![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mitrian.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
lkh_lashoutsWe know, from Parts 1 and 2 of my analysis, that Anita has killed a lot. We know she has killed with methods that, should the police find any evidence, would get her a rushed trial and a quick execution. In this, which will hopefully be the final part of my analysis, I want to take a look at what other laws she has ignored or blatantly violated, as well as some laws that seem to make little sense.
Details are .
In Guilty Pleasures, on page 3, Anita says that vampires have been "legal" for 2 years. She implies by this that they are legal citizens. "It had only been two years since Addison v. Clark. The court case gave us a revised version of what life was, and what death wasn't. Vampirism was legal in the good ol' U. S. of A." She also says that "The immigration people were having fits trying to keep foreign vampires from immigrating in, well, flocks." And further down the page, "There was even a movement to give them the vote." This seems to imply that vampires have some sort of citizenship status, and an immigration quota - yet clearly, they lack voting rights. So they have less than full citizenship, as they are considered people for legal purposes, yet they are denied the right to vote. One would presume that vampires would have to take the same citizenship tests as any other immigrants, though, after which they would have voting rights. I find the inconsistency here frustrating. Perhaps it's similar to a green card, where they would have Lawful Permanent Resident status?
On page 135 of Guilty Pleasures, Anita refers to the "illegal party" she and Philip are on their way to attend. This is the 'freak party,' where people go to be bitten by, and presumably have sex with, vampires. Now, assuming that all those attending are of legal age (which in Missouri is 17), and consent to both the vampire bites and the sex, why would such a party be illegal? It is not taking place in public, and is in fact in a private home. We know it's illegal for a vampire to take blood from a minor (Cerulean Sins, p. 36). But there is nothing illegal about a vampire taking blood from a consenting adult. It is also not illegal for a vampire to have sex with a human - or even to marry one. So I can see no rational reason for the 'freak parties' to be illegal, as long as everyone there consents to any acts in which they take part.
Now, on to gun laws. We know Anita has guns. We know she usually carries a Browning and a Firestar, and presumably has permits for both. In Missouri, there is no requirement for a permit to purchase a handgun (or a rifle or shotgun), and there is no state requirement that they be registered. But there is a concealed-carry license - since we quite often see Anita concealing her handguns underneath clothing such as jackets, and she does so around police officers, we can probably assume she has a concealed-carry license for them. To get a concealed-carry license in Missouri seems easy - one must be at least 23 years old, have been a resident of the state for a minimum of 6 months, have completed a state-approved firearms training class, and passed a background check. The concealed-carry permit (which can be printed on a driver's license) is valid for 3 years.
This tangent into Missouri's firearms laws will be relevant in just a few more sentences.
In Bloody Bones, in a bit of internal dialog about Larry, Anita reflects that "I'd gotten him a carry permit... so we could carry it around in the car and go to the range" (25). Well, first of all, she could not have obtained the permit on Larry's behalf. Larry would have had to apply for the permit, pass a background check, and take a state-approved firearms-safety class. Larry is not old enough to apply for a concealed-carry permit - the minimum age for that is 23, and we are told on p. 155 of Circus of the Damned that he is 20. Also, a concealed-carry permit is not required to transport a handgun in Missouri. (Info is from here.)
There are restrictions as to where one can carry concealed, even with a valid permit. According to Missouri gun laws, even with a concealed-carry permit, no handguns may be taken into "Any higher education institution or elementary or secondary school facility without the consent of the governing body of the higher education institution or a school official or the district school board" (Missouri Revised Statutes, Section 571.107(10), see above link). Yet on page 12 of Bloody Bones, Anita does exactly this when she drops by the junior high school where Richard teaches to say good-bye to him before she leaves. She is wearing a shoulder holster under her suit jacket, so she is carrying her Browning. No mention is made of whether or not she also has the Firestar on her at the time. There are also the times she carried concealed when going into Dead Dave's, which is in violation of Section 571.107(7). Paragraphs 13 and 14 of this law also forbid carrying concealed into "[a]ny gated area of an amusement park" and "[a]ny church or other place of religious worship without the consent of the minister". From descriptions in the books, it is likely that the Circus of the Damned could qualify as an amusement park. She has carried a gun into the Church of Eternal Life every time she has been there, and has killed people there several times. Three citations for violation of these restrictions can get one's carry permit suspended.
She mentions in Bloody Bones, on p. 183, that she keeps a gun in a holster on her headboard, with the safety off, when she sleeps. This is in violation of what is learned in any basic handgun-safety class, and common sense.
Later, in Cerulean Sins, Anita says that she was "grandfathered in" as a Federal Marshal. On p. 140, she explains that any legal vampire executioners with a minimum of 4 years' experience were "grandfathered in" as Marshals, and that any with less experience had to undergo training by the Marshals Service. According to my research, this would be unlikely. First, the Marshals Service requires all candidates to pass a fitness test before entering training. Second, her rank would be Deputy Marshal, she would not be a full Marshal. Third (and one that I find quite annoying) - she would not be able to deputize civilians as "federal deputies" as she does on p. 115, 240, and 399 of Cerulean Sins. There is a process by which civilians can be 'deputized', but it involves paperwork and a background check. LKH kind-of addresses this in The Harlequin, when Nathaniel says to Anita, "It's a shame you can't deputize civilians, like in the old movies. (366)" (All my information on the Marshals Service comes from their website.)
On p. 71 of Obsidian Butterfly - before Anita became a Marshal in Cerulean Sins - she claimed her guns were "federally licensed" and that this allowed her to take them on an airplane. I found an FAQ on the ATF site that contradicts her claim: "(A2) Does the Federal Government issue a license or permit to carry a concealed weapon? No. Neither ATF nor any other Federal agency issues such a permit or license. Carrying permits may be issued by a State or local government.”
And I believe this is it for my analysis, at least for the near future. I've still not covered some of the more blatant inconsistencies, some of the obvious failures of the author to grasp basic physics, or the times the Continuity Fairy was out for lunch or possibly even on strike. I also skipped discussing the 'varmint laws' or the legality of vampires, weres, and witches in any country but the US. I may write about them later, but now that the fall semester has started I must focus on school. I will, however, lighten things a bit and end with a few of the more absurd quotes from the books before I return the stack of them to my library:
"The carving, like the vampire's face, was straight out of an Aztec calendar." (Circus of the Damned, 177)
“Please, don't tell me I'm going to turn into slut-girl." (Narcissus in Chains, 253)
“We both turned to look at the door, though my turn was less turny than Richard's." (Incubus Dreams, 470)
“That's what underwear is for, girls, so if an emergency happens you only show your cookies to the people you love." (Blood Noir, 194)
Details are .
In Guilty Pleasures, on page 3, Anita says that vampires have been "legal" for 2 years. She implies by this that they are legal citizens. "It had only been two years since Addison v. Clark. The court case gave us a revised version of what life was, and what death wasn't. Vampirism was legal in the good ol' U. S. of A." She also says that "The immigration people were having fits trying to keep foreign vampires from immigrating in, well, flocks." And further down the page, "There was even a movement to give them the vote." This seems to imply that vampires have some sort of citizenship status, and an immigration quota - yet clearly, they lack voting rights. So they have less than full citizenship, as they are considered people for legal purposes, yet they are denied the right to vote. One would presume that vampires would have to take the same citizenship tests as any other immigrants, though, after which they would have voting rights. I find the inconsistency here frustrating. Perhaps it's similar to a green card, where they would have Lawful Permanent Resident status?
On page 135 of Guilty Pleasures, Anita refers to the "illegal party" she and Philip are on their way to attend. This is the 'freak party,' where people go to be bitten by, and presumably have sex with, vampires. Now, assuming that all those attending are of legal age (which in Missouri is 17), and consent to both the vampire bites and the sex, why would such a party be illegal? It is not taking place in public, and is in fact in a private home. We know it's illegal for a vampire to take blood from a minor (Cerulean Sins, p. 36). But there is nothing illegal about a vampire taking blood from a consenting adult. It is also not illegal for a vampire to have sex with a human - or even to marry one. So I can see no rational reason for the 'freak parties' to be illegal, as long as everyone there consents to any acts in which they take part.
Now, on to gun laws. We know Anita has guns. We know she usually carries a Browning and a Firestar, and presumably has permits for both. In Missouri, there is no requirement for a permit to purchase a handgun (or a rifle or shotgun), and there is no state requirement that they be registered. But there is a concealed-carry license - since we quite often see Anita concealing her handguns underneath clothing such as jackets, and she does so around police officers, we can probably assume she has a concealed-carry license for them. To get a concealed-carry license in Missouri seems easy - one must be at least 23 years old, have been a resident of the state for a minimum of 6 months, have completed a state-approved firearms training class, and passed a background check. The concealed-carry permit (which can be printed on a driver's license) is valid for 3 years.
This tangent into Missouri's firearms laws will be relevant in just a few more sentences.
In Bloody Bones, in a bit of internal dialog about Larry, Anita reflects that "I'd gotten him a carry permit... so we could carry it around in the car and go to the range" (25). Well, first of all, she could not have obtained the permit on Larry's behalf. Larry would have had to apply for the permit, pass a background check, and take a state-approved firearms-safety class. Larry is not old enough to apply for a concealed-carry permit - the minimum age for that is 23, and we are told on p. 155 of Circus of the Damned that he is 20. Also, a concealed-carry permit is not required to transport a handgun in Missouri. (Info is from here.)
There are restrictions as to where one can carry concealed, even with a valid permit. According to Missouri gun laws, even with a concealed-carry permit, no handguns may be taken into "Any higher education institution or elementary or secondary school facility without the consent of the governing body of the higher education institution or a school official or the district school board" (Missouri Revised Statutes, Section 571.107(10), see above link). Yet on page 12 of Bloody Bones, Anita does exactly this when she drops by the junior high school where Richard teaches to say good-bye to him before she leaves. She is wearing a shoulder holster under her suit jacket, so she is carrying her Browning. No mention is made of whether or not she also has the Firestar on her at the time. There are also the times she carried concealed when going into Dead Dave's, which is in violation of Section 571.107(7). Paragraphs 13 and 14 of this law also forbid carrying concealed into "[a]ny gated area of an amusement park" and "[a]ny church or other place of religious worship without the consent of the minister". From descriptions in the books, it is likely that the Circus of the Damned could qualify as an amusement park. She has carried a gun into the Church of Eternal Life every time she has been there, and has killed people there several times. Three citations for violation of these restrictions can get one's carry permit suspended.
She mentions in Bloody Bones, on p. 183, that she keeps a gun in a holster on her headboard, with the safety off, when she sleeps. This is in violation of what is learned in any basic handgun-safety class, and common sense.
Later, in Cerulean Sins, Anita says that she was "grandfathered in" as a Federal Marshal. On p. 140, she explains that any legal vampire executioners with a minimum of 4 years' experience were "grandfathered in" as Marshals, and that any with less experience had to undergo training by the Marshals Service. According to my research, this would be unlikely. First, the Marshals Service requires all candidates to pass a fitness test before entering training. Second, her rank would be Deputy Marshal, she would not be a full Marshal. Third (and one that I find quite annoying) - she would not be able to deputize civilians as "federal deputies" as she does on p. 115, 240, and 399 of Cerulean Sins. There is a process by which civilians can be 'deputized', but it involves paperwork and a background check. LKH kind-of addresses this in The Harlequin, when Nathaniel says to Anita, "It's a shame you can't deputize civilians, like in the old movies. (366)" (All my information on the Marshals Service comes from their website.)
On p. 71 of Obsidian Butterfly - before Anita became a Marshal in Cerulean Sins - she claimed her guns were "federally licensed" and that this allowed her to take them on an airplane. I found an FAQ on the ATF site that contradicts her claim: "(A2) Does the Federal Government issue a license or permit to carry a concealed weapon? No. Neither ATF nor any other Federal agency issues such a permit or license. Carrying permits may be issued by a State or local government.”
And I believe this is it for my analysis, at least for the near future. I've still not covered some of the more blatant inconsistencies, some of the obvious failures of the author to grasp basic physics, or the times the Continuity Fairy was out for lunch or possibly even on strike. I also skipped discussing the 'varmint laws' or the legality of vampires, weres, and witches in any country but the US. I may write about them later, but now that the fall semester has started I must focus on school. I will, however, lighten things a bit and end with a few of the more absurd quotes from the books before I return the stack of them to my library:
"The carving, like the vampire's face, was straight out of an Aztec calendar." (Circus of the Damned, 177)
“Please, don't tell me I'm going to turn into slut-girl." (Narcissus in Chains, 253)
“We both turned to look at the door, though my turn was less turny than Richard's." (Incubus Dreams, 470)
“That's what underwear is for, girls, so if an emergency happens you only show your cookies to the people you love." (Blood Noir, 194)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 08:15 pm (UTC)Actually, I take it back; I'm surprised the Feds haven't taken control of that particular permit.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 11:23 pm (UTC)General aviation is a bit different - it can be legal for people to carry guns on general aviation airplanes but the details are a little byzantine. As an example, I could, if I were licensed to carry a gun where I currently live, strap on a holster with a loaded pistol and get into my own airplane and fly it. I could, at my discretion, permit a passenger to do the same (although I have trouble imagining a situation where I'd allow a loaded gun in my airplane, personally, it is still legal and if you're, say, going bear hunting in Alaska it makes sense) BUT if we landed at Chicago's Midway airport we could be arrested for violating their local gun laws. So in our world you really have to know the law on the ground wherever you take off, and wherever you land.
In Anita's world things may well be different. After all, in her world vampires, ghouls, zombies, etc. actually exist and morgues have secure doors not to keep people out but to keep the walking dead inside. Weapon carrying may be more tolerated in such a world. Still, LKH would do well to somehow illustrate these differences better than she does.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 01:29 am (UTC)Ahaha....you're funny. :D
I'm still just...amused by her notions of how gun laws work. And she's flying. Does she really expect a vampire to attack her? Apparently even nail files are dangerous weapons; all she has to do is carry a manicure set.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 08:31 pm (UTC)Funny what a little cold, hard analysis does to the fragile world that LKH has constructed. Kudos for all your hard work and I hope it didn't take too much brain bleach to clean up afterwards . . .
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 08:45 pm (UTC)It reeks of thoughtlessness and lack of research, to me. None of the bits of law I looked up took more than 10 minutes to find.
Brain bleach? Oh, the regular variety's not working so well anymore. I may need to try vodka.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 03:09 am (UTC)Think about it.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 03:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 08:37 pm (UTC)“That's what underwear is for, girls, so if an emergency happens you only show your cookies to the people you love" << Love...like, know vaguely, find deserving of sexual assault in some way...
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 10:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 04:44 am (UTC)Oatmeal raisin might be less messy.
Although now I have to wonder - if you plan to store or transport a lot of cookies, would it make sense to buy a size or two larger, so you have space for all the cookies?
no subject
Date: 2009-09-02 11:11 pm (UTC)Your past three posts or so have been so detailed, and this one I find especially helpful. As a writer hoping to get published, I've always wondered how published authors came to find their "experts" in law enforcement--supposedly to keep these very facts from slipping into discontinuity. I know LKH has mentioned running scenes past a law enforcement expert before, as have other writers in the past (whose names, of course, escape me now).
I don't happen to know a single cop, retired or active, so this post and the links to your sources are particularly helpful in providing a first step to learning about gun control laws and giving me (sadly expertless) someplace to start. So thank you, and good luck with the new semester.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 12:18 am (UTC)I'm compiling a long list of things to NEVER do if/when I write - and this project has certainly added to it.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 06:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-04 09:46 am (UTC)lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 02:28 am (UTC)YABBIs. That's what the retconning and the inconsistencies are called: Yet Another Anita Blake Inconsistency.
-,'-,'-,'--
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 03:11 am (UTC)Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 03:41 am (UTC)Yuppers - and it's my understanding that Jim Butcher is who coined the phrase originally.
Talk about a slap . . .
-,'-,'-,'--@
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-04 03:01 pm (UTC)Re: lkh&#39;s world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-04 04:21 pm (UTC)So too would I - the folks that were there reported lkh laughing it off until she could get out of the public view.
Don't get me wrong; public humiliation, no matter how richly deserved it might be, is still not real nice. HOWEVER, in every sense of the word, it was deserved. It still is.
-,'-,'-,'--@
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 04:07 am (UTC)The continuity errors, especially several of the ones on which I have notes, would have been caught by a competent editor. If she had one.
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 04:35 am (UTC)Honey, the woman has a NO EDIT clause in her contracts with both of her publishing houses. *SHE* is the only one that's allowed to edit anything in her purple/black & blue prose.
That's one of the biggest reasons that she changed publishing houses and agents after the publication of OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY. The publishers that she used to be with expected her to abide by *THEIR* editing of her "writing" and she didn't like that. No control, you see. The agent expected her to turn in her first drafts on time. Both of them apparently made one of the classic blunders: they expected her to behave like an adult, treat her writing like a business, and honour her contractual commitments.
Continuity errors are inevitable when you throw your series' bible out the window. That's why there's terms for her series' nonsensical and illogical wilful ignorance of what's gone on before - YABBI and YAMGI.
-,'-,'-,'--@
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 04:50 am (UTC)Re: lkh&#39;s world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 05:19 am (UTC)yah, she's got one - insisted on it according to her plog back in 2005(?) She got it right about the time that she married BTTG.
I guess that both of the publishing houses were happy to get such a cash cow signed up. Unfortunately, she's gotten to believing her own publicity, and she's so far behind on the turn-in date for the newest crapfest that, IF the book gets published on time, it's going to be just as awful as the last one was.
Sooner or later, she's going to get a reality check that she's not going to be able to cash - which I think is why she's doing all of the novellas right now. While there's not as much money in them, having them at least will shut her publisher up a BIT.
-,'-,'-,'--@
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 06:18 pm (UTC)... and I just noticed which book marks the cutoff point. I've got OB; gave her a try when it was newly in paperback, back when Usenet was still saying good things about her. And then the next book came out and the newsgroups exploded with how bad it was.
Re: lkh&#39;s world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-04 01:39 am (UTC)Her writing has degenerated into something that can only be classified as completely pedestrian, and her "books" are nothing better than cut 'n paste porn lately.
If you haven't read the MerrySlutBreeder books, please don't waste your money.
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-03 07:37 pm (UTC)Ohhhh. That is very interesting. Certainly explains a few things...
Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-04 12:04 am (UTC)Re: lkh's world . . . ? ? ? and she is SOOOOOOO welcome to it!
Date: 2009-09-21 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 11:27 am (UTC)The gun law stuff freaks me out. Holy flipping shit.
Thanks for sharing these analyses. They're really interesting.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-03 03:09 pm (UTC)The frustration of the contradictions in the books are a major factor for why I stopped reading. It's also great to see how blatently little research she's actually done on the legal aspects of gun-ownership.
I personally would have had the monster hunters holding a status equivalent to modern bounty hunters, with greater legal powers than a 'typical' citizen but still inferior to actual law enforcement officers. Plus, I would be very surprised if the FBI and other interested agencies didn't have their own in-house experts.
Also, I would buy the government allowing federal hunters greater leeway when it comes to gun-ownership but frankly, given that any shooting by a law enforcement officer is immediately the subject of a hearing, I can't see how any federal officer would risk the blatent killings Anita's been responsible for. Given that all the hunters we've seen so far, with the possible exception of Larry, have struck me as the sort of people the government (local and federal) would be keeping an eye on and not for their 'expertise', I honestly can't see them neglecting some sort of regulatory body for hunters. How does the government deal with complaints from people who've been injured? Who pays for the property damage? Why has Anita been dragged to civil court by some of her enemies?
In a world where you can sue a fast food store for making your coffee too hot, I'm amazed that Anita hasn't been served at least a dozen times for over-stepping her limits or just for offending people.
contradictions, we've got CONTRADICTIONS!
Date: 2009-09-04 04:29 pm (UTC)This is in an alternate universe within the original lkh universe, honey. You know the one: The NO responsibility, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG, HE HIT ME BACK FIRST AND ANYHOW HE DOESN'T WORSHIP THE DOOMCROTCH, screw you all I'm a NECROMANCER preternatural killin' Annie Oakley universe. The one where, no matter what AB does, and no matter HOW much against the law it is, she never, ever has to take the blame for it, or get the reality check that she should be getting. Remember how many times she's killed with magic, which is (supposedly) an automatic death sentence?
The bounty hunters were - again, supposedly - already licensed. All that the FedGov of the AB universe did was grandfather them into the system, and apparently with no checks or balances to start out with.
GOSH, I'd LOVE to live in that universe!
-,'-,'-,'--@
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 09:01 am (UTC)have i mentioned that you are awesome? the idea of taking the AB series and trying to research the laws that are supposed to be there makes my skin crawl.
i would *MUCH* rather either do the research before hand, or write up the actual laws of the different universe. EITHER would be easier on my brain than the slapdash BS LKH has been using.
i think that is what bothers me so much - how do the internal inconsistancies NOT bug the fuck out of her? before i write *ANYTHING* i have to sit down and make sure i know everything (in the way of background, i mean) so that i don't write some stupid fucking paradox along the lines of "all licensed vamp hunters were grandfathered into an organization, and then were not required to actually follow any of the rules or regulations of said organization, and often go exactly counter to said organization..."
hence, i write timelines. :D
i know that she does everything on sticky-notes, but, i mean... after a while, wouldn't SOMETHING be so blatantly wrong that it would bug her? (this is the Micah syndrome: Micah started off as a bad-guy who was supposed to fuck Anita and then fuck her over and then die. but the LKH got squemish about Anita having sex for the sake of having sex, and had to change it so it "Good Sex because of Love" bullshit, and frankly this *RUINED* the series. i don't even dislike Micah - he has a way of being able to sometimes tell Anita that she's full of shit, more than anyone else can do - i just really hate that he became a good guy ONLY because LKH refused to let her alter self have sex with someone who turns out to be evil. blech)