MPPA ,Minnesota Personal Protection Act, Hearing Update
(Repost Far and Wide)
This MPPA message contains a lot of information, so it is important to read
it all.
First. The MPPA is scheduled to be heard before the House Judiciary Policy
and Finance Committee on Wednesday 2/26 beginning at 10:15 to about noon.
This is a major hearing and we would like to see everyone who can manage
the morning off to attend. Rep. Steve Smith will chair the meeting. He
is a very strong MPPA supporter. We expect the bill to pass, Nevertheless
our opposition has been active over the past week in communicating with both
House and Senate membership. It is time we pick up the pace.
The members of the committee you need to call are:
Chair: Steve Smith (R) A 296-9188 rep.steve.smith@house.mn
Vice Chair: Rob Eastlund (R) A 296-5364 rep.rob.eastlund@house.mn
Lead-DFL: Mary Murphy (DFL) A 296-2676 rep.mary.murphy@house.mn
Jeff Anderson (R) ? 296-4193 rep.jeff.anderson@house.mn
Greg Blaine (R) A 296-4247 rep.greg.blaine@house.mn
Doug Fuller (R) A 296-5516 rep.doug.fuller@house.mn
Eric Lipman (R) A 296-4244 rep.eric.lipman@house.mn
Doug Meslow (R) B 296-5363 rep.doug.meslow@house.mn
Duke Powell (R) ? 296-4212 rep.duke.powell@house.mn
Jim Rhodes (R) D 296-9889 rep.jim.rhodes@house.mn
Judy Soderstrom (R) A 296-0518 rep.judy.soderstrom@house.mn
Steve Strachan (R) A 296-1069 rep.steve.strachan@house.mn
Dale Walz (R) A 296-4333 rep.dale.walz@house.mn
Keith Ellison (DFL) D 296-8659 rep.keith.ellison@house.mn
Debra Hilstrom (DFL) F 296-3709 rep.debra.hilstrom@house.mn
Bill Hilty (DFL) D 296-4308 rep.bill.hilty@house.mn
Sheldon Johnson (DFL) F 296-4201 rep.sheldon.johnson@house.mn
John Lesch (DFL) ? 296-4224 rep.john.lesch@house.mn
Michael Paymar (DFL) F 296-4199 rep.michael.paymar@house.mn
Cy Thao (DFL) F 296-5158 rep.cy.thao@house.mn
ex-officio Jim Knoblach (R) A 296-6316 ep.jim.knoblach@house.mn
Once through the Judiciary Policy committee the MPPA will go to the Ways
and Means committee in the house before moving to the floor.
Whats happening with the MPPA
For years we have challenged gun control advocates to walk their talk. We
have suggested that, if they really believe that severely limiting or banning
firearms will make them safer, then they should be willing to put a sign
reading GUN FREE HOME in the window of their residences. As you might expect,
no one has taken us up on the offer
We have been challenge by gun control advocates and representatives of Minnesotas
education establishment to amend the MPPA to ban guns in schools. This would
be like putting a No Guns: Kill at Will sign in every school in the state.
It will advertise to every terrorist, every criminal, and every deranged
lunatic, that Minnesota schools will be more vulnerable targets then they
are today. We believe this is bad public policy and WILL put your, and my,
children at greater risk then they are today. This is political correctness
and so-called zero tolerance run amuck.
In working with law enforcement on this legislation they advanced the long
accepted principle that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior.
We agree. For all the years I have been involved with this issue, Permits
to Carry have been, and continue to be, valid in schools, churches, recreations
centers, sporting venues throughout the state without incident. Interestingly
enough, the second annual report released by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension
confirms that Minnesota already has over 12,000 permit holders, and yet there
has not been a single permit holder arrested for using a firearm in the commission
of a crime. Making permits invalid in school is an ill-conceived solution
looking for a problem.
Shall issue permit systems guarantee equal treatment under the law and provide
a deterrent against criminal activity. According to the FBI, shall issue
states had a 29% lower violent crime rate last year than non-shall issue
states. Shall issue states are also over-represented at the safer end of
the violent crime continuum. In other words, safer states strongly tend
to be shall issue states, while the most dangerous states tend to be the
few states that still limit or prohibit permits.
But the deterrent is only valuable where it is known to exist. In every
facility in which permit holders are denied access, there is an increased
likelihood of an attack, by providing, and announcing, a defense-free zone
for criminals and terrorists.
Our representatives and senators will be lobbied to make venue after venue,
facility after facility into a so-called gun free zone. In truth such rules
will ONLY affect the innocent, since criminals and terrorists will ignore
them. It will also severely reduce the deterrent value that shall issue
has been shown to produce.
If the legislature allows banning permit holders in schools, two things are
certain. First, schools will not be safer just because a permit holder is
no longer allowed to carry a gun into a school; they are not a threat in
the first place, as the record has shown. Second, should a school become
a target of terrorists or even a psychotic student, then the gun control
advocates, Minnesotas education establishment, and legislators are going
to have to take a share of responsibility for the consequences.
We need to let legislators know that it is unacceptable to create such defense
free zones.
Finally, our opposition will be working hard to pile killer amendments onto
the MPPA. We must communicate to our elected representatives that we are
watching and we will expect them to vote down such amendments.
In the Senate
DFL Senate leadership is still controlled by a small group of inner city
Metrocrats who are taking a Hunker Down approach that can only hurt them
in the long run. Unfortunately these actions will also block legislation
supported by a majority of Minnesotans (and a majority of Senators). So
what are they doing?
Changing the rules in the middle of the game
Sabotaging Senate rule 5.2. This rule normally allows a majority (34) of
the Senators to pull a piece of legislation from a committee to the floor
of the Senate and allow the whole Senate to vote on the measure. The rule
is rarely successfully used. However, its design is an important check on
Committee Chairs holding legislation hostage or attempting to kill popular
legislation.
DFL Senate leadership and Metrocrats fear legislation like the MPPA so they
are changing the rule, proposing that it require a super majority (41 votes)
to pull a bill from committee to the floor. In a closely divided Senate,
this effectively allows the Metrocrats to kill any bill in committee.
Hiding from the public
Under the guise of budget cuts, the DFL Senate leadership has decided to
black out ALL public television broadcasts of their proceedings, effective
March 17!
Sequestering of the Senate --
Under the guise of budget cuts the DFL Senate leadership has decided to cut
off access to Senators during floor sessions by eliminating the pages. In
the past, pages have taken notes to senators requesting that they step out
of the chamber to visit with citizens and lobbyists. During floor fights
to pass legislation, access to senators can be critical in the tactical battles
to win a legislative victory. Without pages, there is no way to get messages
to senators. We can only hope that Senate Republicans donate staff time,
arrange for student interns or spend money from their caucus budget to restore
access to our elected representatives.
Summary --
We have been told that the Senate is going to hear the MPPA in committee.
We have not been told when or where. Never mind the committees are stacked
against us. Never mind any changes to the bill in the senate will trigger
a conference committee in which the MPPA will die.
What has really surprised us is that at least one DFL Senator who has in
the past been a supporter has threatened to vote against the MPPA if it arrives
on the floor though any other process other than the senate committee process.
It causes us to wonder. So far, DFL senators have been unwilling to make
any move that could be seen as supporting passage of the MPPA other than
trying to take control of the bill from Sen. Pariseau. Its been all talk
and no walk
We believe it is time to let these Senators know that this type of game playing
is unbecoming. We need to encourage them (politely but FIRMLY) to PASS THE
MPPA AS WRITTEN IN THE PARISEAU AND BOUDREAU BILLS, WITHOUT AMENDEDMENTS.
Tell them you will support them for passing the undiluted MPPA. And that
you will NOT support them if they play political games. Below are the Senators
you should write or call (again be positive yet firm):
Dallas C. Sams 11 A+
David Tomassoni 05 A
Gary W. Kubly 20 A
Jim Vickerman 22 A
Keith Langseth 09 A
Leroy Stumpf 01 A
Rod Skoe 02 A
Thomas (Tom) Bakk 06 A
Tom Saxhaug 03 B
You can get contact information from:
http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/members/CCRN LEADERSHIP TEAM
