April 17, 2003 Legislative Report

[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]

SENATE ASSIGNS FLOOR HANDLER!!!

The Senate continued preparations for the upcoming full floor debate on HS HCS HB349. The bill reviewed and approved by the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee on April 15th.

Yesterday [4-16], the assignment of the senate floor handler was made official when Representative Larry Crawford [the House main sponsor] turned control of the bill over to Senator Harold Caskey.

Senator Caskey has been a long time supporter of the effort to pass a License-to-Carry reform law for Missouri. Senator Caskey was at the helm in 1995 when we came very close to passing LTC reform in 1995. He is a master parliamentarian and supporters of the reform effort are pleased he has agreed to handle the bill on the senate floor for the upcoming debate.

NEXT STOP. FULL SENATE FLOOR DEBATE

HS HCS HB349 will now go to the calendar and wait its turn for floor action by the Missouri Senate.

The Senate IS working on a floor substitute to make some "technical" corrections that they feel are necessary to perfect the bills. Expect that a floor substitute will be offered.

The primary task once on the floor will be to DEFEAT any and ALL negative amendments that will definitely be offered. Unless there is some form of horrible mistake made during debate, we should have the necessary votes to DEFEAT ALL negative amendments and this bill should pass the senate. The main question remaining is by what margin. We will have to wait and see when the final votes are cast if a "veto-proof" margin is achieved.

Debate of this important measure could 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. Then call the other senators and let them know of your support as well.

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 Senator Harold Caskey at (573) 751-4116 or fax him at (573) 751-9751 and say "Thank you" for his long time support and his efforts to achieve successful passage of HS HCS HB349 by the full senate.

Call the senators listed below 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?

As discussed in our Update from April 15^th, the bill may have to go back to the House for final approval. If you have not thanked the representatives that voted for HS HCS HB349, 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?

Governor Holden can exercise one of three options when it reaches his desk: 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.

Be aware that tremendous pressure being applied to Governor Holden from both sides of this debate. He NEEDS to hear from YOU. In his world the "best" result would be for the bill to NOT reach his desk. Threats of a veto have worked to prevent this in years past BUT it does NOT look like the threat will stop the bill this year.

If the bill reaches the Governor´s desk and he takes no action [does not sign or veto] after a set amount of time, the bill will automatically become law. Although in an ideal world we would prefer he sign the law, we would be happy if he just allows it to become law without any action.

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.

Greg Jeffery
Legislative Chairman
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 newsletters 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.