McKinney PD

[kw5kw]

<snip>
Let me post a counter-question: have you ever seen properly inspected and stickered vehicles with burned out lights? I have. I've even had a brake light go out just a few days after an inspection.

Kevin

Sure, things happen like that, but the majority (99.99% of the time) your light bulbs last for much longer than the inspection process.

Even wiper blades could tear on the first use (could be months around here between uses) after the inspection, but they were good when the inspection occurred.

These farmers wait until harvest season begins to have their trucks inspected, just ritual I guess, but that's when they do it. It sure creates a flurry of business for the inspecting stations when wheat harvest comes about in the Panhandle/South Plains. Of course they don't have to inspect one for the fall harvest.

Would you replace those torn wiper blades if you didn't have to? Be honest, most people would let it slide until their windshield was scratched. I know this because I spent from 1968 till today in an automobile dealership and nobody replaces anything they don't have to!

Brakes, each inspection station has, by law, a testing area for brakes or they have a very expensive machine setting there for the brake test, if they don't test expect a trooper to find out one day.

Hoses for your power steering should, not only, be leak free but moisture from the power steering fludid free. The cap should be in place on the pump and the reservoir should be filled to the full level on the pump's dipstick.

Same goes for the brake system, no leaks, no fluid, must have cap and the reservoir must be filled to the proper level.

All lug nuts should be in place, on vehicles where they are exposed for immediate view, but an inspector does not have the right to remove a hub cap.

Tires must have at least 1/32" tread, no major cuts on the carcass.

Lights must all function, no bulbs burned out and no cracks in any of the lenses. Turn Signals must function. High beams must have an indicator.

Wipers must work, no tears in the wiper blade.

Horn must work.

All vehicles must have a mirror inside and one outside, can be cracked but not broken and/or missing.

Exhaust system can not have any rust holes present causing leakage of exhaust gas into the passenger compartment.

Then we get into the clean air stuff:

Gas caps must be in place and function properly. (Yes, they even test your fuel cap.)

All emission equipment must be installed and functioning. (Hoses, EGR valves, PCV valves, Catalytic Converters, etc.)

and the vehicle MUST pass the emissions test where required.

Do you keep this up to snuff in your vehicle without a yearly inspection?

After almost 39 yeas in the automobile industry, I can honestly say that most people neglect their vehicles in at least one or more areas. If it wasn't for the inspection process we would see many, many more safety related accidents than we see now.

</rant off>

I suppose you'd be for mandating yearly safe firearm inspections to make sure that firearms are stored safely and are in good working condition?

Thats why I'm not for the automobile inspections either.

Nitrogen, Nitrogen my friend, you're just being silly.

In the same kind of analogy that you used, I don't care to pay Microsoft for each copy of XP (vista now) that I use, but I have to.

While you might be one of the few who actually want and try to keep their car up, think of all of the OTHERS who don't, or won't. Some think they can't because of the prices involved in keeping some of the older vehicles safe. Do you really want to live in a state where ANYTHING can drive on the road with bald tires that can blow out and cause the vehicle to careen into your wife and children causing you to have to buy burial plots in a hurry?

Do you really want to meet a vehicle who can’t see the road in a heavy downpour because his wiper blades aren’t doing the job?

Do you really want to give up safety for your convenience? For your pocketbook?

Russ

[nitrogen]

I apologize if my previous post sounded snarky, I really didn't mean it to.

My point is this: I could just as easily make the same points you made about vehicle safety and apply them to gun-grabbing.

To wit:

While you might be one of the few who actually take training in self defense and safe gun use, think of all of the OTHERS who don't, or won't.

Some think they can't because of the prices involved in keeping trained. Do you really want to live in a state where ANYONE can gave a gun in public? Where anyone can cause a ND putting a stray bullet into your wife and children causing you to have to buy burial plots in a hurry?

Do you really want to allow someone who can barely see to have a gun in public?

Do you really want to give up safety for your convenience?

That's what I'm saying. Now granted, vehicles kill far more people than neglagant guns do, but remember, we're not talking reality, we're talking perception here. There are ignorant people that feel safer on the highway doing 95 than they do next to a CHLer.

I don't want the brady campaigners telling legislators, who then tell me how to keep my guns "safe". I know my guns, and I know my abilities, and I take personal responsibility for them. It's the same for my vehicle: I know my abilities while driving, and I take personal responsibility every time I leave my driveway.

Plenty of vehicles in good working order kill families every day: the weakest link being the person behind the wheel.

[txinvestigator]

I suppose you'd be for mandating yearly safe firearm inspections to make sure that firearms are stored safely and are in good working condition?

Thats why I'm not for the automobile inspections either.

I don't see how that is a valid comparison. The state regulates everything about the vehicle you drive, from the type of tires you can have on it, to the gas you put in it, to the types/height/color of lights on it, etc, etc. The state also requires you to register the vehicle. How is ANY of that like your firearm?

The difference is merely one bill away.

If the state can regulate "everything about the vehicle you drive, from the type of tires you can have on it, to the gas you put in it, to the types/height/color of lights on it, etc, etc.", then why can't they regulate everything about the pistol you carry? From the type of grips you put on it, to the ammo you carry in it, to the types/height/color of sights on it, etc., etc.?

I almost made the same "pistol inspection (for the safety of the public!)" comparison that Nitrogen made. I would have used the Michigan example. Michigan doesn't have gun registration. But for every handgun purchased, the owner must bring the gun to the county sheriff's office, for a 'safety check'.

They don't "register" the guns, but they do "record" the serial number and owner. Just in case.

Simple, and I am sure you know it. Its called the US Constitution. The roadways are paid for by public funds, and driving is a right not guaranteed by the COUS.

The roadways are shared by millions of people. The comparison of having to have a yearly safety inspection for your vehicle that you use on the PUBLIC roads to handguns is not valid. In any world.

I suspect you didn't use that argument because you knew it was bogus.

The people of Michigan allowed that to happen, shame on them.

[KBCraig]

Simple, and I am sure you know it. Its called the US Constitution. The roadways are paid for by public funds, and driving is a right not guaranteed by the COUS.

The roadways are shared by millions of people. The comparison of having to have a yearly safety inspection for your vehicle that you use on the PUBLIC roads to handguns is not valid. In any world.

Of course it's valid. Don't you carry handguns in PUBLIC and on the roads and highways?

[AG-EE]

Are we getting off on a tangent that has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not McKinney PD is friendly to CHLs?

My experience with a motorcycle cop a few years ago was not quite as friendly. I showed him my CHL, told him where it was, and he very quickly said "Keep your hands where I can see them, away from the gun, and don't make any sudden movements." Then he called for another officer to come and stand outside my window and watch me while he wrote me a ticket for 51 in a 45.

[KD5NRH]

Hoses for your power steering should, not only, be leak free but moisture from the power steering fludid free. The cap should be in place on the pump and the reservoir should be filled to the full level on the pump's dipstick.

When did this start? I drove a car for years with a burned-out PS pump, due to the hose being shredded.

ust all function, no bulbs burned out and no cracks in any of the lenses. Turn Signals must function. High beams must have an indicator.

So why was headlight aim removed? This is one of the biggest annoyances of the inspection IMO; that one of the most common problems is not checked anymore. For that matter, backup lights have never, AFAIK, been required, and they indicate one of the most unusual and dangerous things a car can do in traffic.

Horn must work.

Define "horn." Why doesn't screaming obscenities out an open window qualify?

All vehicles must have a mirror inside and one outside,

And, or or? I've driven plenty of cargo vans and other vehicles with no inside mirror.