Keep and Bear Arms - Gun Owners Home Page




	Utah Gun Owners Alert from Utah Gun Owners Alliance May 26, 2002 IN THIS REPORT... 1) STORAGE LOCKERS AT COURTS 2) GUNS ON PLANES 3) CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES STORAGE LOCKERS AT COURTS Things just keep getting worse for Utah's beleaguered gun owners who simply want a place to safely store their guns while conducting business or serving as jurors or witnesses at court. Thanks to Rep. John Swallow, the legislature passed a law this year requiring courts to provide storage lockers if they set up a secure area. The bill brings courts into conformity with all the other secure areas in the state which already provide safe storage. This protects people who have business at courts, those who must serve as witnesses or jurors, attorneys who must represent clients, court employees, and families of victims and/or defendants. It also protects the general public, since people currently are forced to leave their loaded guns in cars, bushes, trash cans, and other places where they are easy to steal, or to travel unarmed so that they are easy prey for criminals. This simple, inexpensive, obvious solution has been met with a firestorm of liberal opposition. Sadly, not a single opponent has offered a rational reason for why guns should not be stored at courts. Not one has looked at the evidence that storage lockers have worked well in the Utah courts where they're in place and also work well in federal courts, prisons, mental health facilities, etc. There is simply no evidence that storage lockers "compromise security". Instead, we've been treated to hysterical variations on the old, and long disproved, theory of "The streets of Zion will run with blood". Earlier this month, 6th District Presiding Judge K. L. McIff ordered courts in Sanpete, Sevier, Wayne, Piute, Kane and Garfield counties to ignore the law, and ban all firearms. See http://www.sltrib.com/2002/may/05112002/utah/736075.htm and http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,400008275,00.html. In other words, Judge McIff decided that "separation of powers" means that judges and court employees are above the law and are somehow exempt from laws passed by the legislature. Then yesterday, the Board of District Judges, which represents ALL of Utah's district court judges, voted unanimously to ignore the gun storage law, again asserting that laws passed by the legislature don't apply to them, and that storage lockers compromise security. Even courts which already have lockers in place are planning to remove them. See http://www.sltrib.com/05212002/utah/738687.htm and http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,400009803,00.html. Followed to its logical extreme, this means judges who believe laws don't apply to them can also decide that they need no longer pay taxes, obey traffic laws, and possibly even that they can legally kill attorneys, defendants, or witnesses who anger them. Obviously this is completely ridiculous and a sure recipe for anarchy. In addition, courts are already subject to all sorts of laws. They can't discriminate against women or minorities in hiring and firing. They have to provide facilities for those with disabilities. And they haven't refused to obey those laws. So the issue really isn't whether courts are subject to the will of the legislature, but whether they can ignore laws they don't like. True separation of powers means that the legislature passes laws, the governor checks the power of the legislature with his power of the veto, the attorney general enforces laws, and the courts uphold laws and also decide challenges to the constitutionality of laws. In other words, the courts and the attorney general MUST uphold the law as written. If the courts believe the law is unconstitutional, they can ask for an injunction on its enforcement. They CANNOT simply ignore it! And since the Utah Constitution clearly guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms, it's hard to imagine how the law is unconstitutional. Interestingly, none of these judges bothered to get involved when the bill was being debated in the legislature and as best we can tell, none of them expressed any concerns to either Mark Shurtleff or John Swallow. This makes us wonder how sincere they are in their concerns about either constitutional legislation or public safety. Today, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who has generally been very supportive of gun rights, offered a possible "compromise". His proposal is that judges would have the option of setting up a secure area in the court. If they do create a secure area, lockers would be required. If they choose not to set up a secure area, they could still ban guns, but a violation would be a "contempt of court" citation rather than a felony. See http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,400010032,00.html. While Utah Gun Owners Alliance very much appreciates Shurtleff's support for gun rights, we strongly oppose this "compromise", which is really a surrender that may create more problems than it solves. Under current law, courts can already decide whether they wish to set up secure areas. Only secure areas need to provide lockers, which means a court can already choose not to have a secure area, which would mean allowing guns. There's no need to change this system. The reason people carry firearms to and from courts is for self defense. The proposed "solution" still gives those people a choice between risking being murdered, raped, or mugged - or going to jail on a contempt of court charge. That's not much of a choice! Thus, the new proposal is simply a continuation of the existing policy of severely punishing good people for exercising their right to carry firearms. In addition, it will continue to encourage unsafe practices such as leaving firearms in cars, trash cans and bushes outside courts. It's hard to see how this solution is "safer" than locking guns in storage lockers. Even worse, this proposal violates the standard, set in 1995 with the passage of our concealed carry law, that anyplace that bans guns MUST provide storage. If courts can exempt themselves from this standard, human nature predicts that everyplace else will soon be seeking an exemption or deciding laws don't apply to them either. There's also a principle at stake. Under true separation of powers, the legislature passes laws and everyone is expected to obey them. Sadly, our legislators have not been doing a very good job of standing up for their own constitutionally mandated responsibilities. Instead, they've been allowing the full time executive and judicial branches of government to flout the will of the part time legislature. Last month they were unwilling even to consider overriding Gov. Leavitt's veto of a bill to protect constitutional rights. Now they're unsure about whether to stand up to the scofflaw judges. Sadly, if the legislators don't respect themselves and their own role in government, no one else is going to respect them either. Several solutions are possible: The Attorney General or the legislature can sue the courts. While this is a standard approach, we're concerned that one judge may not be willing to say that another judge is violating the law. The legislature can pass legislation, similar to that sponsored by Sen. Waddoups this year, that creates a procedure for cutting the budget of state entities that violate state law. The legislature could also simply cut the courts' budgets, especially since the courts were given a fee increase this year to be used for lockers. (Could this be why the courts didn't object to the law at the time it was passed?) The House of Representatives can impeach one or more judges for malfeasance in office. For more on impeachment, see the Utah Constitution, Article VI, Sections 17-20, http://www.le.state.ut.us/~code/const/co_07.htm. Utah's gun owners can organize to vote against all district court judges when they come up for their retention votes. What you must do! Contact your OWN Representative and Senator and insist that they support HB 82, Storage Lockers, as it was passed, and that they take whatever action is necessary, including suits, impeachment or budget cutting, to ensure that the courts comply. Contact information is at http://www.utgoa.org/resources/legcontact02.html. Many legislators don't use email except when in general session, so please call or send a letter or fax. Contact Rep. John Swallow and encourage him to do everything necessary to defend his bill without surrendering our rights. Remember to thank him for sponsoring the bill too. This is especially important if you live in the 2nd Congressional district where he is running for Congress. jswallow@le.state.ut.us, or 801-572-8201 Contact House and Senate leadership and insist that they stand up to the courts and assert their constitutional authority to make laws that apply to everyone - including judges. Encourage them to take whatever action is necessary, as above. House leadership: Speaker Marty Stephens, mstephen@le.state.ut.us, 801-731-5347 Rep. Kevin Garn, kgarn@le.state.ut.us, 801-544-3533 (Running for US Congress, 1st District) Rep. David Ure, dure@le.state.ut.us, 435-783-4650 Rep. Greg Curtis, gcurtis@le.state.ut.us, 801-943-3091 Senate leadership: President Al Mansell, 801-942-6019 Sen. Steve Poulton, 801-272-4338 (In a hotly contested election and needs gun owner support) Sen. John Valentine, 801-224-1693 Sen. Peter Knudson, 435-723-2035 Senate email is at www.utahsenate.org Contact Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and insist that he enforce Utah's laws as passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. Thank him for his support so far and encourage him to continue to defend gun rights against attacks by the courts just as he did with attacks by other government entities. uag@utah.gov, 801-538-1121, or 366-0221 Contact Sen. Mike Waddoups and encourage him to introduce his bill to set procedures for cutting budgets of state agencies that violate state law again next year. mwaddoups@utahsenate.org or 801-967-0225 Continue to write letters to newspapers defending storage lockers at courts. letters@sltrib.com, letters@desnews.com, letters@standard.net SAMPLE LETTER TO LEGISLATORS Dear _____________: I am writing to ask you to support the law requiring storage lockers for firearms at secure areas in Utah courts. This law was passed by you, the legislators, and signed by our governor. No one, including judges, is above the law. If you don't take the laws you pass seriously, why should anyone else do so? As a member of the legislature you have the constitutional authority and responsibility to pass laws. The courts have a responsibility to uphold laws, not to violate them. And as a citizen, I have the constitutionally guaranteed right to carry a firearm for self defense. Storage lockers will not endanger public safety. In fact, it is far safer to have loaded guns stored in a secure locker than to have them left in cars, bushes or other unsafe locations where they can easily be stolen and misused. Lockers are already in use at prisons, mental health facilities, youth detention centers and federal courts. Ordinary, law abiding citizens have many reasons to be in a court. They may need to file court papers or attend to other civil matters. They may need to pay traffic fines. They may be compelled to participate in a trial as a juror or witness. They may be attorneys, legal secretaries or court employees. They may be families of victims or defendants. All of these people have the right to carry a firearm for self defense while traveling to and from the court. This is especially important for victims and witnesses who may be threatened by criminals, or for battered wives who need to file protective orders. I encourage you to support Rep. Swallow in defending this law and to do everything lawfully within your authority to ensure that courts provide appropriate storage for firearms. This includes suing the courts, cutting the courts' budget, and even filing articles of impeachment against judges who engage in willful malfeasance. Please don't let the courts (and the University of Utah) set a precedent of ignoring laws they don't like. Such a precedent would be extremely dangerous to our entire system of government. Thank you. YOUR NAME Your address GUNS ON PLANES The Bush Administration has once again insulted gun owners and professional pilots by prohibiting pilots from having firearms to defend their planes. Apparently firearms are such a threat to public safety that it is actually safer to have hundreds of people on a plane shot out of the sky by a fighter jet, or thousands of people on the ground killed by a crashed plane, than it is to allow a pilot to have access to a pistol. This at least is the apparent "reasoning" behind Transportation Undersecretary John Magaw's decision to ban guns for pilots. Magaw is the former head of the extremely anti-gun BATF, so this is no real surprise. What's particularly discouraging is that President Bush appointed both Magaw and Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, knowing that they were both vehemently anti-gun. In other words, responsibility for this mess rests in large part on our President. Fortunately, there is now a bill before Congress to mandate armed pilots, rather than leaving the decision to anti-gun bureaucrats. For more on this issue, as well as a note you can copy to send to your Congressman, see the Gun Owners of America alert at http://www.gunowners.org/a052102.htm. Due to the length of this alert, we are not reproducing it all here. We encourage you also to express your objections to Magaw and Mineta's anti-gun policies to President Bush, president@whitehouse.gov. When deciding who you will support for US Congress, please remember to ask candidates if they will support arming our pilots - or even ordinary passengers. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES Rep. Kevin Garn, who is running for Congress in the 1st District, has somewhat belatedly completed his UTGOA Congressional Candidate survey. The results are posted on our web site at http://www.utgoa.org/candsurvey/FedCandQuest2002.html or at http://www.utgoa.org if you have problems with the first link. Both Garn and Bishop scored 100% and committed to sponsoring pro-gun legislation. No other 1st district candidates responded. In the 2nd District, Swallow and Larsen scored 100%, Bridgewater scored 83%, Copier scored 65% and the rest did not respond. In the 3rd District, Cannon and Burton scored 100% and Woodside did not respond. In addition, we have posted some additional information about candidates who have legislative track records on gun rights. We strongly encourage you to test how sincere candidates are by evaluating their actions. What are they doing about storage lockers in courts? What are they doing about guns on planes? Do their words and actions match? We also encourage you to get actively involved and support the candidates who you believe will do the best job of protecting your rights. The best way to get a candidate to listen to your point of view is to help with his campaign! Copyright 2002, Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. and Sarah Thompson PO Box 1185 Sandy, UT 84091 801-566-1625 http://www.utgoa.org Director@utgoa.org PLEASE SUPPORT UTAH GUN OWNERS ALLIANCE! JOIN US TODAY! Did someone forward this to you? Please SUBSCRIBE NOW! That way you'll receive our FREE alerts as soon as they're released. During the legislative session, we send urgent, time limited alerts. Don't risk missing important information because someone else neglected to forward important information. Our alerts are low volume and average less than one alert per day. To subscribe to the UTGOA list, use the form at http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utgoa or send an email to utgoa-request@mailman.xmission.com with the message "subscribe" (without the quotation marks) in the body. Utah Gun Owners Alliance is completely dependent on your generosity to cover our operating costs. Please consider joining us or sending a donation. Membership information is at: http://www.utgoa.org/pages/join.html. Donations may be sent to: PO Box 1185, Sandy, UT 84091 Checks should be made payable to Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. or UTGOA. Thank for your support! UTGOA is written and distributed by, Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. www.utgoa.org, and Sarah Thompson, M.D. All information contained in these alerts is the responsibility of the author, unless otherwise attributed. Permission is granted for distribution of these alerts so long as no changes are made, UTGOA is clearly credited, and this message is left intact. Archives of the UTGOA alerts can be found at: http://www.utgoa.org/cgi-bin/alerts Utah Gun Owners Alliance, Inc. is a Utah non-profit corporation.