From: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com (utah-firearms-digest) To: utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: utah-firearms-digest V2 #258 Reply-To: utah-firearms-digest Sender: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-utah-firearms-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk utah-firearms-digest Thursday, March 18 2004 Volume 02 : Number 258 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 22:25:53 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: SB 140 S2 with anti-gun provision is on House Senate Calander Senator Buttars' "Human Services Licensing" bill, SB 140, Second Sub has popped out of rules and is now on the House's Senate Calander. This means that despite not being heard by a house standing committee, it will likely receive a floor debate a full vote. This bill has almost nothing to do with guns, so it is unlikely that very many legislators even know it is a problem. Everything I can find indicates that this bill still contains two bad amendments: 1-Line 248a which allows the division to consider "access to firearms" in granting licenses, making rules, and otherwise regulating licensees. 2-On line 223, current language of "which shall be limited to" is changed to "which may include." Line 248a HAS to go. Line 223 may or may not be a backdoor attempt to allow the division to consider lots of other things. This is the same agency that in the past has illegally denied much needed, qualified foster parents simply because they owned guns or had a CCW permit. They MUST not gain ANY toe hold into regulating firearms. Please leave (polite) messages for Rep. Chad Bennion (the house sponsor of the bill), Speaker Stephens, and your own Representative asking them to remove line 248a and changing line 223 back to the original language. Messages for all three can be left with a single phone call to 801-538-1029. Charles ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 23:35:07 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Fw: [goutah] GOUtah! Alert #201 The latest from GOUtah! I've also just learned that pro-gun amendments to SB 140 Second Substitute have been prepared. Encourage your Reps to support pro-gun amendments when they come forth. Charles ================== Charles Hardy - ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. GOUtah! Web Site: http://www.goutahorg.org To subscribe to or unsubscribe from GOUtah!'s free e-mail Alerts, send a blank e-mail message to one of the following addresses: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Send comments to: goutah@goutahorg.org ______________________________________ GOUtah! Alert #201 - 3 Mar. 2004 Today's Maxim of Liberty: "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." - -- Edward R. Murrow ANTI-GUN BILL RESURFACES IN HOUSE. PHONE CALLS NEEDED. In Alert #194, we mentioned that the current version of SB 140 2nd Substitute includes a line, line 248a, which states that bureaucrats at the Utah Department of Human Services may make arbitrary rules regarding "access to firearms" when issuing licenses to individuals or organizations. Thus, for example, since all foster homes in Utah must be licensed by the Department of Human Services, this bill would allow the Department to revoke a license from a foster couple if they kept firearms in their home. This bill was to have been considered by the House Natural Resources Committee last week, and we commend those of you who took the time to contact committee members. However, the committee ran out of time before the bill could be heard. The bill got sent back to the House Rules Committee, which just released it directly to the floor of the House this afternoon. That means that the House might have a chance to vote on it this evening. Please call the House Switchboard as soon as you can and leave a message for your own representative. Tell him that you live in his district, and ask him to vote against SB 140 2nd Substitute unless line 248a gets removed. Make sure you clearly say "line 248a" rather than "line 248", because line 248 contains something entirely different. Once you've done this, we would encourage you to leave a message for House Speaker Marty Stephens. He can exercise considerable control in the House regarding the fate of bills that are listed to be heard this evening. His contact info is given at the bottom of this alert. If nobody answers at his office, then you can call the main House switchboard and leave a message there. Tell him simply that line 248a of SB 140 2nd Substitute has to go because it could be used to ban firearms in foster homes. Rep. Stephens is running for Governor this year, so he might listen to us if enough of us can send messages to him this afternoon. House switchboard: 801-538-1029 House fax for Republican representatives: 801-538-1908 House fax for Democratic representatives: 801-538-9505 e-mail addresses for representatives can be found at http://www.goutahorg.org , where you can click on "Legislative Contacts" in the left-hand column. House Speaker Marty Stephens --- Capitol phone: 801-538-1930 Capitol fax: 801-538-1908 e-mail: Martystephens@utah.gov _________________________________________ That concludes GOUtah! Alert #201 - 3 Mar. 2004. Copyright 2003 by GOUtah!. All rights reserved. To Subscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goutah/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 16:07:00 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Create "news" to help defeat SB 48? Before SB 48 had even passed both Houses of the Legislature, the Deseret News was editorializing in favor of a veto. Now, less than 48 hours after it passes, suddenly we're hearing horror stories about foster kids killing their foster parents? Mere Coincidence? Why are children and youth who are so violent even being put into our neighborhoods rather than "rehabilitated" in a more secure environment? A teenager doesn't need a gun to seriously harm a toddler or for that matter, a sleeping adult. I wonder whether the rules against guns apply to police officers who also take in foster kids. Had the incident in the 80s involved fatal stabbings using kitchen cutlery, would there now be a total ban on knives in foster homes? And let us not forget, that their requirement that guns be kept locked up went so far as to prohibit anyone with a CCW permit from being a foster parent. Letters to the editor can be sent to . Letters to the author of the article can be sent to . As always, be polite in any correspondence. Charles From today's DesNews: Guns legal in foster homes? By Amy Joi Bryson Deseret Morning News Families who agree to take in troubled Youth Corrections children have long been banned from having a firearm in their house. But with the Legislature's passage of Sen. Michael Waddoups' so-called "U." gun bill, that apparently won't be the case anymore. Waddoups' SB48 prohibits any state entity from restricting the possession of firearms via an administrative rule or policy, unless authorized in statute. That worries Ken Stettler, director of the Department of Human Services Licensing, which licenses child foster care services through a couple of state agencies — the Division of Child and Family Services and Youth Corrections. The agencies have adopted rules governing firearms as part of the determination of where children are placed and as ongoing restrictions after placement. For foster-care homes under the purview of DCFS, the rule says foster parents have to make sure the guns are inaccessible to children at all times. Firearms and ammunition stored together have to be locked up in vaults or cases — and not a glass-fronted display case. It is even more restrictive for those who agree to take in Youth Corrections children — no guns at all. Stettler said the rules came about as a result of a Utah shooting in the mid-1980s. A husband and wife who took in a Youth Corrections child were killed with their own firearm, Stettler said. "It was a huge and tragic deal at the time," he said, and agencies began to look for ways to minimize the risk of it happening again. "We know that in the foster homes that we license there are going to be children who are in state custody who are are there because they are not capable of making rational choices," he said. "Some are suicidal, some are impulsive or have been involved in criminal or delinquent behavior. Certainly we don't want to jeopardize the health and safety of the child or the foster family in any way." Stettler said he believes with the passage of Waddoups' bill, the Department of Human Services will have to repeal those rules. "We will not be able to withhold licenses based on firearms," he said. But Waddoups said perhaps the issue needs to be revisited regarding its impact on foster care licensing rules. "It is a debate that needs to happen," he said. "The Legislature needs to understand there is a problem and decide how we are going to address it." Proposed legislation to give agencies the ability to impose restrictions on firearms didn't pass. Waddoups did say well-meaning foster care parents should exercise prudence and caution if they decide to take a Youth Corrections child. "They are not just normal foster kids — these are kids who have been taken into custody for problems. They may not be criminals per se, but they are headed down that road as juveniles. . . . If you have a teenage kid with a history of beating someone or using a weapon, how much access do you want to give them to a weapon in your own home?" - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 17:01:16 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Fw: Today's article on foster homes and firearms This was sent to the author of the DesNews article and the editor of the Deseret News. Feel free to use it for ideas if you'd like. ================== Charles Hardy - ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Charles Hardy xxx xxx Policy Director Gun Owners of Utah (GOUtah!) xxx xxx 5 March 2004 Amy Joi Bryson CC Steve Fidel Dear Ms. Bryson, I write regarding your article about firearms in foster homes that appears in today's (Friday, March 5th) edition of the Deseret News. Your article certainly paints a scary picture. But it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. First among those is how long has this story been in the works and how was the topic chosen? You see, I hate to be cynical, but there are several disturbing facts that may be nothing more than coincidental, but taken in total, make me wonder about what is going on. First, the Deseret News editorialized in favor of a veto of SB 48 before it had even passed both houses of the Legislature. Now, less than 48 hours after it passed both houses by veto-override super-majorities, a story implying that if it becomes law troubled children will be given access to guns appears in the same paper. Second, without any prior debate, and without any media mention, a last minute floor amendment was added to SB 140, Second Substitute, "Human Services Licensing Amendments," by Sen. Buttars. This amendment gave the Depeartment of Human Services explicit power to regulate "access to firearms" in the issuance of various licenses. This bill did not receive any public debate in its House committee, but was pulled from the Rules Committee and placed on the House calander in the final day of the legislative session. Thus, had the bill passed, the Department of Human Services would have received broad and sweeping powers to regulate private firearms without ANY public input or debate. Fortunately, the clock ran out and the bill never received a final vote. Finally, the Department of Human Services was called on the carpet in the last couple of years specifically for exceeding their authority by prohibiting anyone with a State issued permit to carry a concealed, self-defense weapon from serving as a foster parent--regardless of whether the children in question were "troubled" or just in need of a loving home. In short, this department has already shown that it is not interested in taking a limited, rational view of which special cases may warrant increased concern or security when it comes to access to weapons. Rather, like too many other executive branch agencies, they have shown forth a clear bias against the private ownership of firearms--particularly those firearms useful for self-defense against criminals. That they must reach back 20 years to a single, tragic incident as justification for a blanket rule suggests to me they are standing on very shaky ground. That they attempted to gain statutory authority to continue a policy that HAS been illegal for many years by sneaking a last minute, one line amendment into a 500+ line bill, thus avoiding any public debate or discussion, indicates an unwillingness, or inability to make their case to the public based on its merits. If you will go check the minutes from both the Senate and House committees that heard SB 48, you'll find that the Department of Human Services did not even bother to offer input on the bill. It is clear they don't want to debate their politically biased rules in a fair and open forum. Rather, they try to gain authority via dark-of-night techniques, and then when those fail, they complain that a bill they weren't even willing to offer input on might actually say, yet again, that the people of Utah are not willing to allow an unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat to impose his political biases or phobias unilaterally on the very citizens who pay his salary. The timing of your article also opens up some serious questions as to whether the Deseret News is manufacturing news stories in an attempt to influence public opinion to achieve their editorial goals. I'm sure, like every reporter, will find that allegation offensive. And I'm sorry, I don't mean to impugn your integrity. But I am curious as to when this assignment was given, by whom, and what relation it may have to the timing of the very recent editorial against SB 48. Here are some of the questions your story doesn't address: Does the gun ban on foster parents apply to police officers who may also wish to host foster children? If not, why? Are police able to use a gun safe differently than everyone else? Since firearms are not, by any stretch, the only dangerous weapon in a typical home, does the Department have rules regarding access to kitchen knives, razor blades, power tools, gasoline and glass bottles, cigarette lighters, robes, natural gas appliances, car keys, etc? IOW, had the tragic and seemingly isolated case from two decades ago involved a stabbing or arson, rather than a shooting, would foster homes be prohibited from containing cutlery or matches? Why hasn't the Department offered testimony of this issue during the legislative session? Why did it attempt to sneak amendments through at the 11th hour and without public debate? Regardless of your position on any issue, intelligent and honest persons--and especially members of the media, I would expect--MUST believe that ANY good policy/rule can and should survive the scrutiny of full and open public debate. Secrecy is NOT a good way to pass laws, make policy, or conduct the business of the people. Why has the Department singled out holders of concealed self-defense weapons for discrimination even in cases where the children are not "troubled" but simply in need of a safe, loving home? Finally, if children are so "troubled" that they cannot be safely placed in a home with firearms, even if those firearms are stored in a safe, is their placement in our neighborhoods really the best course of action in the first place? A teenager doesn't need a firearm in order to gravely injure or even kill a younger child, or even an adult caught off guard. Further, well over half the homes in our State have at least one firearm. Are the children and parents living near foster homes alerted as to the degree to which the foster children moving in and out of their neighborhoods, schools, and local churches are "troubled?" Are they given full notice that such youth should not be trusted with the same level of access to homes, children, etc. that may be given to other neighbors? Is this long illegal rule against guns merely a "CYA" on the part of the department that is placing highly dangerous youth into family neighborhoods without notice to other residents? I apologize for the length, Ms. Bryson, but really, your story leaves FAR more questions unanswered than it adequately addresses. And after writing my final point above, I'm starting to think that an anti-gun bias at the Department of Human Services is not the most serious concern, even for me. I'm far more concerned that Youth Corrections and the Department of Human Services have a complete willingness to do their work in secret, without public disclosure or input, and that such behavior puts us all at risk, not just from bad legislation, but more importantly from highly dangerous youth who may belong in a more secure setting rather than in our neighborhoods, schools, and our children's circle of friends. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any help on this or any future story regarding privately owned firearms. Sincerely Charles Hardy Policy Director GOUtah! ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 21:05:31 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Legislative winners and loser Dear SL Tribune, I write in regard to the unsigned "Legislative Winnders and Losers" article in today's (Friday, March 5) SL Tribune. I really must protest. Are you guys sloppy, lazy, or so biased that you are willing to flat out lie, to make up "news" from whole cloth? Under the bullet point lising "Concealed-carry permit holders" as "winnders" your unnamed writer states that those with these State issued permits can potentially take their weapons into their neighbors' homes. The implication is that permit holders can legally do so against the express wishes of their neigbors. This is BLATANTLY false and any reporter writing about firearms in Utah should be fully aware of that given all the publicity that has surrounded this issue the past year. SB 48 deals ONLY with GOVERNMENT entities like the University of Utah. It contains an explicit provision, listed as paragraph 7, that the bill does NOT affect "private property" rights at all. Existing Utah Statute, 76-10-530, specifically empowers private home owners and churches to exclude privately owned weapons if they so desire simply by making visitors aware that weapons are not welcome. It is CRIME for anyone (other than a government employee, of course) to carry a weapon into a private residence whose owner has given notice that weapons are not welcome. NOTHING passed by the legislature this year even comes close to dealing with, much less overturning the ability of a homeowner to control access to his house in this fashion. The SL Tribune's editorial position against the rights of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves in public has been made very clear on your editorial pages. Please try to keep those opinions on the editorial page where they belong rather than allowing them to leak over into your "news" pages in the form of skewed stories, loaded language, or blatantly false information. I request that a correction be run in the same section and with the same prominence as the story that contains this gross error of well-known fact. Sincerely, Charles Hardy Policy Director GOUtah! ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2004 20:40:23 -0700 From: scottb@xmission.com Subject: Re: FW: Information Alert For All Quoting Utah Shooting Sports Council on 5 Mar 2004 16:08:33 -0700: YOU NEED TO PARTICIPATE IN PARTY CAUCUSES MARCH 23rd "The World is run by those who show up" is a very true statement. Another true statement is that people fit into one of three groups- (a) those who make things happen; (b) those who watch things happen; and (c) those who wonder what happened. In Politics, the elected officials make the decisions. It is a whole lot easier to protect gun rights when you have pro-gun candidates win elections, and that means we all need to help get good candidates elected. If you go back one step further, you need to have pro-gun candidates nominated before you can get them elected. In Utah, candidates are selected sometimes by primary elections, but usually at the state Party Convention, by about 2,500 "Delegates". The Delegates are mostly selected at the "Caucus" (previously called a "neighborhood mass meeting") held in every voting precinct in the state. At a "Caucus" the people who show up (not the ones who stay at home) pick the Delegates. Often there are only 10-20 people at the Caucus, so if you can round up 5-10 people who will vote for a pro-gun rights person, they can be selected to be a Delegate. Usually the caucuses are loaded with school teachers and their friends, who tend to be anti-gun, so if you don't show up, you may not like the choices your delegate makes. FINAL REPORT ON SB 1805- LAWSUIT PROTECTION On Tuesday (March 2, 2004) the anti-gun folks in the U.S. Senate won the battle to load anti-gun amendments on to SB 1805 which would have provided immunity from lawsuits for gun makers when their legal products were illegally misused by other people. Even President Bush asked for a "clean bill", but since he did so in a written "statement of Administration Policy" the night before the debate started, this appeared to be a pretty timid endorsement, and as far as we know, the White House did not work to get the bill passed, but let the NRA do all the real work. That may show that President Bush is not the best friend that gun owners could have. However, Senator John Kerry finally showed up and voted for the first time this year in the Senate- voting FOR the anti-gun amendments, and giving a rousing speech about how much he supported gun control. Kerry is clearly the worst enemy of law abiding gun owners. - ----- 20-30 people may show up at a *legislative district* (many precincts, i.e. 0-2 people per precinct) caucus in the Democratic Party. The Utah GOP seems hopelessly lost to the fascists. The DPU may seem even worse, but considering the total neglect gun activists have given it, it's hardly surprising a mere handful of statist oppressors can so effectively control it. Likewise, why did you let Howard Dean drop from the presidential race? While I've seen no indication he be pro-gun, he's also not anti-gun, which is a far shot better than any of the other contenders, most esp. including John Kerry. If you must beat your head against a wall, choose a softer and thinner wall. Shabbat Shalom, Scott - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 15:27:15 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Fw: [goutah] GOUtah! Alert #202 The latest from GOUtah! ================== Charles Hardy GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. GOUtah! Web Site: http://www.goutahorg.org To subscribe to or unsubscribe from GOUtah!'s free e-mail Alerts, send a blank e-mail message to one of the following addresses: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Send comments to: goutah@goutahorg.org _____________________________________ GOUtah! Alert #202 - 8 Mar. 2004 Today's Maxim of Liberty: "Marxism seems to have become almost thoroughly abandoned, except in United States academia." - -- Jeff Cooper GREAT JOB, PEOPLE! The 2004 General Session of the Utah Legislature adjourned last Wednesday night at midnight. . We're currently preparing a complete list of the gun-related bills and how they fared. Basically, at the state level, there were no anti-gun bills that passed (although SB 175 2nd Substitute, the asset-forfeiture bill, did pass, and could perhaps be considered to be an anti-gun bill in a peripheral sort of way). At the same time, several pro-gun bills passed, and we are not aware of any pro-gun bills that were defeated. At the federal level, a pro-gun bill was hijacked by anti-gun members of the U.S. Senate and was turned into an anti-gun bill, which was then defeated. So, in a nutshell, we took several significant steps forward and no significant steps backward in protecting and expanding the right to keep and bear arms, thanks to your numerous phone calls, faxes, letters, and e-mail messages to politicians over the past six weeks. Congratulations! GET READY FOR ELECTION SEASON! If you are not registered to vote, please do so as soon as possible, either at your County Clerk's office or at your local DMV office. On Tuesday, March 23, at 7:00 p.m., each political party will hold its own caucus meeting in each voting precinct where party members reside. You should choose which party you want to get involved with (Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, Green, etc.) and attend the caucus meeting of your choice. At this meeting, you will have the chance to run for party offices. The most important office, from the standpoint of protecting your Second-Amendment rights, is the office of delegate. You can run to become a state delegate or a county delegate, or both. As a state delegate, you'll be able to vote at your party's state convention to select nominees for statewide offices (governor, state attorney general, etc.) and for the U.S. Congress. As a county delegate, you'll be able to attend your party's county convention and select nominees for the State Legislature, as well as for local offices such as county council or county commission. In some rural areas, a single state legislative district might include more than one county, in which case the nominees for the State Legislature will be selected at the state convention rather than the county convention. Incidentally, those of you wishing to participate in a Republican caucus meeting should be aware that you'll need to be registered as a Republican in order to participate in the meeting. If you are not yet registered as a Republican when you arrive at the meeting, it is our understanding that registration forms will be provided at the door so that you can register on the spot and participate in the meeting. Other parties do not have this registration requirement for participation in their caucus meetings, as far as we know. GOUtah! does not endorse any political party. We're only providing this information about the Republican Party's registration requirement so that you'll be aware of it if you happen to choose to get involved with that party. Locations of the caucus meetings for the various parties will be printed in the state's major daily newspapers on the 20th or 21st of March, the weekend prior to the meetings. Or, you can contact your party's local county office to get the location. You might want to prepare a brief speech that you can give at the meeting, to let people know why you'd make a good delegate. If you can get friends, relatives, and neighbors who live in the same precinct to show up and endorse you and vote for you at the meeting, this will be a big help. If you wish to compose a one-page flyer explaining who you are and why you'd make a good delegate, you can make copies of this and hand them out at the meeting. UTAH SHOOTING-SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS MOURN THE DEATH OF BOB WALTERS It is with great sadness that we report the sudden death of Bob Walters, a long-time competitive shooter and great supporter of the shooting-sports tradition in Utah. A veteran of WW II, Walters, 81, was an avid outdoorsman, an expert pistol shot and a volunteer with the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources who taught hunter safety and winter survival courses to numerous aspiring hunters. Always willing to help move the shooting sports forward, Walters served in many capacities with several local and state organizations, providing both recreational and competitive shooting opportunities to several generations of Utahans. Walters is survived by his wife of 58 years, Hendrika, their three children, Gary, Kathy and Jeff, along with 11 grandchildren and 26 great-grand children. Friends are invited to visit the family on Thursday, March 11th at beginning 10:00 am at the Redwood Memorial Mortuary, 6500 South Redwood Road in West Jordan. Those assembled may share their fondest memories of Bob beginning at 11:00. Interment will follow at the Provo City Cemetery, 610 South State Street in Provo. U. OF U. WANTS TO KEEP GUN BAN, YET ADMITS CAMPUS EMERGENCY PHONE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK The following eye-opening piece is from GOUtah! Director Emeritus Scott Engen: It's a case of academic arrogance and hypocrisy that is striking, even by the standards of the University of Utah's anti-gun administration. The powers that be at that shining college on the hill continue to demand that all students, staff, and faculty members be disarmed while on campus (all in the name of enhancing people's safety) while at the same time admitting that the U's much-touted campus-wide network of emergency telephones doesn't work reliably. In a pair of stories in the March 4th issue of The Daily Utah Chronicle, the official student newspaper of the University of Utah, its writers lament the Utah Legislature's passage of SB 48, a bill intended to compel that school to conform to uniform state law regarding firearms possession, while at the same time admitting in an editorial that the campus-wide network of emergency phones intended to help ensure the safety of students, staff and faculty is only marginally functional. "If you ever plan on being attacked or having any other physical emergencies on campus, make sure you are in an area where the emergency phones work - or where an emergency phone even exists," the editorial writers advise in their column. According to the Chronicle editorial, there are 53 free-standing and 29 hanging phones in the network, and nobody seems to know how many of these actually work. The faulty network costs the University some $24,000 taxpayer dollars per month to operate, and the addition of a single phone station to the network is pegged at $20,000. Assuming these figures are accurate, the emergency phone network must thus have cost something on the order of $1,640,000 to install and about $300,000 a year to maintain and monitor. The editorial loudly laments the lack of funding to maintain the network. "Funds are hard to come by," the missive questions. ".but isn't the safety of students of utmost importance?" Yes, GOUtah! heartily agrees with the Chronicle's editorial statement that the safety of the students, and staff, faculty and all campus visitors is of the utmost importance. That's why GOUtah! has lobbied tirelessly for several years to enact legislation that would compel the University of Utah to stop discriminating against their students, staff and faculty when it comes to lawful possession of the most effective means of self-defense while on campus. We find it odd that the University of Utah's administration is readily able to find the needed economic resources in a tight budget to engage in ongoing Quixotic litigation against the state in order to keep their patently unlawful gun ban in place, yet they can't seem to find the funding to keep their campus emergency telephone network up and running. Perhaps the University of Utah might do better to comply with existing state law in the matter and allocate the funds now wasted on lawsuits to the expansion and maintenance of their emergency phone system. It sounds to us like a resounding wake-up call from both the state legislature and the faculty, staff and students of the University of Utah. Obey the existing state law regarding firearms, and use those scarce budget resources to keep the emergency phones up and running. Can you hear us now? Good! _________________________________________ That concludes GOUtah! Alert #202 - 8 Mar. 2004. Copyright 2003 by GOUtah!. All rights reserved. Reproduction and redistribution of this alert is permitted, as long as authorship is attributed to GOUtah! To Subscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goutah/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 23:10:54 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Friends of the NRA dinner Passing along this info for any who are interested. This year's Friends of the NRA Dinner and Auction will be held Friday, March 26, 6:00 pm at Totem's, 538 South Redwood Road. The cost is $30.00 per person. Proceeds go to youth education, range devlopment, conservation efforts, etc. Tickets (either individuall or sponsorship packages) can be purchased by calling 801-699-7610 or 801-577-2403 or by emailing . The following dress code will be enforced: NO tank tops, t-shirts, cut-off pants, torn or holey clothing, hats or fatigues. I will add my personal opinion here that unless the event one is attending is actually taking place at a shooting range or backwoods cabin, gun owners should always give serious consideration to wearing what I like to call "urban cammo." The purpose of cammo is to blend in with one's environment, to not stick out. In an urban environment--including government meetings, TV interviews, rallies, political events, dinners, etc--the way to not stick out is to wear at least, business casual or better: dresses or skirts/blouses for the fairer gender (at least a nice pants suit) and at the very least, slacks and a button down for the gentlemen (as much as I personally dislike them, I doubt wearing a tie has really killed very many men). Gun owners do NOT do themselves any favors when they show up to public functions or nice meals dressed as if they were going bow hunting or purchased all of their shirts at gun shows. END EDITORIAL COMMENTS ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 17:07:30 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Gov. "inclined" to veto SB 48 S1 We've learned that Gov. Walker is under pressure from the Department of Human Services to VETO SB 48 S1. As you'll recall, SB 48 S1 is Sen. Waddoups' bill that should finally end the UofU gun ban. As a side affect, it seems that it also makes super clear that the Department of Human services cannot discriminate against gun owners or holders of CCW permits when it issues licenses to be foster parents. Like many other agencies, the department of human services doesn't like actually having to follow the law when it comes to respecting your rights. Neither do they like having their rules and policies subjected to open, public debate. This department attempted to gain statutory authority to discriminate against gun owners during a last minute floor amendment added to SB 140. Fortunately, gun owners were alerted, and that bill died in the house. The Department of Human Services NEVER testified on SB 48 or otherwise offered up any concerns. We've made it clear that we are willing to sit down with the Department to find workable solutions to any REAL problems they have. What we don't do, of course, is agree to any kind of zero-intelligence, blanket ban on gun owners. As a side note, I'll add that this very department is now running ads trying to convince more persons to become foster parents. This even as they turn away otherwise willing and qualified couples simply because they own a few guns or have a CCW permit!!!! SB 48 passed by veto-override margins in both houses. This bill MUST be signed and implemented. Please contact governor Walker at (801) 538-1000 and let her know you expect her to sign this bill. If you are (or are planning on becoming) a GOP State delegate, let her know that as well. Please also contact your own Senator and Representative, along with Speaker Stephens and Sen. President Mansell and let them know that you expect them to override any veto of SB 48 S1. Contact info for all legislators can be found at . Charles ================== Charles Hardy ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 20:52:38 GMT From: Charles Hardy Subject: Fw: [goutah] GOUtah! Alert #203 The latest from GOUtah! ================== Charles Hardy - ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- GOUtah! Gun Owners of Utah Utah's Uncompromising, Independent Gun Rights Network. No Compromise. No Retreat. No Surrender. Not Now. Not Ever. GOUtah! Web Site: http://www.goutahorg.org To subscribe to or unsubscribe from GOUtah!'s free e-mail Alerts, send a blank e-mail message to one of the following addresses: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Send comments to: goutah@goutahorg.org _____________________________________ GOUtah! Alert #203 - 18 Mar. 2004 Today's Maxim of Liberty: "Let us remind ourselves again that the Second Amendment of the US Constitution should be referred to as the Statute of Liberty." - -- Jeff Cooper In this Alert: Possible veto of pro-gun bill. Party caucuses this coming Tuesday evening. POSSIBLE VETO THREAT TO IMPORTANT PRO-GUN BILL. PLEASE CONTACT GOV. WALKER'S OFFICE. We've been told that the Utah Department of Human Resources is pressuring Gov. Olene Walker to veto SB 48 1st Substitute, the bill that makes it crystal clear that the State Legislature is the only Utah government entity with authority to regulate the possession and carrying of firearms. The bill passed on the final day of the legislative session by large margins in both the House and Senate. The infamous Paragraph 7 which we had been concerned about was revised and basically neutered at the last minute, so we consider SB 48 1st Substitute to be a good pro-gun bill that deserves to become law. For those of you who are curious, the final version was re-classified as a substitute bill on the last day of the session. Hence the "1st Substitute" suffix. We encourage you to contact Gov. Walker's office as soon as possible and leave a message asking her to sign SB 48 1st Substitute. A simple phone call is probably the quickest way. You can leave a brief message such as "I'm so-and-so from such-and-such a place (give the name of your town or city of residence) and I encourage the Governor to sign SB 48 1st Substitute. Thank you." Phone: (801) 538-1000 Fax: (801) 538-1557 Toll-free phone outside of Salt Lake & Davis County area: (800) 705-2464 Web-based e-mail: http://www.governor.utah.gov/goca/form_comment.html If you happen to be a member of Gov. Walker's political party (the Republican Party) and you hold some sort of party office (state delegate, county delegate, precinct chairman, etc.), please mention this when you contact the Governor's office. While SB 48 1st Substitute mainly targets the University of Utah's gun ban, it also affects all other state and local government agencies. It appears that the Department of Human Resources either has or would like to have a policy of placing restrictions on gun storage and/or gun ownership for foster parents in Utah. An attempt was made by Sen. Chris Buttars (R-10) during the recent legislative session to give the Department statutory authority to enact such a policy. Fortunately, this legislation (SB 140 2nd Substitute) was defeated, thanks to your phone calls, faxes, and e-mail messages. We have not had time to absolutely verify that the Department is pressuring the Governor for a veto, but we think there's a very good chance that our source is correct and that such pressure is in fact being applied. Either way, we think that it's important for you to act. If our source is correct, then your actions can help prevent a veto of this important bill. If our source is not correct and it turns out just to be a rumor, your actions will still be useful because they will show the Governor that gun owners in Utah will not stand idly by when there is even the slightest indication that she might try to do something that threatens your right to keep and bear arms. Gov. Walker is new to her job, and has perhaps not yet come to understand that you take your rights seriously. REMINDER OF TUESDAY CAUCUS MEETINGS As we mentioned in GOUtah! Alert #202, on Tuesday March 23 at 7:00 p.m. the various political parties in Utah will be hosting local caucus meetings in the individual voting precincts. Even if you are not currently registered to vote, you can attend a caucus meeting in your local precinct and register at the meeting. The only requirement we are aware of is that you must be old enough so that you will be eligible to vote by Nov. 2, 2004. Please look in your local newspaper over the next few days for a list of caucus locations, or contact the county or state headquarters of the party of your choice (Democrat, Libertarian, Republican, Green, etc.). GOUtah! is not affiliated with any political party and does not endorse any particular party, but we encourage you to become involved with the party of your choice and try to become a delegate for your party. This will give you a lot more clout with politicians than if you're just an ordinary voter. _________________________________________ That concludes GOUtah! Alert #202 - 18 Mar. 2004. Copyright 2003 by GOUtah!. All rights reserved. To Subscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goutah/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: goutah-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ________________________________________________________________ The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand! Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER! Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today! - - ------------------------------ End of utah-firearms-digest V2 #258 ***********************************