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THURSDAY HEARINGS!
New bills
Bill update
Delegate training
Is Sen. Spencer honesty impaired?
THURSDAY HEARINGS
1. HB 95, Background checks for private transactions,
Jones
Dave Jones's HB 95 will be heard by the House Law Enforcement and Criminal
Justice Committee on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 4 PM, Rm. 225
This bill would require a background check for virtually ALL private
weapons transactions, including those occurring at gun shows and swap meets.
Enforcement of this bill would require that EVERY PERSON who attends a
gun show be registered before entering! UTGuns believes you have
the right to sell, trade or otherwise dispose of your own property without
permission from the government. UTGuns supports the right to assemble
freely at gun shows without government restrictions. PLEASE plan
to ATTEND this hearing! PLEASE contact members of the committee and
insist that they OPPOSE HB 95!
Bud Bowman, Chair <dbowman@le.state.ut.us> 435-586-8174
Jack A. Seitz, Vice Chair <jseitz@le.state.ut.us> 435-789-0650
Loraine Pace <lpace@le.state.ut.us> 435-753-6154
Blake D. Chard, <bchard@le.state.ut.us> 801-773-7474
Carl Saunders, <csaunder@le.state.ut.us> 801-476-1110
Nora Stephens, <nstephen@le.state.ut.us> 801-825-3792
Susan Koehn, <skoehn@le.state.ut.us> 801-296-1761
David L. Hogue, <dhogue@le.state.ut.us> 801-254-1668
Perry L. Buckner, <pbuckner@le.state.ut.us> 801-964-8215
Duane Bourdeaux, <dbourdea@le.state.ut.us> 801-596-8784
Trisha Beck, <tbeck@le.state.ut.us> 801-572-2325
All can be contacted at: 801-538-1029
2. SB 37, School Surveys, Montgomery
SB 37 will be heard by the House Health and Human Service Committee
on Thursday, Feb. 10 at 8 AM, Room 225. This bill would allow the
schools to administer surveys asking personal questions to YOUR children
without YOUR consent. The bill uses the excuse of "school violence"
to allow questions about firearms. UTGuns supports the right of parents
to decide which activities (including participation in surveys and lawful
use of firearms) are appropriate for their children. PLEASE try to
attend this meeting. PLEASE contact members of the committee and
ask them to OPPOSE SB 37!
Rep. Carl R. Saunders, Chair csaunder@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Bryan Holladay, Vice Chair bhollada@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Loretta Baca, lbaca@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Trisha Beck tbeck@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Jackie Biskupski jbikupsk@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Mary Carlson, mcarlson@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Margaret Dayton mdayton@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Kory Holdaway kholdawa@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Becky Lockhart blockhar@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Marlon O. Snow msnow@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Nora B. Stephens nstephen@le.state.ut.us
Rep. A. Lamont Tyler atyler@le.state.ut.us
Rep. Richard L. Walsh rwalsh@le.state.ut.us
BILL UPDATES!
Good news today! HB 174, Public Safety
Fee Increases (Chard) was defeated in the House and is now dead
for this session. HB 174 would have allowed the Dept. of Public Safety
to raise fees for background checks and CCW permits without legislative
(and public) oversight! The death of the bill means that our legislators
will retain control of these fees. UTGuns will continue to work to
eliminate these fees completely, but for now, we're happy that DPS will
not be raising them without legislative input. Our hard work is paying
off!
LEGISLATORS VOTING IN FAVOR OF HIGHER FEES
ARE: Representatives S. Allen Arent Beck Becker Bennion Biskupski
Bourdeaux Bowman Bradshaw Bush Carlson Chard G. Cox Curtis Dayton Dillree
Ferry Fife Frandsen Garn Gladwell Goodfellow Hatch
Hendrickson Hogue Holdaway Holladay K. Johnson Jones King Saunders
Seitz Shurtliff Siddoway Styler (Thanks to Code-Co, www.code-co.com)
If your representative is on this list, please let him/her know that this
is an ANT-GUN vote and that you are following voting records and will actively
OPPOSE anti-gun legislators. Be polite, but be firm! Legislators
need to learn that we will not tolerate, or forgive, anti-gun votes!
NEW AND AMENDED BILLS
HB 173, Computer forfeiture, Buckner
HB 173 has been amended to address some, but not all, of UTGuns (and
other groups') concerns. It also passed the House, by a vote of 69-1-5,
with only Rep. Hogue voting "no". A full report will follow, but
for now, UTGuns still OPPOSES this bill.
SB 72S2Amended, Restricted Persons, Spencer
This bill has been completely rewritten yet again. The substituted
bill was written by Sen. Mont Evans. It's now 28 pages long, and
affects no less than 18 sections of code. This is yet another clever
trick to discourage anyone from reading it, and confuse those who try.
However, not much has changed.
The bill would change the name of the Bureau of Criminal Identification to the Bureau of Identification. The revocation of firearms rights for misdemeanors has been removed.
SB 72S2A is still an ex post facto bill which increases the punishment for an offense after the fact. It still revokes rights for juveniles without a jury trial. It still revokes rights for LIFE for anyone dishonorably discharged from the military for political (not criminal!) reasons. It still revokes firearms rights for LIFE for anyone found in possession of so much as a marijuana seed while in possession of a firearm.
UTGuns OPPOSES SB 72. It's unconstitutional, and it's unfair.
We're appalled that prosecutors, gun groups, disability groups and others
would support an unconstitutional law.
SB 200, Mental Health Commitment Amendments, Montgomery
A NEW bill. SB 200 proposes to make it much easier to involuntarily
commit persons for mental health "treatment". It changes the standard
from "immediate danger to oneself or others" to "substantial
danger". Of course mental health professionals CANNOT predict who
might someday be a danger to himself or others and they guess wrong more
often than they guess right.
Once committed, a person can be incarcerated and or drugged against his will. He also loses his firearms rights, possibly for LIFE. (The Brady Act is unclear on this point.) Of particular note is that you can be committed, and lose your firearms rights, for "violent, threatening or other endangering behavior" if someone is willing to say you're mentally ill. Locking someone up and drugging them is NOT "treatment"; it's abuse.
SB 200 is another excuse for big government to both punish and disarm
those people who have "politically incorrect" beliefs. Be afraid...
be VERY afraid of SB 200! UTGuns OPPOSES SB 200!
DELEGATE TRAINING!
March 27 is fast approaching and conservatives have a great opportunity
to
influence our local elections.
By attending our caucus meetings we will help insure good government
returning to the state of Utah. If we organize, we can increase
our
effectiveness and help make a difference.
Several good, pro-gun conservatives are running! We need to help them!
If you are interested in learning how to become a delegate or have been a delegate and want to help organize for the upcoming conventions, please attend one of the following meetings!
DAVIS COUNTY
There will be a meeting February 17 in Bountiful at
the Davis County Library at 725 S. Main The meeting will begin
at 6:30 p.m.
with a chance to meet candidates with the meeting beginning at 7 p.m.
For more information please contact
>>Don Guymon, 801-294-0241 DGUYMON@msn.com
>>Dave Hansen, 544-2744, dahansen@uswest.net
>>Craig Caldwell, 451-8206, caldwells@uswest.net
SALT LAKE COUNTY
There will be a meeting at the Capitol on Friday, Feb. 18 at 8 PM.
Details to follow.
For more information on SL County Delegate Training, contact:
Ron Holgreen, 801-268-9383, ronholgreen@utah-inter.net
UTAH COUNTY
Delegate training coming soon! Contact:
Robert Merrill, robertkatreena@juno.com, 801-765-0852
IS SENATOR SPENCER HONESTY IMPAIRED?
Last week UTGuns reported on a meeting with Sen. Spencer. It
appears that Sen. Spencer either has a Clintonian problem with honesty,
or simply is too confused to be an effective legislator.
At the meeting he told us:
1. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee he is required to sponsor
bills coming from the Judiciary Interim Committee. This is simply
not true. There is NO rule requiring that he sponsor interim legislation.
It's quite possible that Senate President Lane Beattie threatened to remove
him as committee chair if he didn't sponsor certain bills, which is Beattie's
prerogative as President. UTGuns does not think that "surrendering
to a bully" is the same as "following the rules". If Beattie is twisting
Spencer's arm, he should say so. We'd all like to know!
2. The UEA is sponsoring a second ballot initiative to amend the Constitution
to ban guns in schools and churches. This one isn't true either.
No such initiative has been filed. And only the legislature can introduce
such an amendment.
3. Attorney General Jan Graham decides what the law is, and legislators
have to do what she says. More nonsense. Legislators pass laws
and the AG's job is to enforce them. Legislators take an oath to
uphold the Constitution, not to pander to the AG. They have access
to legislative analysts and drafting attorneys who can help them draft
and interpret bills and laws. The legislative branch of government
is, and must be, independent of the executive branch.
Does Sen. Spencer have a problem with honesty, or is he simply negligently
misinformed?
WHAT YOU MUST DO!
1. Attend the committee hearings tomorrow. Priority is HB 95.
(See above)
2. Contact members of the committees for HB 95 and SB 37 (See above)
3. Contact legislators who voted for HB 174 (See above again!)
4. Call Sen. Spencer and Sen. Evans and let them know you OPPOSE SB
72
Sen. Terry Spencer 801-543-4450
Sen. Mont Evans 801-254-2655
5. Call Rep. Mel Brown and ask him to kill HB 383, Revocation of Concealed
Carry Permits
Rep. Mel Brown, 801-243-9122
6. Volunteer to be a postcard distributor. And send your own
postcards if you haven't done so already!
Thanks!
Sarah
Leg-alerts is written and distributed by Sarah Thompson, M.D. All information contained in these alerts is the responsibility of the author, unless otherwise attributed.
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