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HELP KILL SB 72!
SB 72 - Restricted persons (Terry Spencer) is still alive! It is currently sitting on Gov. Leavitt's desk, awaiting his signature. We need to encourage him to veto it - and encourage legislators to support our effort.
SB 72, which was pushed by the Leavitt administration, is an awful bill. It is an unconstitutional ex post facto bill, which applies retroactive punishment for events that happened years ago. It revokes gun rights for juveniles who have been adjudicated delinquent without a jury trial. It expands the current prohibitions on handgun possession to include long guns. It re-enacts the lifetime ban on firearms possession for anyone who has been committed to a mental institution, again without a jury trial or even due process - even if the commitment was wrongful or the person has recovered. It also re-enacts the lifetime ban on possession for anyone dishonorably discharged from the military - even for political or social offenses. And most ominously, it provides a mechanism to revoke firearms rights for MISDEMEANOR offenses.
As if this isn't bad enough, some outrageous lies were told in order to get the bill passed. Legislators reported they were told that if the bill wasn't passed, Utah would automatically be subject to a federal five-day waiting period for all firearms transactions. Of course the federal five-day waiting period expired in 1998, and was replaced with the National Instant-Check System (NICS). Utahns are already subject to NICS checks. The "five day waiting period" lie was perpetrated solely to scare legislators into voting for a gun control bill. Sadly, it worked.
And to make matters even worse, many witnesses report that the bill passed the Senate AFTER midnight - which makes it unconstitutional and void.
WE NEED HELP TO KILL SB 72 - and we need it NOW! Gov. Leavitt can sign it at any time!
Several activists (Arnold Gaunt, Brent Odenwalder and Sarah Thompson)
met with House leadership today. (Reps. Marty Stephens, Kevin Garn,
David Ure and Greg Curtis) UTGuns appreciates their willingness to
meet and discuss this problem.
Speaker Stephens says that he is "still waiting to hear from Gov. Leavitt".
Leadership did not seem inclined to try to kill the bill based on its content,
or the blatant lies told to obtain passage. While they did vote against
the bill, this attitude raises questions about the sincerity of their opposition.
However, they did state that if the bill was indeed passed after midnight, they would support invalidating it on that basis.
1. Please CALL each of these members of House Leadership AS SOON AS
POSSIBLE! Time is very short, and the bill can be signed at any time.
Ask them to do EVERYTHING possible to stop Gov. Leavitt from signing the
bill. Legislators do not read email when they're not in session so
you need to CALL or FAX them!
Speaker Marty Stephens
801-538-1930 (Capitol)
801-731-5346 (Home)
801-538-1908 (Fax)
Majority Leader Kevin Garn
801-544-3533 (Home)
801-776-0232 (Office)
801-776-0214 (Fax)
Majority Whip David Ure
435-783-4650 (Home)
435-783-2487 (Office)
435-783-4650 (Fax)
Ass't. Majority Whip Greg Curtis
801-943-3091 (Home)
801-569-5141 (Office)
Remember to be polite but assertive. Don't let them play games with OUR RIGHTS!
2. Call Governor Leavitt! 801-538-1000 Let him (or the staff person handling bill signing and vetos) know that you would like the governor to VETO SB 72 for the above reasons. Please remind Gov. Leavitt that allowing SB 72 to become law guarantees a vote for one of his four (current) challengers.
3. Witnesses needed!
Were you at the Capitol the night of March 1? Did you witness
legislators, lobbyists and others lying about SB 72? Did you watch
the vote in the Senate?
If so, it is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT that you contact the five people
listed above. We also need a signed, notarized affidavit stating
clearly what you saw and heard. (Contact Sarah at this address or
801-566-1067 for details.)
CANDIDATES NEEDED!
Our legislators have a dismal record of protecting our rights this year. No Representative has a voting record better than 60%. No Senator has a record better than 44%! This is simply not acceptable. (It is important to remember that voting records do not reflect committee votes or back-room politics, so they should not be considered an absolute measure of a legislator's behavior. But these numbers are so terrible that it's hard to make a case that we have any pro-rights legislators.)
Volunteers are desperately needed to challenge some of these folks so
they don't come back for another 2-4 years! We need YOU to file for
office! Even if you don't have the time and money to mount a major
campaign, just the fact that you file has beneficial effects:
1. The legislator finds out that not everyone approves of what he's
doing.
2. The legislator actually has to do some work instead of just showing
up to claim his seat. Even if he wins, you will have caused him pain,
expense, and embarrassment - and he'll be motivated not to let that happen
again!
3. By expressing a strong pro-liberty point of view, you will "pull"
the incumbent towards a pro-liberty point of view. You will also
educate others in your district who will then become your allies in preserving
our rights.
A list of people who have filed to date can be found at:
http://www.governor.state.ut.us/lt_gover/2000candidates.html
If there are no good candidates in your House or Senate district, please
consider running! The filing fees are low (less than $20 for a House
seat!), and you'll automatically get a delegate spot at the county (or
state if you're in a multi-county district) convention. Filing deadline
is Friday 5 PM. You lose nothing by filing; you can always withdraw
if you change your mind.
DELEGATES NEEDED!
Response to the UTGuns request for delegates is still not what it should
be. MANY more people are needed to volunteer to be delegates!
Isn't it worth a day or two of your time to make sure that good candidates
are elected? Do you really WANT Mike Leavitt pushing gun control
for another four years? Did YOUR legislators do an exemplary job
of protecting your life, liberty and property?
No? Then volunteer to be a delegate! This is the best (maybe
only!) way to promote responsible government.
Even if you have signed up on another list of delegates, please sign the UTGuns list too! We are not "competing" with anyone else for names. We are trying to compile a central list of names of people willing to support some real pro-gun candidates.
For more information, or to sign up, go to:
http://www.utguns.freeservers.com/volunteer.html
RADIO ALERT!
Sarah Thompson and Arnold Gaunt will be appearing on Radio Liberty
on Thursday, March 16 from 5-7 PM. Radio Liberty is hosted by Jim
Dexter, and can be found on KTKK, 630 AM. Topics include SB 72, legislative
liars, gun bills in general, and delegate recruitment. Please listen
and call in!
Salt Lake County, 801-254-5855.
North of SLCo, 801-670-5855
South of SLCo, 801-470-5855
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.
Leg-alerts can also be found at UTGuns, http://www.UTguns.freeservers.com. Please check out the new site!
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