That's How We Gun | Hits & Misses | Salt Lake City Weekly
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News » Hits & Misses

That's How We Gun

A Utah gun group takes its message to Chicago, some interesting ideas to secure schools and clean air gets a win no matter how small it is.

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That's How We Gun
It doesn't seem to occur to the Utah Gun Exchange that driving a big, honkin' black armored truck with mounted gun replicas would be at all terrifying to the general public—especially in Chicago. No, it's the way we roll in Utah, and the way we want everyone else to roll because, yeah, we're the good guys with the guns. You might not be able to tell it. The Exchange party was not exactly welcomed in the Windy City, according to KUER 90.1 FM. There, they were detained before pumping their toy guns in a fit of testosterone at those wimpy March for Our Lives kids. Well, get ready for more. March for Our Lives is headed to Utah in July, and the armored truck will likely be there to "defend the Constitution" from, uh, the Red Coats? It's their goal to keep from being "forgotten." Take a look at their Facebook page to see how much fun it is for women, guns and trucks.

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Stranger Danger
Meanwhile, Utahns are working feverishly to safe-up our schools. You might think that those illegal immigrant children have it bad, but listen to the ideas for Utah school children. "Unscalable concrete walls surrounding playgrounds and other outdoor areas," and "an airlock in which visitors to the school are secured until they demonstrate that they are unarmed." These are a few of the ideas sent to Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, by a "mom," he said. Metal detectors, badged entry—even into individual classrooms, and single-point entry to the school are some others. Maybe these are good ideas, given the new state of laissez-faire gun ownership. And, of course, the president wants to arm teachers. But an armed camp is hardly a sustainable safety model—unless you see danger everywhere. And that is the real problem.

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Clear the Air
There really isn't much good news on the environmental front these days, so you have to take what you can get—and it's not much, though KSL Channel 5 headlined the news as Utah being "on tap to produce cleaner Tier 3 fuel." Not exactly. Only one refinery is currently producing the fuel, and the bigger ones like Chevron are planning to by 2020. Smaller refineries might be able to extend their deadlines, too. And then there's the Trump administration's love of coal. The really good news is that Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment managed to get a ruling against the Woods Cross-based Diesel Brothers, who modified diesel trucks, likely violating the Clean Air Act with their emissions, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. It might be only 17 pollution-spewing vehicles, but that someone is paying attention to the Clean Air Act is at least promising.