"One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that 'violence begets violence.' I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure (and in some cases I have) that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy."
-- Jeff Cooper
In Alert #309, we explained why SB 96 (a bill sponsored by anti-gun Sen. Scott McCoy) is bad. This bill would completely eliminate the issuance of Utah concealed-weapon permits to residents of other states, and it could also impose new restrictions on Utah residents who hold valid permits.
SB 96 currently sits in the Senate Rules Committee. That committee gets to decide where the bill goes from here. They can vote to assign it to a committee that’s hostile to gun rights, or they can assign it to a committee that’s friendly to gun rights, or they can keep it bottled up indefinitely in the Rules Committee (which would be our preference). Often, the best way to kill a bad bill is to persuade a majority of Rules Committee members to keep it on the back burner and let the clock run out on it.
Please go to the Action Item below to learn what you can do today to help defeat SB 96.
GOUtah! is a zero-budget all-volunteer organization, and we're only able to have any clout because of volunteer activists like you. The greater the number of people who read these alerts and act on them, the more power we can have. Please encourage anyone you know who owns a gun or who is interested in protecting the Second Amendment to visit the GOUtah! website at http://www.goutahorg.org and click on "Receive Alerts" in the left-hand column, or else encourage them to send a blank e-mail to: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, which will automatically sign them up to receive alerts at the e-mail address from which the message was sent. Tell them that we don't ask for money, and that they can easily unsubscribe at any time.
In Alert #309, we pointed out that Eric Holder, President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General, has repeatedly expressed the opinion that the Second Amendment does not protect the right of private citizens to own firearms. He even signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court last year expressing this opinion. We are now being told by the news media and the Washington elite that this is no big deal, because it’s just Mr. Holder’s personal opinion, so we gun owners should all relax.
But we at GOUtah! believe that the personal opinions of the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer are not entirely irrelevant, especially when it comes to how he regards the basic rights guaranteed in our Constitution.
Suppose for a moment that the President had nominated a man to be Attorney General who had repeatedly stated that, in his opinion, the 13th Amendment doesn’t actually prohibit slavery, and therefore it should be all right for states to legalize slavery if they want to. Or suppose that the nominee had gone on record multiple times as saying that the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment only applies to government employees, and that the government should be able to arbitrarily restrict what the rest of us can say or write, and that the government should have power to arrest and prosecute private citizens for expressing opinions that differ from those of the President. We conjecture that the New York Times and the Washington Post would call for such a nominee to be rejected. And they would be right. So why are the media and political elite so nonchalant about Mr. Holder’s strange and radical views about the Second Amendment?
Mr. Holder has other problems as well, not least of which is the fact that he was the key player in arranging a last-minute presidential pardon in the final days of the Clinton Administration for Marc Rich, a fugitive who was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List in the 1990s. Here’s former Clinton aide Dick Morris’ account of the Marc Rich scandal.
To top it all off, GOUtah! Emeritus Director Scott Engen wrote a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, urging him to vote against Mr. Holder’s confirmation. Sen. Hatch replied with a letter stating that he supports Mr. Holder and will vote for his confirmation (the confirmation vote took place yesterday, and Mr. Holder was indeed confirmed).
Here are some excerpts from Sen. Hatch’s letter to Mr. Engen:
“Clearly, by any objective standard, [Eric Holder] has adequate credentials for the position of Attorney General... I intend to support his nomination... I do not believe it is appropriate to encourage opposition to an otherwise qualified nominee based solely on differences in opinion or political ideology.”
Purpose: To help kill SB 96 (the anti-gun bill in the Utah State Senate that would impose major new restrictions on the issuance and use of concealed-weapon permits). We believe that at this early stage of the session, it is best to contact Sen. Chris Buttars and Senate President Mike Waddoups, both of whom have, in recent years, gone the extra mile to protect gun rights. We would like to enlist their help in defeating SB 96, and we need to politely let them know that large numbers of gun owners in Utah are opposed to this bill. Please be courteous and brief when contacting these senators.
Estimated time required to implement this action item: Two minutes if you use e-mail or leave a voice message. Five minutes if you use Fax or regular mail. Regular mail is best, as long as you can send it within the next 24 hours. Faxes are the second-best method for this type of action item. A voice message or an e-mail is somewhat less effective, but either of these is much better than doing nothing.
Instructions: Please copy and paste the text of the pre-written letter at the end of this alert. Fill in the blanks. Feel free to edit or change the text as you see fit, or to send the letter as-is. Or you may write your own letter from scratch if you wish. If you use e-mail, make sure that you put the main point of your message in the "Subject" line of the header, such as "Please oppose SB 96". Legislators get hundreds of e-mails per day during the session, and they often only have time to glance at the subject line. Alternatively, you may call the Senate switchboard and leave a very brief message that will be transcribed by the operator and forwarded to the senator. You might just say: "I encourage Senator so-and-so to oppose SB 96."
Then flip a coin and address your letter, Fax, e-mail, or phone call to one of the following senators, depending on how the coin-toss comes out:
Heads:
Sen. Chris Buttars
Utah State Senate
P.O. Box 145115
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
Phone: (801)538-1035
Fax: (801)326-1475
e-mail: dcbuttars@utahsenate.org
Tails:
Senate President Mike Waddoups
Utah State Senate
P.O. Box 145115
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114
Phone: (801)538-1035
Fax: (801)326-1475
e-mail: waddoups@utahsenate.org
Sen. Waddoups is the President of the Senate, and Sen. Buttars is the vice-chairman of the Rules Committee and has considerable clout.
Perhaps you recall the curious case of David Olofson of Wisconsin, who was arrested by the BATFE, tried and convicted of transferring a machine gun. His "crime" was observed at a public shooting range where the semi-automatic rifle he had borrowed mis-fired and sent two rounds down range with a single pull of the trigger. Now it seems that the BATFE is "leaning on" Len Savage, of Historic Arms LLC, for testifying against the government in the Olofson case. World Net Daily reported on this latest development in a 31 Januaury article titled "Gun trial witness: Feds out for 'vengeance' - Government's action costing business thousands of dollars". It appears that in order to gain the conviction of David Olofson the BATFE agent, Max Kingery, evaluating the suspect "machine gun" made a few modifications of his own to the weapon during his "evaluation" that resulted in the conclusion that the rifle was really a machine gun.
Unfortunately, there will probably be many more cases of BATFE excesses in the next few years.
"I have come to the conclusion that Sen. Orrin Hatch has been much too long in Washington and has become part of the status quo, country-club do-nothing Republicans. Hatch is proudly supporting Eric Holder, who will do damage to our Second Amendment and Bill of Rights as attorney general. I am asking Utahns who value freedom to call Sen. Hatch's office and demand he vote 'no' on Eric Holder."
-- Jenny Bradshaw, in a letter printed in the Deseret News, 26 January 2009.
"I have a nonresident Utah concealed weapon permit. The editorial 'Gun battle: Reserve Utah permits for Utahns' (Our View, Jan. 21) cites 'three good reasons' to prevent nonresidents from acquiring Utah permits. Here's my rebuttal:
1. Utah taxpayers shouldn't subsidize the cost of nonresident gun permits. Agreed. Raise nonresident fees to subsidize Utahns or at least cover the cost.
By contrast, it would be a mistake to allow anyone to carry a loaded gun legally in his or her own car without any training in how to safely handle a gun or about when deadly force is allowed under law. The door would be opened to more accidents and misapplications of force.
2. There are no guarantees that out-of-state residents are properly trained. Utah requires that instructors be authorized by the state and teach according to its requirements. Toughen the requirements.
3. Disqualifying crimes committed in other states following permit issuance cannot be detected by Utah. Felonies committed anywhere disqualify one from owning guns. Local law enforcement checks backgrounds of armed felony suspects.
I work in Japan and am a resident of Hawaii, a 'may issue' state that does not issue permits to private citizens. I was trained by a Utah-authorized instructor in Hawaii and took the required classroom instruction and live-fire training.
I haven't used my permit in Utah or other states, but I am grateful I have the ability to do so. Utah is protecting the constitutional rights of Americans."
-- Arlo A. Brown, in a letter printed in The Salt Lake Tribune, 27 January 2009.
Date:
From:
To:
Dear Senator :
I appreciate your efforts in recent years to protect the right of law-abiding citizens to possess and carry firearms for lawful pruposes.
I encourage you to oppose SB 96. This bill would needlessly prohibit all non-residents from obtaining Utah concealed-weapon permits, and could also place new restrictions on Utah residents who hold existing permits.
Many Americans who travel to Utah for business or pleasure come from states such as California, where concealed-weapon permits are virtually impossible to get. Thus far, I’m not aware of any problems that have resulted from issuing Utah permits to residents of California or other states who meet the objective requirements set down in the Utah Code.
Thanks for taking time to consider my opinion on this matter.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #311 for 3 February 2009. 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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