders know when to cut off a would-be drunk driver, trained gun sellers would know when to cut off a would-be killer.

If the NRA got behind a policy like that, they’d get the Nobel Peace Prize.