Here is the grassroots email I received in response to the hearing on H3405
This organization has a direct impcat on our daily lives and carry rights. Please support them through your membership at
http://www.scfirearms.org/
**Action Alert UPDATE - H. 3405**
January 28, 2011:
YOU DID IT! Thanks to your efforts, H. 3405 was killed!
GrassRoots met early Thursday morning at the statehouse to organize
the GrassRoots Gorillas prior to the subcommittee meeting on H. 3405.
SC Campaign for Liberty and SC Libertarians also called for people to
support GrassRoots in opposing H. 3405.
Spectators filled the subcommittee room to overflowing. Rep. Viers,
chair of the subcommittee, commented a couple of times about how the
pro gun
folks had turned out in large numbers.
There were two other bills on the subcommittee agenda ahead of H.
3405. As discussion on each of these bills concluded and people left
the room,
more gun rights supporters waiting in the hallway flowed into the
subcommittee room to support GrassRoots efforts to kill H. 3405.
Dr. Robert Butler, GrassRoots GunRights V.P and Legislative Director,
was the first member of the public to speak on H. 3405. Dr. Butler
spoke
from the heart without notes, and the meeting was not recorded, so we
can only report the gist of what he said.
Dr. Butler first thanked the subcommittee for the opportunity to
speak. Then, he apologized for GrassRoots sending two letters to the
subcommittee,
but explained that the two letters were a result of the House failing
to properly notify the public about the very existence of H. 3405. The
House
failed to list H. 3405 in the legislative index under the heading of
"weapons" as it should have done. The first GrassRoots letter asked
the
subcommittee to kill H. 3405 since it was too broken to fix. The
second GrassRoots letter replaces the first letter and instead asks
the subcommittee
to amend H. 3405 - with an amendment that GrassRoots already drafted -
so as to provide all concealed weapon permit (CWP) holders with the
same privileges that politicians were asking to get for themselves.
Since Rep. Viers was impressed with the pro gun turnout, Dr. Butler
told the subcommittee that if GrassRoots had been given more notice
about
H. 3405 there would have been even more pro gun people in attendance.
Dr. Butler informed the subcommittee that a few years earlier the
federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had reviewed the research
done on
the effectiveness of gun control laws. The CDC found no valid evidence
that all of the gun control laws combined had saved any lives.
How could that be, he asked rhetorically. Dr. Butler then answered his
own question.
In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would
have to believe that people could not be trusted to do the right
thing, but still
believe that these very same untrustworthy people could be trusted to
obey the gun control laws.
In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would
have to believe that evil people willing to violate God's laws against
murder,
rape, and robbery would not be willing to violate man's law against
using a gun to violate God's law.
Dr. Butler stated that fighting crime by passing gun control laws
would be like fighting alcoholism by passing laws to prohibit liquor
sales to Mormons.
Dr. Butler stated that evil is something within a person, not a gun,
and that the good people who possess a CWP should be allowed to carry
wherever they feel a need to do so. Public safety would be improved by
deleting the CWP prohibited carry locations from the law for all CWP
holders, not just politicians.
Dr. Butler then asked the subcommittee to either amend H. 3405 with
the GrassRoots proposed amendment to extend the special privileges
sought by lawmakers to all CWP holders, or to, in the alternative,
kill H. 3405.
Every person who signed up to speak before the subcommittee about H.
3405 was against the bill. Every lawmaker who spoke on H. 3405
(except Rep. Vick, the bill's sponsor) opposed H. 3405.
Rep. Vick showed up late to the subcommittee meeting. So, instead of
speaking in favor of his bill prior to opening the debate to the
public,
Rep. Vick spoke in favor of his bill after the first few members of
the public spoke against the bill.
Rep. Vick stated that his intention was never to give special
privileges to politicians. Rep. Vick stated that his only concern was
increasing
public safety, especially after what recently happened in AZ. Rep.
Vick should have read his own bill because his bill simply added
politicians
to the list of CWP holders who could carry anywhere in SC.
It is interesting to note that Rep. Vick never once during the
subcommittee meeting stated he would support extending the special
privileges
he was seeking for himself to all CWP holders by supporting the
GrassRoots proposed amendment to H. 3405. Rep. Vick only sought
special
privileges for politicians, never once trying to extend his request to
enable all CWP holders to do as he wanted to be able to do.
After Rep. Vick spoke and tried to justify special privileges for
politicians due to the recent AZ shootings, GrassRoots Executive
Officer
Bill Rentiers added his name to the list of speakers in order to
refute such nonsense. Mr. Rentiers pointed out that the six people
killed during the
Tucson shooting were not politicians, they were citizens just like you
and me. Mr. Rentiers then recounted an incident where his daughter,
who is a CWP holder, was robbed, but was unarmed due to employer
policy. Mr. Rentiers stressed that no special privileges should be
given to public officials that every other law-abiding citizen could
not have.
All members of the subcommittee agreed they could not support H. 3405
as written and voted unanimously to kill the bill. The subcommittee
said it intends to pass future legislation extending gun rights, but
H. 3405 was just too broken to fix.
This victory belongs to YOU! You stopped a politician's attempt to get
special privileges for himself and his colleagues while leaving
out everyone else. GrassRoots GunRights monitors the legislation
politicians try to sneak through, and we keep you informed. It is
YOU, the members of GrassRoots and our supporters, who mobilized, made
the calls, sent the emails, and showed up at the hearings that
deserve the credit for killing H. 3405.
GrassRoots GunRights thanks you for all your hard work in defeating
this horrible bill.
Bill Rentiers
Executive Officer
