Morality Reform - I had
Morality Reform - I had a big, long article written this morning about the status of the Minnesota Personal Protection Act - the "concealed carry reform" bill.
The DFL is playing some serious back-room politics here - and you all need to not only know about it, but make sure you tell any of your friends that are involved.
The Strib reported the story this way, yesterday:
...leaders of the DFL majority switched their strategy for countering the Republican proposal that already is moving through the GOP-controlled House.
Like the Republican proposal, a bill introduced by Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, would strip police chiefs and sheriffs of most discretion they now have in issuing permits to carry handguns to law-abiding, mentally competent adults. This is a key provision as well of the rival Senate bill sponsored by Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington.
The DFL in the Senate has had two approaches to this issue so far this session.
- The Metro DFLers want to kill the bill, whatever it takes.
- Outstate and suburban DFLers want to make sure that a DFLer is author of the bill. They don't want to be forever known as the disarmament party; they remember what happened to the last several candidates who came out anti-gun in statewide elections (Ann Wynia in '94, Skip Humphrey in '98, Roger Moe in '02).
Outstate DFLers, and even some Metro area Democrats, know that being a gun grabber is a long walk off a short pier in Minnesota these days.
But Vickerman's bill, modeled after Texas law, also would tighten eligibility rules and mark certain places off-limits to guns far beyond anything Pariseau has offered.
In other words, it riddles the bill with so many exceptions that the law-abiding citizen would be doing well to carry a firearm any more legally than they do today.
After seven years of blocking Senate action on handguns, DFL leaders "decided to go in a different direction," Murphy said. "Something has to pass, and they figure the Vickerman bill is better than Pariseau's.Murphy's being disingenuous. Vickerman (who got drafted to author the proposal because he's retiring, ergo will take no political flak for it) has given us a poison pill bill, designed to screw up public perception of the bill and dilute and distract support for concealed carry.
I see one legislator who will be on the wrong end of the gun lobby's wrath next election:
But with at least one Republican member -- Sen. Mike McGinn of Eagan, a former St. Paul police commander -- voicing opposition to the Pariseau bill, it appeared unlikely to pass the panel.
McGinn is wrong, of course, as are the following:More than two hours of testimony Monday was dominated by criticism from school, police, business, medical, church and local government groups.
"We cannot conceive of any situations where our employees, visitors, customers or patrons would feel safer knowing guns were prevalent in our marketplace," said Sam Grabarski, president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. "How would the Holidazzle Parades be safer for families with concealed handguns present?"
Grabarski! People with concealed guns are already present; they're just all criminals now.
And ask the citizens of Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington, Texas, Arizona, Oregon, and 24 other states what effect "shall issue" laws have had on their social lives, while we're at it.
The Rev. Stan Sledz said the state's Roman Catholic bishops oppose the bill because it would endorse the idea that "it's OK to use a gun to resolve conflicts" and "feed the fear that paralyzes our communities."
The whole subject of the social views of American and Minnesota Catholic Bishops is subject for another whole post. Suffice to say, "Catholic Bishops" have no credibility with me when it comes to moral lecturing. LIke my Scottish Presbyterian forebears, I've heard about enough from them.
So somebody might ask, "why do you oppose Vickerman's bill?"
Vickerman proposes prohibiting permit holders from bringing their guns to bars, churches, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, government meetings and polling places. The Pariseau-Boudreau bill would specifically bar guns only from schools.
For good reason! Creating "gun free zones" is no different, in terms of deterring crime, than posting a "Mass Murderers Start Right Here" sign.
The point of concealed carry reform is not to "put guns in the street". It's to deter crime. If criminals know where guns aren't, we're no better off than we are today.
John Caile of Concealed Carry Reform Now, Minnesota's leading handgun-rights group, said the Vickerman bill rated "an F-minus." .
And the Senate DFL caucus gets a D - for devious, or maybe despicable.
Here's where all of you come in; Pariseau's bill, despite the best efforts of the DFL and some turncoat Republicans, has the votes to pass in both houses. But bills like Vickerman and Murphy's are attempting to split the voter's attention span. It must not work! So if you're a carry reform supporter, please:
- Get your friends to call their legislators, especially the waffley ones
- Make sure they know the difference between the bills
- Contact Concealed Carry Reform Now and sign up, and when CCRN says they need a big turnout at the Legislature for one hearing or an other, be there. The fact that the good guys routinely outnumber the bad guys 30-1 at these meetings has a lot to do with the fact that we're here talking about potential victory at all today.
Two-minutes drill, hogs. Let's put this one away.
Posted by Mitch at
March 19, 2003 03:48 PM
