2013 Legislative session

[John Galt]

50-0 vote in the Senate, now it's off to Governor Pence's desk!

 

[Bill of Rights]

The session is done. The House and Senate have adjourned Sine Die ("without date"), meaning they're done for this year. There were several good bills this year, many of which died on the vine, never even given a hearing. The reporting on Sandy Hook (and resultant blowback) didn't help, of course, and I can imagine an additional part of the reason for those bills not being heard is that there is a supermajority in both houses; literally, anything that the GOP wants to do right now, it can, but neither the House nor Senate leadership want to pull an Obama with the "Elections have consequences" thing. That didn't go over so well when Obama said it. In addition, I'm told that Speaker Brian Bosma is very sensitive to media issues: No one, least of all the guy in charge of the whole thing, wants his name to show up on a bill that "allowed" a tragedy to happen. (Remember, not everyone views things with the common sense some INGO members use: While we know that no law "allows" a tragedy any more than it prevents one, media spin ("Lax gun laws allow murder in school!", or some such) can make the sky green and the grass blue.) I'm not willing to give them a "pass" on doing this, but I am willing to agree that, not being "gun guys", they might simply be ignorant of the truths we know here. Ignorance, I hasten to add, is curable by education. I'll come back to that point in a minute.

One bill that received tumultuous objection this session was SB 555, which would have created a new state license, one that required training, a photo, and a variety of other hoops to jump through to obtain it. I can see where, correctly administered, such a bill could have had promise, but in the end, people are not willing to trust government to correctly administer anything, and they darn sure aren't willing to trust that government will never change to the benefit of "the other side". Again, that bill did not pass. However...

Good laws we saw this session:
HB 1563: Hunting with suppressors was decriminalized, while at the same time making it a new offense to hunt somewhere without permission while in possession of a suppressor. That is, as long as you're hunting legally, with permission of the landowner, the fact that you have and/or are using a suppressor is no longer a crime. In addition, a couple of amendments made it into this good bill in conference committee. As a result, shooting ranges now have some protection from localities trying to legislate them out of business and automatic knives ("switchblades") are no longer unlawful to own, carry, buy, sell, etc.
SB 1: It is now IN law that schools must have someone on staff that is armed and trained to protect students and faculty alike. This does not have to be a police officer. As an added bonus, a late amendment to that bill was added that... ready for this?... REMOVES the prohibition on carry at "property being used by a school for a school function"! Thus, IC 35-47-9-2 now reads:

IC 35-47-9-2
Possession of firearms on school property, at school function, or on school bus; felony
Sec. 2. A person who possesses a firearm:

(1) in or on school property or;
[STRIKE](2) in or on property that is being used by a school for a school function; or[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE](3)[/STRIKE] (2)on a school bus;
​

commits a Class D felony.

THIS. IS. HUGE!
​

No more worries about the school field trip showing up somewhere where you are lawfully armed. No more "roving school GFZ". No more worries about a trip to the zoo or the park suddenly making you an instant, unavoidable felon.

I said a moment ago that I'd come back to the education issue. Here it is.
I received a message from a legislator who asked me to pass this along here:

Bill,
If you could please spread the word that these Reps. were/are very instrumental in getting our gun rights protected, it would certainly help.
Rep. Jud McMillan - District 68
Rep. Sean Eberhart - District 57
Rep. Heath VanNatter - District 38
Rep. Jim Lucas - District 69
Rep. Eric Koch - District 65

The ones in leadership that need NICE and POLITE correspondence encouraging consideration of gun friendly legislation are:
Speaker Brian Bosma
Rep. Bill Davis - District 33 - Chairman of Public Policy Committee

We had a pretty decent year, as far as legislation goes. We didn't lose ground and we actually picked some up. We have the momentum with us and I want to work on our cause during the summer. Constant POLITE "reminders" to these people, especially leadership (they decide what and what does not get heard) REALLY does help! it's a long hard road, and nothing is promised, but nothing easy comes to those that don't fight!
Thanks for all you do. I believe that if we can keep constant pressure applied, from your side and mine, we can eventually make Indiana the envy of the nation and how it really should be -

(The above message is reposted with his permission. I couldn't say it any better than he did.)

Now... some of us are not inclined to trust politicians, and in many cases, we don't want to compliment them. We need to remember that they are people first, though, and like any of us, we like being praised when we do well. We can all take a little criticism when something we do displeases someone, even our employers, but it's awfully nice to know you have the backing of the people that employ you when you're deciding to risk some political capital or even risk losing the job you worked to get. Sadly, none of the above are my Representative. I'll be letting him know my position on the above and encouraging his future support of good bills, examples of which would be repeals of old laws that were never really any good in the first place.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to ask that you each join me in writing to our legislators often over the next 8 months. Initially, as in right now, they need to each get a "thank you" for the good work they did if they voted in our favor on the above bills. Over the next several months, I'd like to see them each (as in all 150 of them!) receive no fewer than eight, preferably 16 or more notes of encouragement to vote in favor of gun rights next session. We can include bits and pieces of pro-gun rights information in those notes, such as the fact that LTCH holders are not the ones found to be committing crimes, only stopping them, as evidenced by how few of our LTCHs are revoked or even suspended each year, but they need to hear from us, not only during the session but throughout the year as well. In the words of the legislator who wrote to me,

When telling everyone to contact these Representatives, please STRONGLY encourage them to keep it POSITIVE and ENCOURAGING. It's not that we're thin-skinned and can't take the criticism, but we get enough hate mail the way it is and those types of emails or letters don't really go a long way towards generating positive interest in a topic. If it's something I believe in, I can take all of the criticism in the world. But if it's something I believe in, but is controversial (like guns!), then a little positive reinforcement goes a LONG way towards encouraging me to stick my neck out on the chopping block, if you know what I mean!

In short, I'd like all 150 of them to come back to the next session primed with the knowledge that their constituents (US!) overwhelmingly favor gun rights and want them to vote in our favor.

Thank you all for following this thread this session. Please start writing the representatives and senators now.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Speaker Bosma has signed 1563 but we are still waiting for Senator Long, PPT, to sign 1563. Once he signs it and it is in the Gov.'s office the 8 day clock begins for Gov. Pence.

Everyone relax, this is not unusual as there iare many loose ends for leadership to do after a session.

 

[brotherbill3]

Speaker Bosma has signed 1563 but we are still waiting for Senator Long, PPT, to sign 1563. Once he signs it and it is in the Gov.'s office the 8 day clock begins for Gov. Pence.

Everyone relax, this is not unusual as there iare many loose ends for leadership to do after a session.

Kirk - is there any 'repurcussion' or 'option' for Long to delay or whatever (not saying he will/would) that could affec the process ... or is this just an administrative thing that he has to do?

I noticed the status of this too, and while I'm pretty well versed on the process, some of these 'intricacies' are not always clear.

Thanks.

 

[Bill of Rights]

HEA 1563 (and one other nice surprise) have been delivered to Gov. Pence. I'm told he's signing HEA 1563 tomorrow. Not sure about the other. More details as soon as I'm able to give them.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[KLB]

HEA 1563 (and one other nice surprise) have been delivered to Gov. Pence. I'm told he's signing HEA 1563 tomorrow. Not sure about the other. More details as soon as I'm able to give them.

Blessings,
Bill

Surprise?

 

[Bill of Rights]

Surprise?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

There you guys happy now.

 

[Bill B]

I'd be offended if I wasn't laughing so hard.

 

[CathyInBlue]

So, silencers for hunting and common carrying of switch-blades are just hours away from being legal in Indiana?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Hours? Weeeelllll, OK, we can go with hours.

 

[KLB]

 

[DaKruiser]

So, silencers for hunting and common carrying of switch-blades are just hours away from being legal in Indiana?

July 1st

Here's the bill in PDF if you want to read it

http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2013/PDF/HE/HE1563.1.pdf

 

[jedi]

fornon-knife people like me what exactly is a switch blade?

 

[Bill of Rights]

fornon-knife people like me what exactly is a switch blade?

You press a button to deploy the blade.
All the ones I've seen use a spring to do the work.

 

[jedi]

& why were those illegal?
what happened to make them illegal and how long ago?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

& why were those illegal?
what happened to make them illegal and how long ago?

See 1:45 to 1:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRhYNLaziO8

 

[Bill of Rights]

OK, someone out there with a law degree... The repeal of Indiana's switchblade ban being imminent, I have to ask:

According to 15 USC 1241-1244, having those little beasties is still a violation of federal law, or so it would appear. Is there some exception to that of which I'm not aware or is it going to be the same as California's law in re: marijuana? (legal at state level, not legal federally.)

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Bill of Rights]

& why were those illegal?
what happened to make them illegal and how long ago?

According to one site I saw (not sure how accurate it is) the federal law I cited above was enacted in 1958 in a knee-jerk response to a fear generated around the production (play or movie, I don't know which) of West Side Story.

Kinda like the GCA enacted after JFK, RFK, and MLK were assassinated.

And just as useful at stopping crime, which is to say, not at all.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[MTC]

See 1:45 to 1:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRhYNLaziO8

Outstanding, Professor!
With that in mind, and along the lines of the following ...

According to one site I saw (not sure how accurate it is) the federal law I cited above was enacted in 1958 in a knee-jerk response to a fear generated around the production (play or movie, I don't know which) of West Side Story.

Kinda like the GCA enacted after JFK, RFK, and MLK were assassinated.

And just as useful at stopping crime, which is to say, not at all.

... will you comment on a hypothesis I'd had for many years? That is, that being a movie culture, large numbers of people, including many legislators, get their "education" on firearms, edged weapons, etc. from - and are highly influenced by - Hollywood movies.