7 Things: Foreign interference hypocrisy continues, Morgan County is breaking the law on gun-free zones, Birmingham pastors want Planned Parenthood to stay out and more …

7. Point Mallard capping attendance, ramping up security

  • In the wake of the shooting that occurred during a special event at Point Mallard water park, park officials will be instituting a new security plan that was developed with the help of Decatur Parks and Recreation, Decatur Police and Decatur Fire and Rescue. They will be capping park attendance at 6,000.
  • The facility can currently hold 10,000 people at one time, but the limit is based on park totals over the last decade. There will also be an increased police presence at entry gates, increased fire presence during events and critical response plans.

6. Chemical castration not enough?

  • This week, Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill that requires sex offenders with victims younger than 13 to undergo chemical castration to be eligible for parole, but the sponsor of the bill originally wanted something a little different.
  • State Representative Steve Hurst (R-Munford) has said that he would prefer if it was surgical castration and death for some offenders. Overall, Hurst has said that he wanted to implement something that’s effective, but it’ll be a work in progress to keep situations of child molestation from happening.

5. Taxpayer money is being spent on abortion

  • Representative Martha Roby (R-Dothan) introduced a pro-life amendment to keep taxpayer funding from being used to fund abortions in Washington, D.C. during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee that would apply to the Fiscal Year 2020 funding bill.
  • The amendment, known as the Dornan Amendment, has been in place since 1979, but over the years, members of Congress have found ways to nullify the amendment by deeming taxes and fines collected in Washington, D.C. as local rather than federal, which allows that revenue to be used to fund abortions.

4. Birmingham pastors tell Planned Parenthood to stay out

  • An interdenominational group of Birmingham-area pastors held a press conference on Thursday at the future site of a new Planned Parenthood clinic and said that “all lives matter,” telling the abortion provider not to come to the Magic City.
  • Black pastors were prominently featured at the event and a press release highlighted that 60% of abortions that happen in Alabama are black, while the population is only one-quarter black. Pastor Zanithia Turner said, “If all lives matter, why not the All? We stand as one voice to break the silence and defeat the lie that we don’t care about our children, communities and families. Planned Parenthood, we will no longer accept your lies. We Matter!”

3. Only good guys obey gun-free zones

  • After a city employee, DeWayne Craddock, killed 12 of his coworkers and injured four others, a lawyer for one of the victim’s family has said that there was concern about the employee and she considered taking a firearm to work but didn’t because the building was a gun-free zone.
  • Kate Nixon, had discussed the man with her husband and she reportedly was debating  “whether or not she should take a pistol and hide it in her handbag.” She decided not to because she would have been fired if she was caught with the firearm.

2. Morgan County’s use of gun-free zones is drawing fire

  • The Morgan County Commission has questionably declared 13 different buildings, including senior centers, “courthouse annexes,” banning firearms from the facilities.
  • The idea that all 13 of the facilities will be used to supplement the courthouse is an insult to every citizen of Morgan County and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall should immediately rectify this situation.

1. Tell the FBI

  • President Donald Trump has released his response to the criticism he received after stating during an interview with ABC News that if a foreign power offered opposition research on one of his 2020 opponents, he would want to hear it because there’s nothing wrong with listening. The head of the Federal Elections Commission and a large number of congressmen disagree.
  • Trump has responded, saying that he meets with foreign powers all the time, and gave examples of how recently he met with the Queen of England and questioned if he should have to call the FBI about every foreign call and meeting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) took this opportunity to lash out at the president again, but the media and their Democrats are refusing to acknowledge what Hillary Clinton did in 2016.