"The pen is not mightier than the sword if your enemy is confident you will never use anything other than your pen."
-- Mark Steyn
Click [here] to read an editorial by Dr. John Lott regarding the recent massacre at the Westroads shopping mall in Nebraska.
The mall in question has a "no weapons" policy posted at its entrances, as does Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City [cf. Alert 267], where a young man went on a shooting spree with a shotgun earlier this year, killing five people before being stopped by a customer who had chosen to violate Trolley Square’s gun ban by carrying a concealed revolver on his person.
The hoplophobes, including the editorial writers at our local newspapers, are likely to use the Omaha mall incident as an excuse to call for more "gun control". Rather than arguing with the hoplophobes on their own terms, we should turn the tables by pointing out that the Omaha massacre is the latest in a long list of shooting sprees that have taken place in "gun-free zones", where law-abiding citizens are prohibited (by law or by policy or by both) from carrying concealed self-defense weapons. The news media virtually never mention this fact. And yet the anti-gun people are always wanting to expand the list of "gun-free zones".
As an addendum at press time, we note that a shooting spree at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs last Sunday was cut short (very short, actually) by a private citizen who used a legally concealed firearm to stop the shooting spree. Jeanne Assam, a church member with a concealed firearm permit, was acting as a volunteer security guard at the New Life Church when the gunman entered the building with two handguns, a carbine, and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Approximately 7,000 worshipers were present on the New Life Church campus when the shooting began, and two worshipers were killed outside the building before Assam engaged the gunman and ended the crime. The church’s head pastor speculates that Assam’s actions may have saved as many as 100 lives. A number of church members act as volunteer security guards at New Life Church during services, and several of these volunteers apparently carry legally-concealed firearms with the knowledge and approval of the pastor.
For more details: [click here]
It’s interesting to note that the majority of houses of worship in Utah are off-limits to people carrying legally-concealed handguns. Utah churches are allowed by law to declare themselves "gun-free zones" if they wish. Once a Utah church has designated its houses of worship as “gun-free zones”, it’s against the law for a permit-holder to carry a concealed self-defense weapon inside a house of worship affiliated with that church. For a list of Utah churches that have declared their houses of worship to be "gun-free zones", [click here].
Note: There may be additional Utah churches that have opted to ban guns by posting signs at church entrances, as an alternative to posting on the BCI website. Our understanding of the law is that this carries the same weight as if they had posted their "gun-free" status on the BCI site.
A number of anti-gun bills are being prepared for the upcoming legislative session. Among them are at least three bills that would elevate various misdemeanors to felony status.
Under existing federal law, any felony conviction on your record permanently strips you of your right to possess a firearm. When this law was passed in 1968, it was aimed at heinous violent criminals such as murderers, robbers, rapists, kidnappers, etc., who constituted the vast majority of felons at that time. However, in recent years there has been a trend toward the felonization of all sorts of lesser crimes. There are numerous relatively minor nonviolent acts nowadays that can result in a felony conviction. We are aware of one individual, for example, who drained the crankcase of his tractor on his own property, let the oil soak into the ground, and shoveled dirt over it. He was arrested on a felony charge for doing this, although he subsequently plea-bargained down to a misdemeanor. Do we approve of his method of disposing of used motor oil? No, we don’t. Do we think that he should permanently lose his Second-Amendment rights for this? No, we don’t. But he would have lost those rights if the prosecutors had decided not to offer a plea bargain.
Domestic diva Martha Stewart was convicted on a federal felony charge of "obstructing justice" a few years ago because she allegedly told a minor fib to an investigator regarding a stock trade she had made. Do we endorse Ms.Stewart’s act? No, we don’t. But we don’t believe that she should be permanently prohibited from owning a self-defense weapon. However, she was automatically stripped of that right the moment she was convicted, and there is no way for her to regain her gun rights. For the rest of her life, Ms. Steward can be sent to federal prison for 5 years or longer if she so much as picks up a firearm and holds it in her hands, or if she shoots at a paper target with a .22 rifle.
GOUtah! does not endorse any sort of lawbreaking, whether it be in the form of an infraction, a misdemeanor, or a felony. But we don’t think that a relatively minor act should automatically result in the permanent revocation of a constitutional right.
Until the federal law is changed, GOUtah! will oppose any legislation that has the potential to make relatively minor acts into felonies.
One of the bills coming our way again this year is the perennial animal torture bill, which would make it a felony to mistreat animals. While we abhor the mistreatment of animals, we are concerned that the language of this bill, like that of some of its predecessors, will be so broad as to cover all sorts of activities that don’t involve deliberate or serious mistreatment of animals.
In addition to the three felony bills, there are a couple of other pieces of legislation we’re keeping an eye on regarding "discharge of firearms within city limits" (something which we believe is already more than adequately regulated by existing law) plus a bill entitled "concealed firearm permit amendments", about which we know little at the moment, although we speculate that it may pertain to the issuance of permits to non-residents. We’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, we encourage you to contact your state senator and your state representative and ask them to oppose any and all legislation that restricts the right to own and carry firearms. Please remind them that this includes any legislation that creates new felonies. Please also ask them to support any legislation that protects your Second-Amendment rights.
To find the contact info for your state senator and state representative, [click here]. A letter written on paper and sent via U.S. mail is the best way to go for this sort of thing, especially at this time of year when the legislature is not yet in session. You may use or modify the pre-written letter below if you wish, or you may write your own version.
We encourage you to send letters now, and then send them again as a reminder when the session starts in January.
According to the official website of the Nevada Department of Public Safety, Nevada now recognizes Utah concealed-weapon permits.
GOUtah! wishes to thank W. Clark Aposhian of the Utah Self-Defense Instructors’ Network for his efforts to get Nevada to recognize Utah permits. With this development, all states contiguous with Utah now recognize our permits. This includes Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.
A complete map of states that honor Utah permits is available on the BCI website.
States shown in black or light blue honor Utah permits, while states shown in white do not.
Please be sure to check the gun-carry laws of other states before you visit. Even if a state recognizes Utah permits, it may have some restrictions that are different from Utah’s. Also, some states may have different laws regarding the use of deadly force for self-defense.
On 21 September presidential candidate hopefuls, including Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Democrat Bill Richardson, addressed NRA members in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to gain the organizations support in the presidential contest. Both the Associated Press and Fox News reported on the event in articles respectively titled "Giuliani: I Support Right to Bear Arms" and "Republicans, and a Democrat, Pump Second Amendment Credentials". You may recall that Rudy Giuliani was an outspoken proponent of gun control during his eight years as mayor of New York City and that Massachusetts, where Mitt Romney was governor, has some of the most draconian anti-gun laws of any of the states. The former mayor said his views on gun rights were tempered by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: "Sept. 11 casts somewhat of a different light on Second Amendment rights; it maybe highlights the necessity for them more." After his stint as governor Mitt Romney became a lifetime member of the NRA in 2006.
"My friends, gun owners are not extremists; you are the core of modern America. The Second Amendment is unique in the world and at the core of our constitutional freedoms. It guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our founding fathers."
-- Sen. John McCain, in an address to NRA members, reported by Fox News, 21 September 2007.
"As a western governor, I understand and support the Second Amendment.
This position doesn't always make me the most popular guy in the room with certain audiences, but the reality is that New Mexico has an age-old history of hunting, sportsmanship and other lawful shooting activities."
-- Gov. Bill Richardson, in an address to NRA members, reported by Fox News, 21 September 2007.
"I do not know that anybody would be against gun shows. There are various kinds of regulations and proposals that would restrict private citizens who are not professional dealers or anything like that, and place rules on them as they go there. I've always been against that."
-- Fred Thompson, in an address to NRA members, reported by Fox News, 21 September 2007.
"Let me speak very directly and candidly about where I stand: I support the Second Amendment as one of the most basic and fundamental rights of every American. It's essential to our functioning as a free society, as are all the liberties enumerated in the Bill of Rights."
-- Mitt Romney, in an address to NRA members, reported by theAssociated Press, 21 September 2007.
"All I know is, I liked what I heard today. It's a good thing, if a politician sees the light and supports the Second Amendment."
-- Wayne LaPierre, at a meeting of NRA members, reported by theAssociated Press, 21 September 2007.
"Our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is meaningless when the Fourth and Fifth amendments have been rendered useless by The Patriot Act. A whole lot of people had better start reading and understanding both, or we are all in a lot of trouble.
And if you think that the power George Bush and Dick Cheney have accumulated will disappear when they leave office, think again. The next president - Clinton, Obama, Kucinich, Dodd, Romney, Giuliani, whoever - will have the same power and likely would expand it. Any branch of government with unchecked power is a threat to our Constitution and way of life.
"
-- Impeachment is the constitutional cure., in a letter printed in The Salt Lake Tribune, 6 November 2007.
Please create a copy for your Utah State Senator.
Date:
From:
To:
Dear :
As a gun owner and a voter living in your district, I encourage you to oppose any legislation during the upcoming 2008 General Session that could have the effect of elevating a misdemeanor to felony status. Federal law permanently strips a citizen of his right to possess a firearm if he has any sort of felony record, regardless of whether his felony offense was violent or non-violent, and regardless of whether anyone was harmed by his actions.
When Congress passed this law in 1968, it was aimed at murderers, rapists, robbers, and other truly dangerous criminals who constituted the bulk of convicted felons at the time. Nowadays, however, all sorts of minor and nonviolent acts can result in a felony conviction, which in turn automatically results in a permanent loss of one’s gun rights. Martha Stewart was convicted of a felony several years ago for having allegedly told a fib to a federal investigator regarding a questionable stock trade. She is now permanently barred from even touching a firearm. While I don’t condone Ms. Stewart’s actions, I don’t see why she should be permanently prohibited from having a self- defense weapon.
By the same token, the Utah Legislature annually considers several bills that would confer felony status on relatively minor offenses. Until the federal gun laws get changed, I will view any such legislation as a form of back-door gun control, and I encourage you to oppose it.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #278 for 14 December 2007. We hope this information will be of assistance to you in defending your firearms rights.
Remember that getting this information is meaningless unless You Act On It Today. If you just read it and dump it in the trash, your gun rights, and the gun rights of future generations go in the trash with it. Get involved, get active and get vocal!
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