"The rifle is the weapon of democracy. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military. The hired servants of our rulers. Only the government - and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws."
-- Edward Abbey
SB 157 Substitute (sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen), a bill that GOUtah! strongly supports, passed the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement, and Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday by a vote of 5 to 2.
SB 157 Substitute is designed to prohibit state and local law-enforcement agencies and their officers from illegally confiscating privately-owned firearms during a declared state of emergency, and also to prohibit state and local government agencies and officials from enacting any gun restrictions that weren’t already legally in effect prior to the emergency.
The following senators voted for the bill (and for gun rights and self-defense rights):
Mark Madsen;
John Valentine;
Greg Bell;
Lyle Hillyard;
Jon Greiner.
The following senators voted against the bill (and against gun rights and self-defense rights):
Scott McCoy;
Ross Romero
The bill now goes to the floor of the Senate. Unfortunately, Sen. Hillyard offered an amendment in the committee hearing that weakens the bill a bit in our opinion, and his amendment was approved by the committee, with only Sen. Madsen voting against it. However, we still believe the bill is a good one that needs to be passed without being watered down any further.
We support SB 157 Substitute as long as no hostile amendments are introduced. A hostile amendment in this case would be an amendment proposed on the floor by anyone other than the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Madsen. It is possible that someone will introduce a hostile amendment designed to essentially gut the bill, and we will oppose such efforts.
As it stands, the bill in its current form prohibits any official or agency of the executive branch of the state government (meaning anyone from the Governor to your local city council or police department and all the way down to your local dog-catcher) from imposing or enforcing gun restrictions during a state of emergency declared by the Governor, unless those restrictions were already legally in effect prior to the state of emergency. Thus, for example, your local police department may enforce existing gun laws with vigor during an emergency, but they can’t suddenly start prohibiting you from possessing or carrying a firearm as long as you’re doing so in a manner that complies with the existing laws. The bill also prohibits state and local government agencies and their employees from confiscating legally possessed firearms from private citizens, as happened on a widespread basis in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, and provides a mechanism for citizens to collect damages through the civil courts if firearms are illegally seized. If the bill passes in its current form, any government employee, such as a police officer, who is found liable in a court of law for confiscating firearms from a citizen in violation of this statute would have to pay $5,000 per firearm, and the agency that employs him would have to pay $10,000 per firearm, and the agency would also be required to return the firearm(s) to the rightful owner.
The original bill would have also required the defendants, if found liable, to reimburse the plaintiff for attorney’s fees. In other words, if the police confiscated your gun illegally and you sued them successfully, they would have had to pay your attorney’s fees in addition to paying damages. Hillyard’s amendment removes this reimbursement requirement for attorney’s fees, unfortunately.
We encourage you to contact your own Utah State Senator as soon as possible and ask him to vote for SB 157 Substitute and to oppose any hostile amendments.
You may send a letter or Fax to your senator at the Capitol, or you may leave a brief message at the Capitol switchboard. Capitol Hill contact info is provided below. Alternatively, you may call your Senator at home in the evening or on the weekend. Or you may e-mail your senator (though e-mail tends to be less effective than other means of contact). The direct e-mail address and home phone number of your own senator can be found by going to GOUtah!’s [website here].
If you don’t know who your State Senator is, [click here to find out].
Breitbart News reported in an article, "US state weighing gun lessons for schoolchildren", on 1 February, that West Virginia legislator Billy Wayne Bailey has introduced a bill "to teach schoolchildren how to handle a gun and hunt safely." The course would be offered in the eighth through tenth grades in public schools. The goal of the classes is to promote hunting by teaching gun safety and the proper use of fire arms.
"Proposed Senate Bill 67, "Protection of Constitutionally Guaranteed Activities," will prevent most employers from banning lawfully possessed firearms in private cars parked in employee parking lots. This bill is an important step toward restoring our right of self-protection.
Under current law, a woman who is employed by America Online, Phillips Petroleum or any other anti-gun company, and who is in danger of harm from an estranged boyfriend or husband, cannot carry the necessary means of self-protection while she commutes to and from work.
The bill makes exceptions for parking on school premises, state and local government entities, and religious organizations. It must be amended to remove these exceptions. The fact that a law-abiding person works for a government entity, a school, or a church cannot possibly justify any infringement of their right to self-protection. (A recent fatal shooting in a Lehi church parking lot makes this painfully clear.)
If this bill dies, the state must require that all anti-gun employers provide armed bodyguards for all employees who request them - from home, to work, and back home."
-- Blaine Nay, in a letter printed in The Salt Lake Tribune, 3 February 2008.
"I am disappointed in Sen. Allen Christensen for sponsoring SB117. This bill would reduce the penalties in our current animal cruelty statutes. His bill actually exempts animals that are now protected in our current law. If his bill is passed, then cooking a dog — like Henry — in an oven is still just a misdemeanor. Only a second torturous, heinous act in a five-year period could be charged as a felony. We must not allow Sen. Christensen to compromise our current laws.
We need stronger laws, not exemptions. I support SB102, Henry's Law, sponsored by Sen. Gene Davis. This bill would give prosecutors a felony option on a first offense without reducing our current animal cruelty laws. Some 43 states recognize that violent animal cruelty is a serious crime and have felony provisions for torturing and killing an animal. We are sadly one of seven states that punish violent animal cruelty as a misdemeanor."
-- Larayn Clegg, in a letter printed in the Deseret Morning News, 3 February 2008.
Please create a copy for your Utah State Senator.
Date:
From:
To:
Dear Senator :
As a gun owner and voter living in your district, I encourage you to vote for SB 157 Substitute, Senator Mark Madsen’s "Katrina" bill, provided that no hostile amendments are added to it, and to vigorously oppose any effort to add hostile amendments. In particular, I encourage you to oppose any efforts to remove the liability clause from this bill.
SB 157 Substitute would prohibit state and local law-enforcement agencies and their officers from confiscating legally owned firearms from private citizens during a declared state of emergency, as happened on a widespread basis in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Law-abiding citizens had their self-defense weapons illegally seized at a time when the right to self-defense was paramount, and many of these citizens are still trying to get their firearms returned to them. SB 157 Substitute is a good bill and it has teeth, because it imposes civil liability on agencies and officers that illegally seize guns from private citizens. It is important that this liability clause be retained in the final version of the bill.
Once the vote on SB157 Substitute has been taken on the floor of the Senate, please get back to me and let me know how you voted.
Thanks for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #282 for 6 February 2008. 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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