What gun rights?

The 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals, perhaps the most liberal circuit, has traditionally won the honor of “most reversed” on cases that reached the Supreme Court.

So it wasn’t surprising last week when the court ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual’s right to carry a firearm for self defense.

The Bill of Rights, wrote Judge William A. Fletcher for the 7-4 majority, “does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.”

So Americans have a constitutional right to own guns as long as they don’t try to actually carry out that right.

The case centered on California laws that require individuals to justify requests for concealed-carry permits. In some counties, sheriffs have enacted strict standards that essentially preclude most individuals from going out in public with their firearms.

In dissent, Judge Consuelo M. Callahan noted that the ruling “obliterates the Second Amendment right to bear a firearm in some manner in public for self-defense.”

Indeed, the decision leaves the rights of Californians at the whim of local law enforcement officials. It’s also worth asking why law-abiding citizens should need to show “good cause” when they seek to exercise their rights.

Whether the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the matter remains to be seen. But the issue highlights how the presidential election and the subsequent brawl over the open high-court seat will indeed have major ramifications for the future of the Second Amendment.

We all complain about the Bureau of Land Management. Ranchers complain. Environmentalists complain. Everyone complains. The BLM probably complains too.

Well, now is the time to get off the duff and do something.

In his Monday article, “BLM looking for input on Basin and Range National Monument Plans,” Henry Brean announced meetings throughout Eastern and Southern Nevada at which everyone is welcome to meet and provide input on the resource management plan. This will be the guiding document for how the national monument is managed.

There are limits on what can be done inside the national monument, but many aspects remain open to discussion. If you want the area open for truck races, come and let the BLM know. If you want the entire area fenced off to keep humans out, come and let the BLM know. If you want something in between, come and let the BLM know.

This is a democratic process, and we can all provide input on how we want the area managed.

It is best to come with specific ideas (I want … a campground, open backroads, access to my favorite hunting spot, wilderness, campfires, grazing rights) or specific prohibitions (I don’t want … truck races, road signs, paved roads, designated campgrounds, entrance fees).

Don’t come and say you don’t like the national monument or the BLM because that won’t be helpful.

If you can’t get to the meetings, Henry Brean provides instructions on how to mail, email, fax or call the BLM. The important thing is that We The People participate in this democratic process. If you don’t speak up now, I don’t want to hear your bellyaching later.

I read with interest your recent story about putting safety barriers up on the Summerlin Parkway — a worthy project, I thought.

But what peaked my interest was that the story said the”fast lane” would be closed at night. I usually drive in the right-hand lane doing the speed limit of 65 mph with most cars passing me. I was not aware that if I rode in the left lane that I could go faster.

My question is just how fast am I allowed to go in the “fast lane”?

The old saying that “if you keep your head when everyone else is losing theirs, then you don’t understand the situation” applies to those who believe there is plenty of water for Las Vegas’s future needs. There isn’t. Experts predict real problems with supply.

Lake Mead is at historic lows. And global warming will result in hotter and drier winds that will further reduce water supply. The city could face a very bleak future if there is insufficient water to sustain even the present level of population and economic activity.

There is an urgent and vital need to implement conservation and supplementation methods.

Conservation can be served by various means including more efficient toilets, gray-water systems, water butts to collect roof runoff, large underground cisterns to prevent evaporative losses, and — most important of all — adequate charges for delivered water to ensure users adopt better attitudes toward water and to provide funds for new measures to ensure supply.

Supplementation is more difficult, but there are solutions. Bulk carriers could bring water sourced from water-rich regions of the globe to the nearest port with pipelines to complete delivery. Bulk water is available at only cents per liter. Transport would add a couple of cents more, so the final delivered price of the world’s best water would be very acceptable.

The great city of Las Vegas would not only have a wonderful future it would also have the world’s best potable water.