"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers…"
-- Joseph Story, from "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States", 1833
SB 67 (Sen. Mark Madsen’s parking lot bill) passed the Utah State Senate with flying colors but has been getting delayed in the House of Representatives. The House leadership sat on the bill for a long time. Then they finally assigned it to a committee. But, instead of assigning it to the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee (where we normally would expect a gun bill to go), they assigned it to the somewhat less friendly House Business and Labor Committee.
Two things need to happen to get this bill to the floor of the House for a vote. First, the chairman of the Business and Labor Committee needs to put SB 67 on the committee’s agenda soon, before the clock runs out. Then SB 67 needs to pass the committee. Based on what little intelligence we’ve been able to gather, we believe that the vote in the committee will be very close and could go one way or the other.
Thus, we believe that it would be expedient for you to send a brief message today to the chairman of the House Business and Labor Committee, Rep. Stephen Clark, politely asking him to put SB 67 on his committee’s agenda as soon as possible. Once the bill has been placed on the agenda, we’ll send out another alert with the names of the relevant committee members so that you can contact one of them and encourage them to support the bill. GOUtah! gives SB 67 a high priority, and we encourage you to take a moment from your busy schedule to help out. Very few people take the effort to actually contact their legislators, so if you send an e-mail or a Fax or make a phone call regarding this bill, your voice will be heard and your efforts will really count.
For a much more thorough analysis of SB 67, please refer to Alert #281.
Please e-mail, phone, or Fax Rep. Stephen Clark, the Chairman of the House Business and Labor Committee, and politely ask him to give high priority to SB 67, the parking-lot bill. You can even mail a brief hand-written note if you wish, as long as you get it in the mail today so that it arrives at the Capitol tomorrow. Here’s the contact info:
Rep. Stephen Clark
Utah State House of Representatives
350 N. State Street, Suite 350
Salt Lake City, UT 84114
e-mail: sclark@utah.gov
Home phone: (801)374-6927
Capitol switchboard (where you can leave a message): (801)538-1029
Fax: (801)326-1544
Today our friends at Gun Owners of America (GOA) hammered BATFE nominee Michael Sullivan as "unfit for office". They characterized Mr. Sullivan "as a Massachusetts liberal who is cut from the same cloth as Ted Kennedy."
The full text of today's GOA press release is as follows:
Gun Owners of America's Executive Director, Larry Pratt, today blasted BATFE nominee Michael Sullivan as "unfit for office" -- characterizing him as being "as anti-gun as Ted Kennedy."
In a series of answers to interrogatories submitted by Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter, Sullivan revealed that:
"I didn't expect pro-gun conservatism from Sullivan," said Pratt. "But you would have thought he would have been less obvious in his efforts to repeatedly poke Vitter in the eye."
GOA commended Vitter's intention to continue to "hold" Sullivan's nomination. "If Republicans expect the Second Amendment community to support their presidential candidate in November," said Pratt, "they may want to reconsider packing a GOP administration with anti-gun zealots."
In the wake of the NIU shootings we encountered an interesting article titled "10 myths about school shootings" by Bill Dedman, an investigative reporter, 10 October, 2007.
The ten myths addressed are:
"Am I the only person in this country who believes that until we pass stiffer laws regarding our access to guns, there will continue to be shooting after shooting in our universities and our places of business?
People keep asking why? The answer is right in front of your face. Even if they are sold legally, guns have no other purpose whatsoever than to harm, destroy property or kill innocent people. Is it not our right to bear arms, some argue? To those who respond with that question, I answer, no, it is my right to live without the fear that I am going to be killed sitting in a classroom or at my desk at work.
-- Pamela Beheshti, in a letter printed in The Salt Lake Tribune, 21 February 2008.
Date:
From:
To: The Honorable Rep. Stephen Clark, Chairman House Business and Labor Committee
Dear Representative Clark
I support SB 67, Sen. Madsen’s parking lot bill, and I encourage you to expedite this bill in your committee so that it can be heard soon.
If my employer prohibits me from keeping my legally-possessed self-defense weapon locked in the trunk of my own car out in the parking lot, he is not only invading my privacy; he is in fact prohibiting me from having an effective means of self-defense during my commute to and from work and at other times when I leave the premises. This bill is purely about preserving my right to an effective means of self-defense as I go about my daily business away from work. It simply prevents my employer from penalizing me for having a perfectly legal item locked and hidden from view in my private motor vehicle.
SB 67 also modifies the state’s liability laws in a way that’s beneficial to both employers and employees, and it provides a legal means for businesses to maintain a weapons ban in a secure parking area as long as they provide a gun-storage locker outside the security perimeter. Thus, I see no logical reason for employers in Utah to object to this bill.
Thanks for taking time to consider my opinion on this matter.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #287 for 21 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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