"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for few public officials."
-- George Mason
In Alert # 314 we outlined SB 78, a good bill sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen (from Senate District 13). This bill would revise the state’s liability laws in such a way as to strongly discourage employers from enacting or enforcing policies that prohibit people from keeping firearms locked in their cars in the company parking lot.
SB 78 was modified and then amended. The new version, SB 78 Substitute, passed on the floor of the Senate by a vote of 25 – 4.
We’ve scanned the new version of the bill. The modifications deal mainly with exempting parking lots that are subject to federal gun regulations. Another change is that a private employer will have the option of maintaining a gun ban in the company parking lot if the employer provides a nearby parking area free of charge where the gun ban doesn’t apply. We don’t like this modification and would prefer that it not be in the bill, but at this juncture we deem it wise to get SB 78 Substitute passed as-is. Any further changes to the bill at this late date would probably slow it down and prevent its passage while the clock runs out. Even with this imperfection, we believe that SB 78 Substitute would be a win for gun owners because we would gain some benefits that we currently don’t have, without losing any benefits that we currently have.
Thanks to your efforts, HB 357 Substitute, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 65 – 8. It now goes to the Senate. This is the bill that makes it legal to carry a loaded and/or concealed firearm in your car without a permit, as well as to carry a concealed firearm without a permit in your place of residence or on any property that you own, or in a business that you control.
Please contact Rep. David Clark, the Speaker of the House, and encourage him to give high priority to bringing HB 78 Substitute to the floor of the House.
House Speaker David Clark
e-mail: dclark@utah.gov
House Fax: (801)326-1544
House Switchboard: (801)538-1029
Our friends at the NRA-ILA posted a new National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity fact sheet in January 2009, about H.R. 197.
This bill would guarantee reciprocity for concealed carry permits between the states that issue permits to their citizens. We urge the passage of this bill.
It is reproduced below.
H.R. 197, introduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Cliff Stearns’ (R-Fla.) and Rick Boucher (D-Va.), would allow any person with a valid concealed firearm carrying permit or license, issued by a state, to carry a concealed firearm in any state, as follows: In states that issue concealed firearm permits, a state’s laws governing where concealed firearms may be carried would apply within its borders. In states that do not issue carry permits, a federal "bright-line" standard would permit carrying in places other than police stations; courthouses; public polling places; meetings of state, county, or municipal governing bodies; schools; passenger areas of airports; and certain other locations. The bill applies to D.C., Puerto Rico and U.S. territories. It would not create a federal licensing system; it would require the states to recognize each others’ carry permits, just as they recognize drivers’ licenses and carry permits held by armored car guards. Rep. Stearns has introduced such legislation since 1995.
The Deseret News printed an editorial, "In our opinion: Mexico drug woes are ours", on 2 March in which they erroneously stated that Mexican drug terrorists waltz "into the United States, buying a load of guns at gun shows, then [waltz] home without a hitch." The fully automatic weapons that are favored by these terrorists are not availible at gun shows, but the drum-beat to close the "gun show loophole" continues using another red herring.
The World Net Daily posted an article "Prof calls cops when student mentions guns in speech" relating the story of one Professor Anderson, of Central Connecticut State University, summoning the CCSU police for an oral presentation made by a student, John Wahlberg.
"The student was fulfilling an assignment for his Communications 140 class that required him to discuss a 'relevant issue in the media' when he and two other students on a team chose to talk about school violence, including recent events such as the 2007 shootings that left nearly three dozen people dead at Virginia Tech University."
"Wahlberg made the point during his Oct. 3, 2008, class presentation that if students were allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus, the violence could have been stopped earlier. He discussed the concept of college campus gun-free zones."
As WND asks "If you can’t talk about the 2nd Amendment, what happened to the 1st Amendment?"
"Monday's editorial about the drug wars in Mexico was a great cheerleading
session for a very important issue. We should take heed to what is happening and help where we can. The most important help possible would obviously be to get our society to stop buying drugs.
However, the parroting of false information about guns is telling about the
attitude(s) of someone(s) in the editorial staff and cheapens the otherwise worthy call to attention. The 90 percent figure of weapons coming from the U.S. is somebody's flying, wild guess and was reported in a blatantly inaccurate national wire service piece. In addition, guns used by the drug lords are very unlikely to have come from gun shows. If the writer were knowledgeable about the myriad of existing gun laws in effect on law-abiding citizens or had attended a gun show, these undocumentable bits of floatsam would undoubtedly not have been cast into the mix. The abundant black market supply, much of which is stolen police and military weapons, is far easier to access and with less potential liability to the crooks."
-- Allan South, in a letter printed in the Desret News, 4 March 2009.
"It's laughable if it wasn't so serious to suggest that diminishing the Second Amendment will positively impact the situation down in Mexico."
-- Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist, in an article printed in the Washington Post, 4 March 2009.
Date:
From:
To:
Dear Speaker Clark:
I encourage you to give high priority to bringing SB 78 Substitute, Sen. Madsen’s parking-lot bill, to the floor of the House.
I support SB 78 Substitute, which revises the state’s liability laws to discourage employers from prohibiting their workers from keeping legally-possessed firearms locked in their cars in the company parking lot.
Thanks for taking time to consider my opinion on this matter.
Sincerely,
That concludes the GOUtah! Political and Legislative Alert #318 for 5 March 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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