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Lawmakers want to relax gun control further
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ATLANTA — A year after Georgia lawmakers passed a sweeping gun-rights expansion that allowed permit-holders to carry guns into some bars and more parking lots, the Legislature is considering new changes that would allow them to carry their weapons into churches and make it easier for them to renew their licenses.
A proposal unveiled Thursday would allow licensed gun owners to carry their weapons into churches, synagogues and other houses of worship with the approval of the congregation. It also would allow them to keep their weapons in locked boxes within school parking lots and safety zones.
Another provision would require probate judges to send notices to gun owners at least 90 days before a firearm license expires. The proposal also no longer requires those seeking to renew licenses to undergo another criminal background check, although the measure’s backers said they expect to delete that language after it came under fire.
“Some gun rights are still being repressed in Georgia as I see it,” said state Sen. Jeff Mullis, the Chickamauga Republican who sponsored the measure. “I hope this adds value to the right to bear arms.”
The measure, which is before the Senate Public Safety Committee, comes a year after lawmakers adopted a proposal that allowed permit-holders to carry guns into some bars and the parking lots of colleges, courthouses, airports and jails.
Another measure that would have allowed guns into parts of airports throughout the state was vetoed in June by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The 23-page overhaul would further expand the list of places gun owners can carry their weapons.
The measure would ban law enforcement officers from seizing firearms from suspects, unless the weapons are evidence in a criminal investigation. It bars local governments from adopting any gun restriction that’s more stringent than the state law.
At a subcommittee meeting, critics took aim at the new notification requirements for probate judges, saying that it would force lawmakers to hike the $30 firearm license fee to cover the costs. There also was pushback against allowing licensed gun owners to bring their weapons into houses of worship.
“If everybody pulls a pistol, who’s going to be left?” said state Sen. Valencia Seay, a Riverdale Democrat. “We’re relaxing everyone’s right to carry. When are we going to stop?”
But gun-rights advocates said houses of worship also should be entitled to Second Amendment protections. State Sen. Mitch Seabaugh said churches are now the only owners of private property that aren’t allowed to decide whether gun owners can carry firearms on their property.

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Book review: Author digs into mining's complicated past and present in 'River of Lost Souls'
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Jonathan Thompson will speak about his book "River of Lost Souls" at the King's English Bookshop on Tuesday, April 3 at 7 p.m. - photo by Amanda Olson
"RIVER OF LOST SOULS: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Spill," by Jonathan Thompson, Torrey House Press, 275 pages (nf)

Plenty has been written about the very small world of a mining town and the very broad reach of a beleaguered industry. From Loretta Lynns iconic song "Coal Miners Daughter," to the 2010 nail-biting coverage of 33 trapped Chilean miners, to the hit Broadway musicals "Paint Your Wagon" and "Billy Elliot," mining is a global story, and its one of heartbreak, hard work and hard times.

Jonathan Thompsons "River of Lost Souls" examines the many facets of risk involved in taking resources from below the earths surface. An environmental journalist, Thompson has reported on southwest Colorado for over 20 years. This book is special, however, because the Four Corners area of Colorado is his current and ancestral home. Thompson is writing about minings ecological, social, financial and political impact on his land, his landscape, his water, his people. That makes "River of Lost Souls" more than a regular reporting job.

Thompson begins with the Gold King Mine wastewater disaster of 2015, which the EPA caused while attempting to drain water near the mines entrance. The spill sent 3 million gallons of waste and tailings into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River and part of the San Juan River watershed which drains into the Colorado, affecting the Utah, Colorado and New Mexico parts of that watershed as well as the Navajo Nation.

From there, Thompson jumps into far stretches of time to 1765, when a Spanish explorer named the Animas River; to 10,000 years earlier, when Paleo-Indians roamed the rivers valley; to the meridian of time, when the ancestors of the Zuni, Hopi and Rio Grande Pueblo people inhabited the land for 500 years; to the mid-1800s and the Swedes who came to Silverton, Colorado, to mine.

Its a grand scope, but telling any story of landscape is telling a very grand story.

It also makes a complex story difficult to follow. Thompsons time warps are important, but they are jarring. His time jumps need clear dates, and Thompson doesnt always make them available. A map would also be useful. Thompsons writing is good, but his sentences can be dense and require readers to do their own mining for the riches the writing embeds. The work is worthwhile, however, as there are many moving parts in any story about mines land, culture, policy, history, money, inevitable disaster and Thompson works to examine all of them.

"River of Lost Souls" is a thoughtful read, but not a quick one. Because Thompsons writings come from 20 years of his newspaper reports, the overall feeling can be disjointed and sparse, which is distracting if one is expecting to follow a tenable thread. This is not a typical narrative with a cast of characters and a traditional story arc. Readers should approach this text as the investigation it is: puzzle pieces of a larger-than-life story that is eons old. If you are the kind of reader who wants it laid out cleanly, this is not that book. But, to Thompsons point, nothing is clean about mining that has never been the case.

Thompsons best writing is in his descriptions of people and places. His telling of how he came to Silverton is familiar and engaging. If readers approach the book with care and attention, they will be rewarded with savoring these descriptive passages when they happen.
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