{"id":35284,"date":"2013-03-20T07:56:23","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=35284"},"modified":"2014-11-19T17:29:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T23:29:51","slug":"the-meh-gun-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=35284","title":{"rendered":"The “Meh” Gun Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to the Capitol last night for the House Public Safety Finance Committee hearings on Michael Paymar’s “HF 237”, better known as “The Bad Gun Bill”, a bill rife with nannystate abuse-fodder.<\/p>\n

The rest of the story? \u00a0It’s got a lot of photos, and I don’t want the entire blog to load like a dog, so the rest of the story is after the jump.<\/p>\n

See you there!<\/p>\n

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I got to the State Office Building around 5:15, and waited about an hour for the doors to the hearing room to open.<\/p>\n

And then waited.<\/p>\n

And watched as the crowds started coming in and getting their tickets from one of the pages.<\/p>\n

There was the pro-Second-Amendment crowd down one hall:<\/p>\n

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The pro-Second-Amendment crowd actually grew from this.<\/p><\/div>\n

And the pro-orc, pro-nannystate, gun-grabber faction down the other way.<\/p>\n

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Six of ’em. A few more came later.<\/p><\/div>\n

And the DFL’s public relations people were there, too:<\/p>\n

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Media people – seven of ’em – actually outnumbered Paymar supporters for a good chunk of the evening.<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, we all got to come into the hearing room, where the crowd – easily 95% against the Paymar bill, as usual – sat and waited some more.<\/p>\n

Eventually – around the meeting’s scheduled 7PM start time – the Republican members of the committee came into the room and took their seats.<\/p>\n

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Rep. Cornish waiting for the DFL.<\/p><\/div>\n

And we all waited.<\/p>\n

And waited.<\/p>\n

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Rep. Kieffer (far left, green outfit) and Cornish (far right at back) killing time in the gallery, waiting for the DFL. And waiting. And waiting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Rumors started flying. \u00a0The DFLers were in a locked room, being lectured by Shotgun Joe Biden via teleconference. \u00a0Or waterboarding Rep. Hilstrom, who has been Paymar’s most notable dissident within the DFL, having introduced “The Good Gun Bill” a few weeks back. \u00a0And one rumor, overheard from a conversation between a couple of antis, had it that Paymar didn’t have the votes to get the Bad Gun Bill out of committee.<\/p>\n

And the 7PM start time slid on toward 8PM…<\/p>\n

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…and then well past. \u00a0Finally, Rep. Rosenthal, the committee’s #2 DFLer, walked around the crowd and told us that the meeting would start at 8:15.<\/p>\n

Around then, the DFL members filed in. \u00a0Paymar hit the gavel, thanked everyone for showing up, announced the bill was laid over – on the table, no further action – and adjourned the meeting.<\/p>\n

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Paymar begins and ends the hearings.<\/p><\/div>\n

Three hours of waiting. \u00a0Ten seconds of meeting.<\/p>\n

As most of the reps scattered to the wind, the clutch of DFL PR and a few just-plain folks congregated at the front, around Representatives Paymar and Hilstrom.<\/p>\n

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Hilstrom and Paymar, after the ten-second meeting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Paymar was doing it best to put a positive spin on things – “I think we did something positive today” was one quote – but he was clearly dejected. \u00a0“I think both sides are disappointed…”<\/p>\n

In terms of bills? \u00a0You’re going to hear a lot of chatter about this from both sides – the stuff you hear from GOCRA will be accurate, the stuff from “ProtectMN” will not – but it basically breaks out like this:<\/p>\n