April 15, 2003 Legislative Report

BREAKING NEWS!
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION

[For Up-to-the-date information on the effort to pass LTC in Missouri, check out our website at: www.gclastl.org and sign up for our Grass Roots Action Network email alerts]

HS HCS HB349 is on the MOVE AGAIN!!!

On April 14, 2003, HS HCS HB349 was assigned to the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. While some may have misinterpreted this action as an attempt to stall the bill, it is actually a required step in the process before the full Senate can debate the bill.

HS HCS HB349 was heard by the committee THIS MORNING and APPROVED. It will now be placed back on the calendar an await its turn for floor debate and MAY EVEN be debated by the full Senate before this week is over [cross your fingers].

Once the bill gets to the floor for debate, expect that a floor substitute will be presented and passed. The senate has already been working on a substitute bill similar to the one passed by the House making minor corrections that it deems necessary to clean-up some of the language.

Once on the floor the task will be to DEFEAT any and ALL negative amendments that will definitely be offered by those in the Senate that our opposed to personal self-defense and passage of HS HCS HB349.

Our preliminary assessment of how the votes should occur indicates that there should be enough votes to turn away ALL negative amendments. Unless there is some form of horrible mistake made during debate, this bill should pass the senate. The main question remaining is by what margin. Some scenarios show a vote result as high as 24-10. But we will have to wait and see when the final votes are cast.

Debate of this important measure may happen very soon so if you have not called your senator yet, do so today. Thank him/her for their support of License-to-Carry reform and their support for final passage of HS HCS HB349.

When you are through calling your senator, call some of the other senators as well. The anti-self-defense crowd does not limit their phone calls to their own senators.

Call Senator Peter Kinder at (573) 751-2455 or fax (573)751-2902 and thank him for his support for LTC reform and his efforts to get HS HCS HB349 successfully passed and to Governor Holden´s desk.

Call these senators as well and say "Thank You" for supporting passage of HS HCS HB349 - the License-to-Carry reform bill. Be polite and remember to follow up your phone call with a short handwritten letter.

AFTER THE SENATE, WHAT IS NEXT?

If the floor substitute is approved by the Senate [and it most likely will], or if the House bill is amended in any fashion by the Senate, the bill will then have to be returned to the House for approval.

Option 1: If the House approves the senate-approved version, it goes to the Governor for action [or inaction].

Option 2: If the House refuses to approve the senate version, the bill will then be sent to conference committee. Once in conference, the differences in the bills as passed by both houses would have to be ironed out by the members of the committee. Once the committee agrees to the "compromise" version of the bill, both the Senate and the House must then approve it again!

So be aware that we most likely will need the help of the House in securing final passage for HB349. IF you have not called and thanked your representative for their support, do so TODAY. You can find the list of how the representatives voted on HB349 by going to our website: www.gclastl.org.

WHAT IF HB349 PASSES BOTH THE HOUSE AND SENATE?

When the House and the Senate both approve the same version, the bill will be delivered to Governor Holden for action. Governor Holden can exercise one of three options: 1) Veto the bill; 2) Sign the bill into law [takes effect in August 2003]; or 3) Leave the bill alone and allow it to become law.

Of the three options we would hope that Governor Holden would sign the bill into law. However, this is unlikely. The second option would be to allow it to become law by taking no action. In Missouri, if no action is taken by the governor within a certain time limit that the bill reaches his desk, it automatically becomes law. We would be happy if Governor Holden would do this as well.

However, IF Governor Holden vetoes the bill, the House and Senate will have the opportunity to override his veto during the veto override session. During the session, the motion to overturn the veto must be made by the floor handler of the bill. Since the bill started in the House, Representative Larry Crawford would have to make the motion. If the House, by 2/3´s majority votes to override Governor Holden´s veto, then the Senate floor handler would have to make the motion to override the veto. At this moment, the floor handler for HS HCS HB349 has not been determined.

IF you have not contacted Governor Holden´s office yet, please do so today. Call Governor Holden´s office and politely inform his staff person that you support License-to-Carry reform and hope he will consider allowing HS HCS HB349 to become the law for Missouri. You can call the Governor´s office at 573-751-3222 or fax at 573-751-1495.

Politely inform the staff person that in March of this year, Colorado and New Mexico also passed LTC reform and became the seventeenth and eighteenth states to debate AND PASS LTC reform since Missouri started talking about it in 1991. Thank them for their time.

A REMINDER: Whenever you deal with an elected official, or their staff, ALWAYS BE POLITE, even if they are not. ALWAYS be brief and thank them for their time. Follow up with a nice handwritten letter too.

The "fun" has begun. Get active in the effort to pass LTC. Make your polite phone calls and send your letters today.

ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL

A spokesman for the Bush White House has stated that the President supports RENEWAL of the "assault weapon" ban that was narrowly passed in 1994 and set to "sunset" and expire in September of 2004. There had been some hope among gun rights organizations that a renewal of the ban would not occur especially in light of recent dramatic set-backs to the national gun-control movement.

Please take a moment to contact the White House and voice your displeasure at this announcement.

You can email the President at:
president@whitehouse.gov or you can call the White House at:

Greg Jeffery
Legislative Chairman
Gateway Civil Liberties Alliance: www.gclastl.org
Legislative Coordinator
Missourians for Personal Safety: www.moccw.org
Designated Part-time Spokesman
Western Missouri Shooters Alliance: www.wmsa.net

IF you have not signed up for our Grass Roots Action Network email list, please do so today. Don´t forget that you can see our alerts, our newletters and other pertinent information on the struggle to enact License-to-Carry legislation for Missouri by visiting our website at: www.gclastl.org or the website of other state grassroots groups such as MPS at: www.moccw.org and WMSA at: www.wmsa.net and MSSA at: www.safewithguns.org.