Concealed Carry Fixit Bill

There's a bill in the MN Senate, SF2221, which is intended to fix a few of the issues that have caused Concealed Carry reform's problems in court.

MPPA supporters - you need to be reading Joel Rosenberg's LiveJournal daily, if not more. He is not only following the leglislation more closely than anyone I know, he's got the best analysis anywhere.

He says:

...in the Senate -- which is going to be the tough nut to crack -- it's SF2221, written by Pat Pariseau. The only change is on posting; it changes the "reasonable request" from proper posting AND an individual notification to an OR.

We have enough votes to pass it on the floor; the problem is going to be getting it to the floor. You can help.

What to do?

1. Call your State Senator; say that you want SF2221, "the MCPPA FixIt bill", passed this session. You'll find his or her phone number here. Call him or her even if you think you know what his or her position is. Call again, even if you called yesterday.

Say something like, "I'm one of Senator XXX's constituents, and I very much want the Senator's support for SF 2221, the MCPPA FixIt Bill, which needs a floor vote this session."

* If the assistant waffles -- they may or may not; depends -- ask that the Senator or an aide call you back with a commitment to vote both for the bill and on all procedural votes. Add "Even if the Senator doesn't support the bill, I hope he/she will agree that it deserves an open and honest vote."
* If you get a positive answer add, "I hope that the Senator will speak with Senator Johnson on this," whether or not the Senator is a DFLer or Republican.

2. Email me with your results, or post them here. Name of senator, time of call, what was said. Don't be afraid to keep this short; I'll understand.

3. Call Dean Johnson, the DFL Majority leader, at (651) 296-3826. Say something like "While I'm not one of Senator Johnson's constituents, he is the Majority Leader, and I want him to know that it's important that he help bring SF 2221, the MCPPA FixIt Bill, to the floor for a vote this session."

4. Email me with your results there, too.

As always: be polite, but firm. Don't yell or argue, but if there's any waffling, do politely insist that you're entitled to a commitment -- "the Senator needs to be on the record, what with elections coming up next fall." Phone calls are best; faxes are great; emails aren't nearly as good.

I've already called Dean Johnson, Steve Sviggum, and my own Senator, Ellen Anderson - who, unfortunately, is one of the key Metrocrats.

The Metrocrats - Matt Entenza, Jane Ranum, Anderson, and their leader, Wes "Lying Wad of Filth" Skoglund - know they will lose on a floor vote. They will use ever method, fair or foul, to keep that from happening; the MPPA could have passed a floor vote in 2001 and 2002, but for Roger Moe and Wes "Wouldn't Know The Truth If It Walked Into His Office With A Suitcase Full of Donations from Matt Entenza" Skoglund's maneuvering. Joel is right - we have to get their commitments, one way or another, and make sure that commitment (and those committee votes, if need be) are matters of loudly-proclaimed public record during the next round of elections.

More phone calls later this afternoon.

Posted by Mitch at April 14, 2005 07:13 AM | TrackBack