"The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people."
-- Tench Coxe (Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788)
We thank those of you who took part in your local caucus meetings last Tuesday evening, and we congratulate those of you who got elected as delegates to the county and/or state conventions of the party of your choice.
To view a full list of candidates running in Utah, [click here].
Those of you who are delegates will have a chance to meet with the candidates over the coming weeks leading up to the county and state conventions of the various political parties. We encourage you to ask the candidates some pointed questions about the right to keep and bear arms and the right to self-defense. In particular, during the closing days of the recent legislative session, the following Utah State Representatives voted in favor of Rep. Steve Urquhart’s House Amendment 2, which was a blatant last-minute attempt to hijack Rep. Curt Oda’s excellent pro-gun bill HB 473 and turn it into an anti-gun bill that would impose various new restrictions on both open and concealed carry. Fortunately, thanks to your efforts and the efforts of Sen. Mike Waddoups, the amended bill died in the Senate.
The following representatives voted in favor of House Amendment 2 to HB 473, which means that they cast a vote against gun rights:
If your representative is on this list and you are a delegate who will be in a position to vote for or against your representative at your party’s county or state convention, you should ask your rep why he voted for House Amendment 2 to HB 473 and explain to him that you will consider voting against him at the convention because of his support for gun control. Heck, even if you’re not a delegate, you should still contact your rep and ask him the same question. These representatives need to know that gun owners who live in their districts are not happy with their support of Rep. Urquhart’s attempt to turn a pro-gun bill into an anti-gun bill.
As outlined in previous alerts, there are several key races around the state where GOUtah! recommends voting for or against certain candidates at their respective party conventions based on those candidates’ recent history of being unusually influential in supporting or opposing our cause. There are other candidates we’ll talk about in future alerts who are not as high a priority at the moment since they aren’t being challenged from within their own parties. For the time being, our focus should be on working to support good candidates and to defeat or at least cause legitimate political pain for anti-gun candidates who will be involved in races at the upcoming party conventions.
Here are some key Senate candidates whom we STRONGLY OPPOSE (based on their recent actions as being, in our opinion, ringleaders against gun rights and self-defense rights) who are being challenged by other candidates from within their own parties.
OPPOSE: Rep. Steven Urquhart (Republican, running for the State Senate in Senate District 29). He is being challenged from within his own party by Carmen Snow, whom you may contact at csnow@beyondbb.com.
OPPOSE: Sen. Curt Bramble (Republican, Senate District 16). He is being challenged from within his own party by Jacqueline de Gaston, whom you may contact at jdegaston@yahoo.com.
If you are a delegate in the party and district of either of these two candidates, we encourage you to oppose Mr. Bramble or Mr. Urquhart at the convention and to let the candidate know why you are opposing them. If you know any fellow gun owners in those districts, we encourage you to relay this message to them. Even if you don’t live in one of these districts, you may choose to donate money or time to the opponents of these candidates within their own parties prior to the upcoming conventions. We have not evaluated these challengers regarding the views on gun rights, and you may wish to do so. However, we believe that by supporting these challengers and by making it clear to Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Bramble why you are supporting their challengers, you can at least help to create a lot of political pain for Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Bramble and teach them a lesson. For example, if you can help force Mr. Urquhart and Mr. Bramble into primary races, they’ll think twice before opposing gun rights in the future, even if they get re-elected.
And here are some key candidates whom we strongly SUPPORT (based on their recent outstanding efforts in support of gun rights and self-defense rights) who are being challenged from within their own parties. Even if you don’t live in one of these districts, you can help by donating time or money to one or more of these candidates before the convention. These candidates need money to pay for mailings to the delegates, and they need volunteers to put up yard signs and to hand out literature over the next several weeks.
SUPPORT: Sen. Mike Waddoups (Republican, Senate District 6). Please contact Sen. Waddoups at (801)967-0225 if you would like to donate time or money to his campaign.
SUPPORT: Sen. Mark Madsen (Republican, Senate District 13). Please check out Sen. Madsen’s website to find out how you can help his campaign.
SUPPORT: Rep. Curt Oda (Republican, House District 14). You may contact Rep. Oda at (801)773-9796 to find out how you can help with his campaign.
SUPPORT: Rep. Stephen Sandstrom (Republican, House District 58). You may visit Rep. Sandstrom’s website to find out how to help.
NOTE: GOUtah! does not endorse any political party. Our aim is to inform gun owners how they can effectively work to create political pain for politicians of any party who oppose the Second Amendment and how they can help reward politicians of any party who support the Second Amendment.
For those of you who enjoy semantic nit-picking (as we sometimes do), we should point out that GOUtah! does not actually endorse any candidates, even though we may from time to time strongly support certain candidates who have recently demonstrated diligence and courage in protecting the Second Amendment. "Endorsement" has a certain ring of permanency to it. A politician who receives an endorsement from a gun-rights group can, for the rest of his career, claim that he has been endorsed by that group, regardless of how he subsequently treats gun rights. GOUtah!’s approach is to offer support for politicians who have worked to support our cause in the recent past. We view such support as a good way to reward such politicians for their efforts and to encourage them to continue those efforts in the future. And our support can always be withdrawn in future election years in the event that a politician turns against our cause.
"While I hope the Supreme Court allows the law-abiding citizens of the District of Columbia to protect themselves from an abhorrent murder epidemic, I hope our citizenry will continue to self-censor when it comes to gun ownership.
Please, while in a rational state, reconcile the danger you may be put in by a home invasion robbery against the danger of a depressed, suicidal family member or a child's death from an accidental shooting because of a firearm in the home.
Firearm ownership is a constitutionally given right, but it is not a necessity."
-- Ty Harwood, in a letter printed in The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 March 2008.
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #297 for 2 April, 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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