SouthPark
04-15-2015, 12:37
I am re-posting this in light of the server crash yesterday.
On Monday I attended the six hour long committee hearing on the five gun bills. GAG. I have tried to objectively summarize the events as I saw them. I have heard there were behind the scenes dynamics that I don't have enough details to comment on, but it is not always, and maybe never is, WYSIWYG. It is anything but transparent; the lobbyists run the place a great deal of the time.
Five bills were up for hearing, including
· abolishing mandatory CCW permits like Kansas did last week, joining Arizona
· abolishing the exclusion zone of K-12 for CCW permit holders
· abolishing the private transfer background check
· repeal the magazine limitation
Both the bills, abolishing the exclusion zone and the repeal of the private sales NICS check, were less than optimally drafted for a Democrat controlled House. It is clear, to me as former legislative director of CSSA, that the sponsors were ill served by whoever guided them in the drafting. I am confident it was not NRA inspired.
No abolition of the K-12 exclusion, allowing CCW en masse, is likely to pass even a GOP legislature. It was interesting that while the bill was a total repeal of the K-14 exclusion, almost all the supporting testimony urged passage of an exemption for teachers. I understand a bill to that effect, a more limited repeal of the exclusion, was presented last year and killed, no doubt by the same committee. This of course is what the NEA wants.
The abolition of the NICS for private transfers, in its global approach, was unlikely to pass. Several witnesses, including myself, urged a more limited approach, improving the administrative issues like record keeping databases, be implemented. I think that was receptively received by even the Democrats. But no bill doing that was offered, giving the Dems an easy pass.
On the mag bill, I should mention first that the Sheriff of Adams County, Sheriff McIntosh, sent one of his top deputies into the Swamp and he did a great job explaining that the mag ban is a non-starter for law enforcement. No other law enforcement officials appeared, knowing it was a waste of government resources. It was interesting that nobody on the committee from the Left knew anything about the Colorado bill of rights regarding self defense -- and admitted it. The two Democrat lawyers/legislators and I engaged in a lively discussion of fundamental right and strict scrutiny after Heller and how it applied to Colorado court decisions. They were not pleased to hear that the Colorado bill of rights is more broad than the 2nd and a close to absolute prohibition of gun control. Many unhappy faces there. I expect to be assassinated any day. The repeal failed on a 6-5 vote, but the big story is that the Left is worried about the state bill of rights, something they have long ignored.
In my opinion, RMGOA is heavily involved in the drafting. RMGOA is notorious for all or nothing tactics, and therefore, typically gets nothing. So, in the pursuit of “perfect,” very good for now was sacrificed.
I feel that a working group might be useful to advise on the next year’s session so there are alternative approaches. Your thoughts?
I want to conclude with this observation. The testimony on abolishing the K-12 exclusion zone was orchestrated and included numerous (30?) hysterical people talking about the evil people having permits going into the schools and killing people, an event that as far as I know, has never happened even nationally. These people are not influenced at all by facts; it’s all about emoting hysterical, misinformed or ignorant, anti gun owner hate. These tactics are time tested as winning formulas by the Bloombergers. The ignorance is simply breathtaking. These people only talk to themselves. It was evident that they presume that CCW holders are almost universally men; in my experience as an NRA instructor, the percentage of women CCW is quite high, particularly the last three years. Most of our classes are 50+% female. The committee chair did not give me time to address the prejudice, of course. Nothing new there.
On Monday I attended the six hour long committee hearing on the five gun bills. GAG. I have tried to objectively summarize the events as I saw them. I have heard there were behind the scenes dynamics that I don't have enough details to comment on, but it is not always, and maybe never is, WYSIWYG. It is anything but transparent; the lobbyists run the place a great deal of the time.
Five bills were up for hearing, including
· abolishing mandatory CCW permits like Kansas did last week, joining Arizona
· abolishing the exclusion zone of K-12 for CCW permit holders
· abolishing the private transfer background check
· repeal the magazine limitation
Both the bills, abolishing the exclusion zone and the repeal of the private sales NICS check, were less than optimally drafted for a Democrat controlled House. It is clear, to me as former legislative director of CSSA, that the sponsors were ill served by whoever guided them in the drafting. I am confident it was not NRA inspired.
No abolition of the K-12 exclusion, allowing CCW en masse, is likely to pass even a GOP legislature. It was interesting that while the bill was a total repeal of the K-14 exclusion, almost all the supporting testimony urged passage of an exemption for teachers. I understand a bill to that effect, a more limited repeal of the exclusion, was presented last year and killed, no doubt by the same committee. This of course is what the NEA wants.
The abolition of the NICS for private transfers, in its global approach, was unlikely to pass. Several witnesses, including myself, urged a more limited approach, improving the administrative issues like record keeping databases, be implemented. I think that was receptively received by even the Democrats. But no bill doing that was offered, giving the Dems an easy pass.
On the mag bill, I should mention first that the Sheriff of Adams County, Sheriff McIntosh, sent one of his top deputies into the Swamp and he did a great job explaining that the mag ban is a non-starter for law enforcement. No other law enforcement officials appeared, knowing it was a waste of government resources. It was interesting that nobody on the committee from the Left knew anything about the Colorado bill of rights regarding self defense -- and admitted it. The two Democrat lawyers/legislators and I engaged in a lively discussion of fundamental right and strict scrutiny after Heller and how it applied to Colorado court decisions. They were not pleased to hear that the Colorado bill of rights is more broad than the 2nd and a close to absolute prohibition of gun control. Many unhappy faces there. I expect to be assassinated any day. The repeal failed on a 6-5 vote, but the big story is that the Left is worried about the state bill of rights, something they have long ignored.
In my opinion, RMGOA is heavily involved in the drafting. RMGOA is notorious for all or nothing tactics, and therefore, typically gets nothing. So, in the pursuit of “perfect,” very good for now was sacrificed.
I feel that a working group might be useful to advise on the next year’s session so there are alternative approaches. Your thoughts?
I want to conclude with this observation. The testimony on abolishing the K-12 exclusion zone was orchestrated and included numerous (30?) hysterical people talking about the evil people having permits going into the schools and killing people, an event that as far as I know, has never happened even nationally. These people are not influenced at all by facts; it’s all about emoting hysterical, misinformed or ignorant, anti gun owner hate. These tactics are time tested as winning formulas by the Bloombergers. The ignorance is simply breathtaking. These people only talk to themselves. It was evident that they presume that CCW holders are almost universally men; in my experience as an NRA instructor, the percentage of women CCW is quite high, particularly the last three years. Most of our classes are 50+% female. The committee chair did not give me time to address the prejudice, of course. Nothing new there.