CENTERVILLE ù The lease on the Centerville Small Arms Association is up for renewal. City council members tabled action on granting or denying the renewal request until representatives of the gun club could address the council personally.
They will have the opportunity to do so at the next council meeting, Sept. 2.
The city owns the land and leases it to the association for free. The association then charges a $25 membership fee to use the facility and other fees, according to council members.
Few of the council members favored granting the associationÆs request for a 10-year renewal of the lease.
ôI am not certain how much benefit Centerville residents get from it,ö said Mayor Michael L. Deamer.
ôI know I usually just go over to Bountiful where I can pay my $5, or so, and shoot my muzzleloader or shotgun.ö
Gun-control advocates say a recent court ruling upholding the University of Utah's campus weapons ban may also apply to K-12 schools, paving the way to reverse legislation approved last winter that allows lawfully concealed weapons onto school grounds.
Calling the pro-gun Legislature's firearm regulations "inconsistent" and "politically driven," members of a group known as Safe Havens for Learning intend to push a bill this coming session to clarify once and for all state law as it applies to concealed weapons.
"If a state judge says the U. is free to pursue its no-gun policy, public schools ought to as well," said Marla Kennedy, executive director of Utahns Against Gun Violence.
Kennedy has yet to nail down a bill sponsor, and school districts appear loathe to join the fight. But she says the U. ruling, coupled with public opinion polls showing that more than 70 percent of Utahns oppose guns in schools, will force lawmakers' hands.
"They shouldn't be re-elected if they aren't listening to a nearly two-thirds majority of their constituency. If they don't listen, I guess we'll have to get an initiative on the ballot and do it ourselves," she said.
State leaders say they are listening and insist when it comes to guns, they have been consistent.
"I don't want guns in schools either. But until we stop the bad guys, we don't want to stop the good guys too," said Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups.
The Taylorsville Republican sponsored the law that Kennedy wants reversed. He also is urging an appeal of the U. ruling and plans a bill next session asserting lawmakers' authority to override campus gun bans and permit lawfully concealed weapons on college campuses.
Waddoups insists that when it comes to guns, his message has always been "stop the criminals first; don't take mine away until you take John Dillinger's."
Under state law, concealed-weapon permit holders can carry their weapons "without restriction" except in large airports, prisons, jails and courtrooms -- all areas with security screening, noted Waddoups. "If schools promise to make their buildings more secure, I'll help them get legislation [banning concealed weapons] through. But that's not their priority."
Schools opposed Waddoups last winter, but have no plans to continue the battle.
"We're always concerned about the safety of our students and employees, but feel we have policies in place to ensure that," said Jordan School District spokeswoman Melinda Colton.
Jordan and Granite school districts have written policies limiting their liability for any claims or damages brought because of the weapons and prohibiting employees from volunteering information about their permits. Granite's policy further states employees with permits will be fired for leaving a weapon unattended.
Despite repeatedly defending a state law that says the Legislature alone can make rules on concealed weapons unless the body specifically authorizes a political subdivision to do so, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff OK'd the district policies.
"It's a matter of selective enforcement," said gun-control advocate and former Utah House Majority Leader Dave Jones.
He acknowledged, "The Legislature usually takes a broad-brush approach and then school districts are allowed to pass administrative interpretations of those laws. Theoretically the U. could apply the same interpretation, but wanted to take it a step further."
Jones isn't convinced, however, that schools have been granted explicit rule-making authority on guns.
Then again, neither have private employers, and that hasn't stopped the Delta Center from screening for weapons at Jazz games, he said. "And nobody is knocking on [LDS Church-owned] Brigham Young University's door, probably because it's not politically popular to do so. But if the U. says no guns on campus, it seems to me they would be no different than Larry Miller."
Shurtleff's spokesman Paul Murphy insists the attorney general's stand has nothing to do with politics.
The Attorney General's Office was asked for an opinion about the legality of a slew of state agency gun policies, including the U.'s, said Shurtleff.
"He is simply defending the law," Murphy said of Shurtleff.
As for the rights of private employers to impose gun bans, "that's another issue for another day in another court," Murphy said.
This is not strictly gun related, but anytime there is a push to take what is currently a misdemeanor and make it a felony gun owners should at least study the issue and make sure it is not ripe for abuse. A felony conviction, no matter how unjustified, effectively eliminates RKBA for life.
A coalition of animal shelter operators hopes the case of a recent kitten death will boost its efforts to make animal abuse a felony in Utah.
On Aug. 28, a jury found Steven Lee Hovey, 34, guilty of aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor, and reckless child abuse, a class B misdemeanor, for killing a 10-year-old girl's kitten.
Hovey is accused of twisting the head of a kitten named Tyson on June 17, 2002, because he was upset with the child's mother for spurning his sexual advances. The kitten scratched Hovey and ran to another room. Hovey followed the kitten, picked it up and slammed it multiple times against the floor and a wall.
Salt Lake County prosecutors said the man left the house, with the kitten's blood and feces on the wall, carrying the quivering kitten by the tail.
The jury found Hovey's girlfriend, Susan Lee Parry, not guilty of obstructing justice charges. She was cleared of accusations of disposing the kitten's body.
Hovey will be sentenced in December. Shelter operators throughout Utah applaud the jury's decision to find Hovey guilty.
"In the five years or more that I've been here, that stands out as the most painful case I've been aware of," Salt Lake County Animal Services spokeswoman Temma Martin said.
But the law is too lenient, said Gene Baierschmidt, executive director of the Humane Society of Utah.
Baierschmidt is organizing a petition drive to put the animal abuse issue on the November 2004 ballot. He wants voters to choose whether animal abuse convictions should be a third-degree felony, with penalties of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The class A misdemeanor carries up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Animal abuse penalties with more teeth would provide prosecutors an incentive to try such cases, Baierschmidt said.
Baierschmidt also believes felony penalties could deter would-be animal abusers.
Studies have shown people who abuse animals are likely to be violent toward other people, Baierschmidt said.
"We think that's a real problem that needs to be addressed," he said. "These people who abuse animals need to be punished. More importantly, they need to get into treatment."
The petition needs 76,000 signatures by May 2004 to become an initiative on the November 2004 ballot. Thus far, there are 20,000 signatures, Baierschmidt said.
Forty-one other states have a felony provision for cruelty to animals. "Even, surprisingly, Wyoming," Baierschmidt said. "Last year they passed it in the (state) Legislature."
The coalition that's pushing the petition includes Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Wasatch Humane in Bountiful and No More Homeless Pets in Utah.
The coalition chose not to push the issue through the Utah Legislature because last year it could not get a Republican to sponsor its bill. And Baierschmidt believes the bill would only have a chance of passing if it was backed by a Republican.
"I don't think a lot of (legislators) like animals," said Baierschmidt. "They view this as sort of an animal rights thing."
Salt Lake mayoral candidate Frank Pignanelli, who sponsored the last round of animal abuse penalty increases in 1996 when he was the House minority leader, acknowledged it was difficult to dispel legislators' suspicions the bill would target agriculture or the rodeo, and that its proponents are members of extremist animal rights groups.
During a special session in 1996, the Utah Legislature enhanced animal abuse penalties to a class A misdemeanor from a class C misdemeanor.
When he was House minority leader, Salt Lake mayoral candidate Frank Pignanelli wanted to make some animal abuse crimes a felony but could only get the penalties raised if he capped them at a class A misdemeanor, he said.
"It can be a challenge," he said. "Believe me, initiatives are not easy, either."
Just caught the tail end of TV News broadcast (sorry, I missed the channel, my wife was driving) in which the reporter stated that during a phone interview, Darren Jensen had told him there were Idaho police officers outside his in-laws home (where he is staying) and he felt like he would be arrested if he did not agree to the State's terms in the deal for his son.
Unfortunately, he said (according to the reporter) that the police were a little nervous because he has a concealed carry permit and they weren't sure what it would take to seize his son. He then went on to say he would not have used is gun as he only uses it for protection.
Regardless of the accuracy, IMO, it was terribly foolish to even bring up guns, CCW permits, etc in this context. Now, rather than being every guy next door, he is Mr. Gun nut. Anyone who owns guns is dangerous and who knows what else he might do. ;(
Besides, it is naive at best to think that a CCW permit is going to make trained peace officers any more nervous about seizing a child from an Idaho home/family than they normally would be. Well over 50% of all homes in Idaho have firearms in them and I'd expect that should officers have to execute a search and seizure for a child, especially in this kind of case where they are likely to be expected, they are going to assume that some kind of armed or violent resistance is possible and prepare accordingly.
Now, lest anyone get the wrong idea, from what info I've seen, I think this whole case is a crock and should never have gotten this far in the first place. The diagnosis is in doubt, there is no detectable cancer. Even if the diagnosis were not in doubt, there are plenty of people who choose to not subject themselves to chemo. And the whole felony kidnapping charges and interfering with seeking treatment in Texas just shows that Utah officials care far more about exerting authority than about Parker getting treatment. In short, it looks to me like the State has WAAY overstepped any reasonable role in protecting children in this case.
However, having said that, comments about a ccw strike me as inprudent at best. I hope it doesn't cause the family any additional grief.
OTOH, one wonders whether DCFS was aware of the permit when they started their proceedings and if that knowledge colored their view of the situation. They have been very hostile to CCW holders in the past as far as not accepting them to be foster parents.
Subject: FW: U to engage in more political activism
Date: 08 Sep 2003 03:13:50 GMT
Any guesses what percentage of students will be engaged in campaigns for anti-gun democrats vs what precentage will be engaged in pro-gun/pro-freedom efforts?
Our tax dollars at work [against us yet again].
Oh well, as its own gun free, affirmative action zone, this was to be expected I'd guess.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
----------
Friends- Today's Deseret News column by Ted Wilson and Lavarr Webb has an
interesting insight from WIlson concerning the future direction of the U's
Subject: Jensen case supports keeping guns out of schools?
Date: 11 Sep 2003 15:03:14 GMT
It does according to Marla Kennedy.
It is shameles that she would use the Jensen case for this kind of unrelated political blather. Of coure, given this kind of "logic," it is no wonder she thinks the world will be safer if some of the most trustworthy and law abiding members of our society (And if teachers don't fit that bill, why should we be forced to entrust our children to their care for 8 hours a day?) are rendered defenseless.
I wonder if she thinks parents have as much "right" to know the marital status, sexual preferences/orientation, political views, medical history, and religous views/affifilation of teachers as they do to know whether those teachers have a person self defense weapon.
Rebuttal letters can and should be sent to letters@desnews.com.
I have read with interest recent editorials on guns in schools side-by-side with angry statements from parents about medical treatment decisions for Parker Jensen. Many parents may not know the connection between the two issues.
Utah law gives unique protection to concealed weapon permit holders and keeps their names secret from the public. As a parent, you have no right to know if a teacher, coach, employee or volunteer in your child's school is carrying a gun. Shouldn't all parents have the same right to protect their children and make profound parental decisions that the Jensens seek? Being able to know if a gun is in your child's classroom seems like a very important parental right.
Subject: Gun could have been charged had he told boys about gun
Date: 11 Sep 2003 15:17:08 GMT
This is a little scary. Certainly we all support storing a firearm in a safe manner given one's situation. And prudence would dictate that one not advertise the location of firearms. But could a gun owner really be charged with a crime, after being the victim of an unlawful entry into his property and illegal handling of his personal property simply for having mentioned the gun to the boys? What about a scoutmaster or other youth advisor who keeps a gun somewhere and over the course of time the kids learn it is there? Does that set him up for criminal charges if one of the kids ever does anyting stupid/criminal and someone gets hurt with that gun?
I have a small propane torch in my garage that I use for soldering. If some kid breaks into my garage (or even walks in through an open door), steals that torch, and starts a fire that kills someone, am I going to be liable for not having that torch under lock and key or for not having kept it a secret from the entire neighborhood? For that matter, EVERYONE knows I keep a car in my garage. What happens if someone steals my car and ends up hurting or killing some kid? Am I going to be liable? What if I am cleaning it and stupidly leave the keys in it while I go inside to answer the phone and it is stolen? Liable?
The Salt Lake District Attorney's Office has cleared a gun owner of any wrongdoing in Monday's shooting of a 12-year-old boy in South Jordan.
However, prosecutors Wednesday also announced they continue to investigate whether criminal charges are justified against a 14-year-old boy who allegedly fired the single shot that struck the unnamed boy in the head, district attorney spokesman Kent Morgan said. The boy, whose name has not been released by law enforcement officials, died from injuries.
Monday afternoon, two boys were in the garage of a house near 9500 South and 1100 West when they came across the .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, police said.
Neither boy lived at the house, but both lived in the neighborhood, police said. The shooting apparently was accidental.
"It appears the children learned of the location of the gun from a source other than the gun owner," said Morgan, who said the owner would have been charged with reckless endangerment if he had told children about the gun.
The gun was in the owner's vehicle that was parked at the house. Morgan said that is legal according to Utah weapon's statute.
Lest anyone see a red sign on the doors to a SL School district building and get the mistaken impression he is required to disarms despite having a CCW. I wonder if there will be any overt of subtle pressure on teachers to not exercise their rights to self defense.
If anyone receives or hears of such pressure, please let one of your friendly, local gun organizations hear about it.
Salt Lake City School District fell in line Tuesday with Utah's gun laws but not without firing a shot at state lawmakers.
The Board of Education adopted a policy that allows concealed weapons permit holders to bring guns into schools. Like Jordan and Granite school districts, Salt Lake's policy simply follows a state law adopted by the 2003 Legislature.
But Salt Lake City board members also passed a resolution Tuesday that sends a very clear message to legislators.
Until the Legislature can show how allowing guns in schools makes for a safer learning environment, the board wants schools to get equal "protection from weapons that is afforded private residences and houses of worship."
In those two places, the law says the owners can prohibit weapons by giving proper notice. District spokesman Jason Olsen said it's the board's intent to send copies of the resolution to key legislators and possibly the entire legislative body.
"They don't agree with the action that was taken (by lawmakers)," said Olsen. "They're not convinced this is going to increase safety in schools."
And the district isn't waiting for approval from Capitol Hill on giving its own notice to concealed weapons holders.
Board members received a draft copy of a "STOP" sign that may go on the front doors of schools. The current version reads, "School safety is a top priority! Please help us keep our schools safe and free from violence and weapons!
"We encourage all concealed-carry permit holders to leave their weapons at home or outside of the school," the bottom of the sign reads.
Board president Clifford Higbee stressed that the resolution is in no way meant to supplant policy. "I think it's clear by policy that we want to follow the law," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, sponsored the guns bill, which still makes it a class B misdemeanor for people other than concealed-weapons permit holders to bring guns to school.
Waddoups said the Salt Lake District is trying to make the same "stretch" that the University of Utah has made by sticking to its own policy of banning guns on campus. That policy was upheld in a ruling by 3rd District Judge Robert Hilder last month.
The district's resolution, Waddoups said, will have no impact on the upcoming Legislature.
"It just adds impetus to the bill that we'll be running," he said. That bill will clarify what constitutes public and private places. "They are not private property, they are public," he said of the U. and Salt Lake district schools.
Ron Molen, co-founder of Utahns Against Gun Violence, said that most people don't want any guns in school and that the Legislature has created an "embarrassing" situation for schools.
"If ever there was a Legislature out of touch . . . ," he said. Very few concealed-weapons holders, Molen added, would actually take advantage of the law.
Subject: Armed man takes class hostage at Tenn College
Date: 17 Sep 2003 22:17:08 GMT
The gun haters at the U will, no doubt, use this incident as one more evidence that their anti-gun policy is needed. Of coure, they will decline to explain how a policy, or even a few signs will deter someone intent on committing a crime.
It is interesting to note that while Tennesee does have a non-discriminatory ccw law (similar to Utah's), their ccw law prohibits the lawful possession of CCW weapons at school and colleges, public and private. So, in effect, despite having a shall-issue CCW law, in Tennessee, college campuses are unarmed victim zones. Exactly the situation Bernie and his buddies at the U want to maintain.
Armed Man Holds Tennessee Students, Teacher Hostage
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
DYERSBURG, Tenn. ù A man with a gun and a knife took college students hostage Wednesday afternoon, then released three people about three hours into the standoff, authorities said.
There were 12 to 16 people in the Dyersburg State Community College (search) classroom when the standoff began, police spokeswoman Lisa McDowell said. No injuries were immediately reported, and McDowell said she had no details on the gunman's identity or motive.
Although the hostage-taker released three people, he was refusing late in the day to negotiate with police, McDowell said. A SWAT (search) team and about five hostage negotiators were among the officers called to the scene, she said.
School president Karen Bowyer called the state Board of Regents office in Nashville to report the standoff, regents spokeswoman Mary Morgan said. Bowyer told the Nashville officials that one faculty member was among the hostages, but McDowell said she wasn't sure a faculty member was among those still being held.
There were no reports of shots being fired, Morgan said.
Bowyer told the Nashville office that college officials thought the gunman might be a student but they didn't know what sparked the incident about 75 miles northeast of Memphis.
Athletic Director Alan Barnett said that authorities cleared the campus of other students.
"Police ordered all students to evacuate, but employees could stay," Barnett said in a telephone interview. "We had students coming in since it happened, but everyone is gone now."
Ken Teutsch, a media specialist (search) at the campus Learning Resource Center, said from his office that he could see a couple of police cars near the building where the standoff occurred.
"It's obviously very disturbing, very shocking, but on the other hand, we're not completely unprepared. There have been training and drills and that sort of thing," he said.
This one from the SLTrib. Heaven forbid they ever do require private sales at gun shows to go through a back ground check. They'll then start (or rather continue, they've already started) to talk about the "living room loophole" and demand that ALL gun sales go through a dealer and be subject to registration.
Letters to the editor can be sent to <letters@sltrib.com>. Be sure to include full name, full address, and a phone number. Only name and city/state gets printed.
Criminals should not be able to walk into a gun show and buy firearms. But they do.
The federal Brady law requires a background check of gun purchasers, but there is a hole in the law that Congress annually refuses to patch. The law requires federally licensed gun dealers to check the backgrounds of would-be buyers, but the law does not apply the same requirement to unlicensed sellers. This loophole is particularly worrisome at gun shows, where investigations by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have reported that criminals are able to buy guns.
Despite congressional paralysis, the Utah Legislature could close the gun-show gap with a state law. But it, too, has failed repeatedly to act. Bills drafted by former Rep. Dave Jones and by Rep. Scott Daniels, both Salt Lake City Democrats, never have gotten far in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Daniels' 2003 bill did not survive the black hole of the Rules Committee.
This is no surprise in a legislative body that this year gave people with permits to carry concealed weapons an explicit invitation to bring guns into schools. Senseless, but not surprising.
Still, the gun-show loophole takes the bloom off of otherwise encouraging statistics. A report last week showed that computerized criminal background checks on gun buyers are stopping sales not only to felons but also to people who have been convicted of misdemeanors associated with domestic violence. In fact, convicted felons are no longer the largest category of people who are denied a gun purchase.
The laws also are preventing sales to people who are subject to a protective order or an arrest warrant.
In addition, the laws deny legitimate sales to drug addicts, people who have been committed to a mental institution, illegal aliens, former members of the armed services who have been discharged under dishonorable conditions and people who have renounced U.S. citizenship.
Federally licensed gun dealers say that not many of their customers fail the background checks. In Utah, the Bureau of Criminal Identification reported that for the 12-month period through June 2003, only about 2.3 percent of the roughly 65,000 applications to buy guns were rejected.
An optimistic view is that most people who undergo a background check have clean records. A pessimistic view is that criminals know better than to try to buy guns from a legitimate dealer who will submit their names and records to scrutiny. So, they get their guns elsewhere or arrange to have someone with a clean record buy guns for them.
Closing the gun-show loophole will not solve this problem by itself, but it would help. And there's no good reason not to do it.
Subject: Re:Two Students Shot at Minnesota School; One Dies - FoxNews
Date: 25 Sep 2003 00:33:37 GMT
I note that while Minnesota does have a non-discriminatory CCW permit system, possession of self-defense weapons, even with a permit, is generally prohibited at public and private schools, their improved property, and anyplace a school sponsored function is being held. (Colleges and universities may also prohibit weapons except in parking areas.)
So the homicidial student knew that except for a police officer, he was not likely to face an armed teacher, parent, or other law-abiding, private adult.
I will also note that Minnesota has only had its non-discriminatory CCW permits available since about March or April of this year.
Charles
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
Two Students Shot at Minnesota School; One Dies
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
COLD SPRING, Minn. » A freshman opened fire at a high school Wednesday, killing one student and critically wounding a second, authorities said.
The suspect, identified only as a freshman, was taken into custody after the late-morning shooting at the 829-student Rocori High School (search) in Cold Spring, a small town about 60 miles northwest of the Twin Cities (search).
Police Chief Phil Jones said "there was chaos" as police arrived at the school. One of the students was shot while in the school's weight room and the other shooting occurred in the gym.
Aaron Rollins, a senior, died at a hospital after being shot in the face and neck. Seth Bartell, a freshman, was in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the chest and head.
Officials evacuated the school and sent all students home. Education Department spokesman Doug Gray said it appeared to be Minnesota's first fatal shooting carried out by a student inside a school.
"There was kids crying," Jamie Toddingham, a junior, told KSTP-TV. "We were sitting at a window where we could see cops everywhere. I was just thinking about, it could've been me."
Jones said that it appeared a well-respected, veteran teacher and coach talked the boy into handing over a small-caliber gun. When police arrived, the boy was in the custody of the school's staff in an administrative office, he said.
Mike Austreng, editor of the weekly Cold Spring Record (search), said he saw one wounded student taken from the school by helicopter.
"We can see groups of students being taken out of the building," Austreng said from the scene after the shooting. "Most of them are running with their hands up in the air, or walking with their hands up in the air."
The school district's name, Rocori, comes from the first two letters of the communities it serves: Rockville, Cold Spring and Richmond.
Subject: Re: FW: New approachon University/schools issue
Date: 25 Sep 2003 16:59:17 GMT
While I certainly applaud Waddoups' efforts to clarify the law, I have to wonder how he and the rest of our "pro-gun" senators voted on the confirmation of these anti-gun State judges in the first place. (They are probably mostly blameless on the federal judges, though I'm sure none of them have ever bothered to formally protest a nominee from Utah who was anti-gun.)
Hilder was stretching to come up with his ruling on this case. Close the loophole and he'll continue to stretch next time. Maybe he won't be able to stretch far enough to keep guns off campus. But would anyone really want to stand before this guy on some technical, non-violent gun charge? Yet he will continue to serve and be free to issue blatantly biased anti-RKBA rulings. Why? Because even when a judge is facing felony drug possession charges our legislature is not sure it is worth the time, energy, and/or political effort to make a statment about what we expect from our judiciary. We certainly shouldn't be surprised that our legislature would never even consider impeaching over a small thing like completely baseless, asinine, and personally biased rulings.
It's been so long since a judge (or anyone else) was impeached that our legislators, with all their institutional memory wasn't even sure how to go about doing it when they did consider, maybe impeaching the Utah county cokehead in black robes. I find it hard to believe that its really been that long since a judge deserved to be impeached, even my more lenient standards than those I would apply.
I have no idea when Hilder was appointed, but just a few months ago the ONLY senator who voted against promoting KNOWN anti-gun State Judge Nehring to the Utah SC was Howard Stephenson. As a reminder, Nehring was one of a couple of the BIG ring leaders in the entire Utah Court system thumbing its collective nose at the clear intent of State law that required courts to provide safe storage for weapons if they banned possession of weapons in the courtroom.
Writing good laws is a very necessary step. But it will prove to be insufficient until such time as our legislators show forth a clear willingness to use the power of impeachement against bad judges, refuse to confirm or promote activist judges, and exercise their power of the purse against institution/agencies that clearly ignore their intent.
I predict that one or two impeachments and removal from office, along with actually cutting budgets (or entire departments) of agencies that flaunt the law, would be all it would take to remind the executive branch bureaucrats and our judges that our legislure is a CO-EQUAL branch of government; not the ugly redheaded cousin to be ignored or at best, temporarily pacified until the session ends and they leave town again so the "experts" can get back to running things.
And those of us who care about RKBA or even freedom in general had better be willing to apply the appropriate pressure (including electing replacement legislators) to convince our elected officials that there are worse things than being called conservative by a blatantly liberal media. Or more nicely, we'd better be willing to support our legislators in the face of the worst kind of oppossition when they do stand up to judges and bureaucrats to defend our rights.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
----------
Friends- Today's Tribune reveals that (a) Judges are anti-gun rights (per
AG Shurtleff) (b) legislative fix would be better than taking chances in
courts (c) Mike Waddoups is preparing to run bill to specifically tell U to
[shove it] and (d) Trib and anti-gun extremists are still looking to sucker
the ignorant voters into stopping legal self defense somehow.
Is there anything we can do to drum up support for Waddoups and others on
As you're certainly aware, this year most cities in Utah will be having non-partisan elections for local offices like city council and mayor.
Fortunately, due to State preemption, cities and counties have very little power to restrict RKBA and so, in one sense, a candidate's position on guns is not a major issue. Indeed, his views on zoning, taxing, how to allocate police resources, etc are likely to have a much larger impact on the city, day to day, than his views on guns.
However, in another sense, his views on guns and how he expresses them can be important indicators of his overall political philosophy and he and they may impact you long term.
First of all, it is not at all uncommon for local elected officials to run for higher office at some point. In that office, their views on guns will very much matter. The person who wins this year's city council race will have a huge advantage, in many cases, over someone without elected experience should he decide to run for the legislature a few years down the road. It is better to pull weeds before they get too big. Conversely, cultivate a good candidate at the local level and you may very well end up with a true champion at the State level someday.
Also, while cities and counties cannot restrict RKBA, they can decide whether or not public shooting ranges should receive similar support from tax monies as do soccer fields, swimming pools, fine arts, or other recreational facilities/endeavors. Your local taxes are almost certainly providing places for people to golf, hike, bike, and maybe even take in some theatre without having to travel outside city limits. How far do you have to travel to legally and safely shoot your firearms? What is your city doing to encourage private range development, protect existing ranges, or even provide public ranges?
Local government can decide whether "police" ranges will be open for any kind of public use, or remain the private, exclusive venues of "public" officials, insulated from interactions with the law abiding, shooting public.
Local governments can make or break private ranges, business district gun stores, and home based FFL gun sales operations with zoning, noise, dust, and other regulations.
Local governments can create hassles and make strong public statements, one way or the other depending on whether they try to create "secure" areas where your CCW rights would be voided at city council and other public meetings. A city can easily decide whether or not to provide safe and convenient storage for legal weapons at muni courts.
Local governments set the tone of how their police officers will interact with law-abiding, legally armed citizens. They determine whether to participate in various anti-RKBA federal law enforcement programs.
A candidate who openly dislikes guns and private gun ownership may be revealing a lot about his personal views on the role of government and its relationship with citizens. See "Why Guns?" by L. Neil Smith (available at <http://www.arr.org/wtp/RKBA/WhyGuns.html> among other web locations for this fine, and brief essay).
A candidate who "likes to hunt," but doesnt' "know why anyone needs to carry a hidden handgun around in public," may be even more dangerous than the former candidate who hates all guns. The former is clearly an idealogue to be ignored by all thinking persons, but the latter has some credibility as a self professed gun owner.
A well meaning, but naive candidate will go on and on about RKBA and how if he is elected, he will protect and defend the 2nd amnd.
A good AND wise candidate will have both correct principles AND understand the limits of the job he is seeking. I think an ideal position on guns for a local candidate would be something to the effect of, "Due to preemption, cities cannot do very much with guns directly. I intend to make sure we don't ever try to cross that line by trying to ban legal weapons or otherwise harrassing law abiding gun owners. And, within the scope of our power we need to make sure our citizens have safe, legal places to shoot, and that gun related businesses are not harrassed." And, of course, he will be where you think he should be on the major issues facing your city: things like streets and sewer, police and fire, taxes and zoning.
Of course, very few candidates are ideal. So correct principles and a TRUE willingness to learn (as opposed to the all too common political blow off) may be the best you can hope for.
In any event, I encourage you to start meeting local candidates, asking questions, including questions about legitimate areas of city power that do affect RKBA and your ability to enjoy your shooting sports, and when you find a good candidate, get behind him and offer support of both time and money. For the amount of time most of us spend watching a football game or wandering around a nice gun show, and for the cost of a few boxes of ammo, we can make a huge difference in a campaign by passing out fliers in our neighborhoods, providing donations that will print those fliers, and otherwise invest in your children's and grandchildren's RKBA.
Far too often, gun owners like to spend their time "bitchin' in the kitchen'" rather than actually doing something to help elect a good, pro-RKBA candidate to public office. Many of us think nothing of spending $100 on a scope, or $1000 or more on a gun, but think we're giving up a kidney when we make a $25 donation to a good candidate.
Please, this year, REALLY seek out and SUPPORT a good candidate for local office.
Finally, for those in SLCo, I understand that the county council is in very preliminary stages of considering a public shooting range. I encourage you to call, mail, or email the council and Mayor Workman and just let them know that you support public shooting ranges on the same basis as public parks, fine arts, zoos, etc.
Subject: Latest anti RKBA drivel from DesNews. Lock up your safety bill.
Date: 29 Sep 2003 02:41:59 GMT
More anti-gun drivel from the DesNews. How about if we let current neglect laws handle this, just as we do with car keys, household chemicals, swimming pools etc?
Letters can be sent to <letters@desnews.com> and <even@desnews.com>
[Logo] An old superstition holds that bad things come in threes. If that were true, Utah wouldn't see any more of its young people killed in accidental shootings for a long while.
But old superstitions are seldom true. They are useless when it comes to predicting the future or establishing public policies.
Last week, a 14-year-old Salt Lake boy died of a gunshot wound to the head, which was inflicted by his 13-year-old friend. Somehow, the two of them found themselves playing with two sawed-off shotguns and two handguns at a time they should have been in school. Police were trying to figure out where and how the two had come into possession of the weapons.
Earlier this month, a 12-year-old boy, the younger brother of one of my children's classmates, died under similar circumstances. This time, the toy in question was a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
To round out the triumvirate, last June a 15-year-old boy shot himself to death accidentally with a gun he found. That happened only a few blocks from where last week's accident took place. Maybe that eerie connection closes the circle on this pattern of threes.
Does anybody really believe that?
When innocent youths die accidentally at the hands of other innocent youths, it's hard to ignore the situation. Yet that is what Utah's lawmakers do with this problem, year after year.
First, I must make something clear. I am not a fan of gun-control. I do not wish to repeal the Second Amendment.
Those are important matters to establish in this debate because in Utah the gun lobby has turned any talk of a law requiring people to store guns safely into a gun-control issue. That explains why, for most of a decade, a bill that would make it a felony to leave a gun in a place where a child could get at it didn't even get a committee hearing. It finally emerged earlier this year and was voted down without much discussion.
If you vote to require parents to lock away guns, you might as well vote to make them lock away liquid drain cleaners, baseball bats and swimming pools, not to mention a host of other things that could be harmful to children. So goes the argument Marla Kennedy often hears on Capitol Hill. She is executive director of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, a prime force behind a tougher law. That argument usually is followed closely by one that says the government has no right to mandate what a person does within his or her home ù a dangerous argument to use if you support laws against sodomy.
But, of course, responsible parents already do put drain cleaners and ball bats in places where vulnerable kids can't get them. They install locks on cupboards and on gates to their pools. None of those things, however, is as attractive to kids as a gun.
Not long ago, ABC's Primetime did an experiment in which it planted a disabled gun in a place where teenagers, who had been trained how to handle such situations, would find them. The boys in this experiment, unaware they were being watched, seemed transformed by their discoveries. They picked up the weapon, played with it, and even pointed it at friends.
Other studies, conducted by universities, have found the same thing. Many teenagers lack the maturity to treat the sudden discovery of a gun properly. To many youths, guns are seductive. Not so a bottle of Drain-O or a baseball bat.
Still, most Utah lawmakers want kids to be solely responsible for their own gun safety.
The latest version of the bill, by the way, would not hold an adult responsible if a minor took a gun that was within arm's length of an adult. You could still sleep with one under your pillow, in other words. It would give police and prosecutors discretion as to whether to charge someone, taking into account the grief a parent may be experiencing.
A law wouldn't stop accidents from happening. It can't substitute for plain old good parenting. But it would penalize people who are negligent. And, yes, the number of accidental shooting deaths nationwide is on the decline, but that is little comfort to anyone who knew the latest three victims.
Marla Kennedy, who plans to continue her fight, says, "As soon as someone gives me one decent, common-sense reason as to why we don't need this law, I'll stop."
Let's see. So far we have arguments that equate accidental child gunshots to consuming drain cleaners, swinging baseball bats and falling into swimming pools.
Less anyone think the SLTrib forgot to dance in the blood of innocent victims and stupid, reckless, law breaking young people, notice how Holly Mullen compares innocent children playing in their own driveway, to law breaking adolescents who rummage through a neighbor's car or somehow get ahold of firearms that are illegal to own without federal permits. She also draws a subtle parallel between a drunk/impaired driver who mows down children in their own yard and a law abiding gun owner who legally keeps a weapon in his car. Maybe he should have locked his car "so that a good boy won't go bad," to quote the failed ad campaign of yesteryear on the very topic of locking one's car.
Again, letters can be sent to <letters@sltrib.com> or <hmullen@sltrib.com> and for those who do not belong to the NRA, be sure to mention that.
September slips away this week, burnished and golden, and as a notably tragic month for Utah children.
Four kids died in the past three weeks, all victims of high-profile, violent incidents. Notice, I did not say "accidents." More in a moment.
These deaths got front-page press and prime-time broadcast. They stood out in their senselessness.
On Sept. 18, Jorge Almeida-Robles, 9, and his sister Yanira Robles, 4, were killed while playing in their Taylorsville driveway with their 6-year-old brother, Christopher. Michael Joseph Whitton,19, drove his Buick across the median at 1300 West and slammed into the three children, killing Yanira and Jorge instantly. Christopher, though badly injured, is expected to recover.
A toxicology report allegedly revealed a cocktail of marijuana, methamphetamine and opiates in Whitton's bloodstream. He is charged with two counts of criminal homicide, driving under the influence and failure to stop at the scene of an accident.
Two other children died, a 12-year-old (whose name police did not release) from South Jordan on Sept. 9 and Caleb Herrera, 14, at his Salt Lake home on Sept. 19. Both boys had been hanging with friends. Both had found handguns. Both died of gunshot wounds -- Herrera's apparently was accidentally self-inflicted, and the 12-year-old was shot accidentally in the head by his friend.
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Accidents, all of them. Police officially call them that. Reporters and editors refer to them as that. Accidents.
Curious word, "accident." It carries the element of unintentional behavior, of something that no one planned, an event that was never meant to occur. You slip, accidentally, on icy pavement. You leave the coffee pot on, accidentally, and go to work.
Certainly, no one intended these tragedies to happen. When Michael Joseph Whitton allegedly stuffed his system with drugs last week, he only meant to drive somewhere. Three siblings were playing in their driveway, just like any of 100 other days. With Whitton at the wheel, his car was a deadly missile.
Likewise, police described the two gunshot deaths as accidents. In South Jordan, the 12-year-old victim and his 14-year-old buddy were cleaning a neighbor's garage, when the 14-year-old found a .40-caliber handgun under the front seat of the homeowner's car.
The weapon discharged, hitting the 12-year-old in the head. He died early the next morning.
The gun was inside the man's vehicle, in his garage, on his private property. And before the NRA e-mail tree cranks up, I know that no laws were broken.
As for failure to behave like a responsible gunowner? No law against that, either. An adult stored a gun, with its clip, under a car seat, in a suburban, kid-packed neighborhood.
No, he did not mean for this to happen. Keeping a gun is his right. Now, he might have taken advantage of a trigger lock. He might have even kept the clip in the glove box, far enough away from the gun, perhaps, to give the boys pause.
Instead, there was an accident.
The neighbors said that. "It's just really sad," one told The Salt Lake Tribune. "It's just a tragic accident," said another.
As for Caleb Herrera, who was buried on Thursday, police are still trying to determine where he and his pal got two handguns and two sawed-off shotguns the day they cut class from Salt Lake's Northwest Intermediate School. They only know the weapons were stolen from somewhere in Utah.
Sawed-off shotguns. Illegal to own, but there they were -- readily available, handy, enticing. Their only purpose is to kill. And they did. Accidentally, of course.
On Saturday, the Blue Boar Inn held its second-annual Schutzenfest in Midway. The word sounds like a cross between a curse and a sneeze, but it's actually much more genteel in that it involves guns and beer.
This seemed like the perfect combination for a big news event, so I drove up to check it out. To ensure that I did not become overly involved, my wife came along.
Midway is the right place for Schutzenfest. The surrounding mountains are both beautiful and serve as backstops for any stray bullets. Also, the early Mormon pioneers who settled the place were largely Swiss and German stock. The only festival my own pioneer ancestors could brag about is a potato famine, so I needed someone to explain the more culturally refined Schutzenfest.
Blue Boar innkeeper Jay Niederhauser did the best he could with the journalist he had to work with.
The Schutzenfest began in Germany's lower Rhine region during the Middle Ages when marksmen gathered to prove their skills. It started out with bows and arrows, eventually graduated into musketry, and today may involve artillery.
Competitors on Saturday shot Olympic biathlon pellet guns. The fest boarded the Heber Creeper and rode it out to Soldier Hollow for the actual shooting.
Although Saturday's targets were just small metal disks, the traditional Schutzenfest targets were items meant to be food. Primary among these was the large and wily boar.
Technically a pig, a boar is not your usual cuddly farm oinker. Boars are what happens when pigs form street gangs. They're mean and ugly and a bunch of them gored Old Yeller, all of which make them perfect candidates for shooting.
The Blue Boar Inn has a large statue of, well, a blue boar out front. It looks like an irritated Arnold Schwarzenegger getting out of bed the morning after a night of hard Schutzenfesting.
The good news is that boar is delicious when prepared perfectly by executive chef Chris Sheehan, starting with the proper application of gunfire and moving on to a delicious peanut sauce and a side of sauerkraut. I gained 12 pounds.
Perhaps the most successful Schutzenfest was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, when Germany whopped France.
Today's Schutzenfest is much more sedate although not without its ribald moments, in particular the Old Style-Strong Arm Competition to see who could hold a full beer stein out in front of them the longest.
As usual with Teutonic stuff, this was harder than it sounds. For starters, a regulation German beer stein weighs the same as an iron bathtub. Fill it and the contestant with beer and things get wobbly fast.
In the olden days, the winner of the strong-arm contest was awarded his wife's weight in beer, which may explain why historically German women tend to be rather ample.
Since this was Utah, top prize for the strong-arm contest at the Blue Boar Inn was the winner's weight in Jell-O.
Plans are under way for next year's Schutzenfest. Even if you don't drink, plan on attending by going on a diet right now.
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Salt Lake Tribune columnist Robert Kirby welcomes mail at 143 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or e-mail at rkirby@sltrib.com.
Subject: Fw: News, Trends, and Alerts, September 28, 2003
Date: 30 Sep 2003 15:31:31 GMT
Apparantly, the spoof of the Sesame street image did not make it through for some. Fortunately, the author, James Knowles, responded to me and let me know of a web address where it is available.
==================
Charles Hardy
<utbagpiper@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>I pass it along only to easily include the Sesame Street anti-RKBA graphic.
>
Hi Charles,
I was the one that created the graphic and sent it with my gripe to Dave
Hansen. The picture doesn't appear to have come through my copy of the
e-mail you sent out. FYI it appears to have struck a chord with a fair
number of people, so I put it on the web at
<http://www.ifm-services.com/gallery/silly/letsPlay> for those that want
