They’re baaaaaaack:
House Public Safety Committee Chairman Michael Paymar, a long-time anti-gun advocate, plans to hold committee hearings on his gun control proposals beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 5 through Thursday, February 7 in State Office Building Room 10.
The Metrocrats – as opposed to the outstate DFLers – certainly think they smell blood in the water; this is the first time in I think 15 years they’ve seriously considered broaching new victim disarmament legislation.
The press release – from the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance – notes:
At this time, none of his gun control legislation has been introduced. However, the NRA understands that Paymar’s gun control bills will likely be introduced later this week or early next week and include, at a minimum, the following attacks on our Second Amendment rights:
Paymar’s proposal hits the usual boogeymen:
- A proposed ban on Ugly Guns: Paymar would ban firearms with scary military-looking cosmetic features
- Big Magazines: Paymar would force spree killers to carry 2-3 times as many magazines as they do before going on a shooting spree (and force law-abiding homeowners and citizens to reload 2-3 times as often if they are beset by determined, dissociative or chemically motivated attackers).
- Private Transfers: While even some Second Amendment people think this – requiring all purchases to go through a federally-licensed firearms dealer (FFL), to close the non-existant “gun show loophole” – thinks this doesn’t sound too noxious on the surface, its byproduct -a paper trail for all guns – makes the next step, universal registration, trivially easy.
All three are, of course, utterly useless for curbing any kind of crime. That’s why the proper term for such measures is Victim Disarmament, not “Gun Control”.
And at first blush, it looks grim: the Public Safety Committee is 10 DFLers and 8 Republicans.
But there’s more to it than that.
So Here’s What Real Americans Need To Do
There are three real factions on the Democrat-controlled House Public Safety Committee
The first is the Republicans. They all should get a call – especially if you are one of their constituents – to encourage them to stand up for what’s right, and thank them (if applicable) for their past support.
Representative Tony Cornish (R) – Republican Lead: 651-296-4240
E-mail: rep.tony.cornish@house.mn
Representative Debra Hilstrom (DFL): 651-296-3709
E-mail: rep.debra.hilstrom@house.mn
Representative Brian Johnson (R): 651-296-4346
E-mail: rep.brian.johnson@house.mn
Representative Tim Kelly (R): 651-296-8635
E-mail: rep.tim.kelly@house.mn
Representative Jim Newberger (R): 651-296-2451
E-mail: rep.jim.newberger@house.mn
Representative Andrea Kieffer (R): 651-296-1147
E-mail: rep.andrea.kieffer@house.mn
Representative Kathy Lohmer (R): 651-296-4244
E-mail: rep.kathy.lohmer@house.mn
Representative Mark Uglem (R): 651-296-5513
E-mail: rep.mark.uglem@house.mn
The next faction is the Metrocrats. They’re mostly hopeless; they’re in office because Alida Messinger and her liberal plutocrat friends paid good money, and lots of it, for a bleeding-heart knee-jerk liberal government with all the baggage it brings. Victim Disarmament, to these people, is not negotiable.
If you’re a constituent, of course, a phone call wouldn’t hurt; they need to know that their opposition is everywhere. And a quick reminder of what bills like theirs did to the DFL in 1994 and 2002 might not hurt, either.
Representative Michael Paymar (DFL) – Chairman: 651-296-4199
E-mail: rep.michael.paymar@house.mn
Representative John Lesch (DFL): 651-296-4224
E-mail: rep.john.lesch@house.mn
Representative Joe Mullery (DFL): 651-296-4262
E-mail: rep.joe.mullery@house.mn
Representative Steve Simon (DFL): 651-296-9889
E-mail: rep.steve.simon@house.mn
Representative Erik Simonson (DFL): 651-296-4246
E-mail: rep.erik.simonson@house.mn
Representative Linda Slocum (DFL): 651-296-7158
E-mail: rep.linda.slocum@house.mn
Representative Dan Schoen (DFL): 651-296-4342
E-mail: rep.dan.schoen@house.mn
So when you break the committee down, it’s actually 8 Real Americans to 7 Orcs.
But here’s the important part:
Representative Paul Rosenthal (DFL) – Vice Chairman: 651-296-7803
E-mail: rep.paul.rosenthal@house.mn
Representative Shannon Savick (DFL): 651-296-8216
E-mail: rep.shannon.savick@house.mn
Representative John Ward (DFL): 651-296-4333
E-mail: rep.john.ward@house.mn
UPDATE: As Colonel Flagg noted in the comments, let’s add:
Representative Erik Simonson (DFL): 651-296-4246
E-mail: rep.erik.simonson@house.mn
That’s two DFLers – Savick and Ward – from outstate districts that are chock full of Real Americans, both independent and DFL as well as GOP, who take the Second Amendment seriously, the very type of DFLers that were mowed down in droves in 2002 unless they broke with the Metrocrats.
And Rosenthal, who won on a one-time surge of DFL voters in a very purple district, who can’t afford to take Real American votes for granted in the much-more-normal year coming up in 2014.
And a polite, reasoned phone call reminding them that there are a lot of us out there in both parties who take our Second Amendment civil rights seriously, as well as those history lessons from 1994 and 2002, might just go a long way toward euthanizing Paymar’s authoritarian dabbling in its crib where it belongs.
Any questions?
Your mission is clear.
This sounds like a good plan but I’m fuzzy on the details. If we need to get ugly guns off the streets then words on paper won’t be enough, we need to physically take possession of them.
Let’s start at the Capitol. Walking West, we come to Sears, Roebuck. No ugly guns there. Continuing West, we come to an entire city block of low-income apartments mostly rented by African-Americans. Hmmm, now what? Go door-to-door searching for ugly guns? Okay, but after we “sanitize” that block, how will we prevent re-infection? Cordon it off and search everyone coming in? Fine, but when we move to the next block, we must expand the “sterile” zone and that means continuing the blockade until we’ve cleared that block, and the next, and the next, until we’ve cleared the entire state. And then we can set up roadblocks at the borders.
Is that the plan? Because anything else is a waste of time. I’m not saying I’m against the plan, I just want to be clear on the details before we vote. Speak up, Democrats, tell us the plan.
Lesch is most famous for skipping out on his Guard unit’s deployment to Iraq without even bothering with a specious excuse for his cowardice.
He’s tailor made to dictate the terms of victim disarmament for the Democrat party.
Any democrat legislator outside of Henn or Ramsey County ought to have their phone lines melt. I live in Crystal. I have no representation.
TBS: I live in Crystal also. It sure says something about the demographics here when after 42 years of DFL “representation”, Carlson gets redistricted out, and an unknown takes his place, and defeats the GOP challenger by nearly the same margin in 2012 as Carlson defeated him in 2010. It proves Mitch’s statement without a doubt: A pair of wind up chattering teeth could win here, as long as it had a DFL endorsement.
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Remember that Erik Simonson replaced Kerry Gauthier in West Duluth. His background is public safety (fire department) but he represents largely union Democrats can be considered traditionalists in some other respects. In fact, the Puglisi Gun Emporium is in the heart of his district.
He could stand a “welcome to the Legislature” call.
Col,
Good to know. Thanks.
Hmmm…although the phone for Tony Cornish is the same as on his website, the voice message says the ‘mailbox of someone Alan’. (The outgoing message began half way.) Anyone, anyone…? wtf?
I’ve just been through the introductions and it seems like Simonson has signed onto every gun regulation bill the DFL has put up. Somebody should ask him some questions about his position in public or for the public record. Kerry Gauthier was definitely progressive left but I don’t remember him being much into regulating guns. In fact I recall him once complaining that Republicans were always trying to scare his constituents into thinking the DFL wanted to take their guns away. He was on the Public Safety committee too.
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