In an extremely disturbing move, it appears that the Connecticut legislature is preparing to fast track new gun laws using an expedited process known as an "emergency certified bill" that will effectively shut the public out of deliberations by bypassing normal public hearing and committee processes.
This is an extremely dangerous path for our state legislators to follow. The tragic murders committed by a deranged young man at Sandy Hook Elementary School cannot now be prevented. The argument that there is an emergency is disingenuous at best. In fact it would be an egregious abuse of the legislature's authority to rush through the process without public participation given that Connecticut's constitution - by Article I, Section 15 - provides that Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state. Nothing the legislature can now do will bring those murdered in Newtown back. In order to seek to find the best possible way to prevent a recurrence of such a terrible event in this state, the process must instead be as deliberative and transparent as possible.
To voice your concerns about the legislature using the expedited emergency certified bill mechanism, please send an email to each of the following:
Senate President Pro Tem Donald E. Williams Jr.(D-Brooklyn), House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey(D-Hamden), House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr.(R-Norwalk) and Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield).
One can but wait and see. And then once the laws are enacted, they can formulate their strategy to take the offending weapons from the hands of the law abiding public.
ReplyDelete(Molan Labe)
Many people have no idea what the real realities are. In any given year there are less than one thousandth of one percent of the American population that meet there demise at the wrong end of a rifle let alone the media demonized "assault" weapon. Statistics are located at the bottom of this blog I found.
ReplyDelete(http://muzzlefront.com/guest-blog-chris-byrne/)
There's over 300 Million people in the United States and less than 325 deaths due to any sort of Rifle. We are doing out best to reach out to folks and show them ways to lobby for their rights.
Further to Steve's point, the problem isn't guns any more than Rosie O'Donnell can point to high-capacity spoons as the source of her larditude.
ReplyDeleteRather the problem rests with difficulties in the human condition and our ability to deal with mental illness.
Yos: Thanks for the link to The Anarchist Soccer Mom's own compelling story. I thought my sons were tough to deal with. Heart-wrenching stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes, mental illness is plainly what's principally at fault in these mass killings.
I read yesterday that CT Trooper Lt. J. Paul Vance had updated the Sandy Hook parents and had told them upon inquiry by a Newtown parent, that the Newtown murderer's privacy rights did not perish with him. I'll take Lt. Vance at his word that he is correct on the law, but that is certainly NOT what the law should be in situations such as the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary. We have a right to know whether the killer was on powerful and potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals of which there are many in the psychotropic treatment panoply.