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Senate sponsor, Unknown |
House Bill 134 S4: Gun Safe Registration and Anti-Gun
Propaganda Distribution
by
statuator
Steve Eliason,
house district 45, "Republican".
Summary:
This bill would utilize the
government's concealed carry "permit" extortion process to offer
perverse financial incentives to businesses that sell gun
safes. It would also appropriate tax monies to
notoriously anti-gun bureaucracies for dubious "gun safety"
programs, and create a de facto gun safe registration program
for those who foolishly
participate.
Status:
This bill passed the house (70
yeas, 1 nay, 4 absent/not voting), passed the senate (22
yeas, 4 nays, 1 absent/not voting), and was
signed by Executive Monarch Gary Herbert.
UT Gun Rights opposes
this bill. See its
bill status page. To contact your statutators,
click here.
"REFRESH"
this page ("F-5" on most browsers) to
see latest version.
Last updated: 3/14/14
at 12:55a.
Click picture to enlarge. |
The Devilish Details: Extortion and Perverse
Incentives for Political Gain
Note: Some details were altered in the enacted substitute, but
this bill remains a monstrosity, and all arguments against it
still apply. Statutators craftily offered a perverse incentive
to attempt to shamelessly appease gun owners by reducing the
initial concealed carry government "permit" fee. This
threat briefing will be updated later.
HB 134 S1
appropriates $900,000 (lines 320-341) to a new "Firearm Safety
Program" (lines 141-198) managed by individuals appointed by
notoriously anti-gun collectives like the Utah Department of
Health, "local mental health and substance abuse authorities"
and the State Office of Education. The program includes a representative
from an unnamed "non-profit organization" (lines 147-158).
Under the mantel of "firearms
safety", these collectives will be funded with your money to
advocate such "safety" measures as:
* Having children, neighbors, and
in-home service providers turn into the government anyone they
know who owns firearms (since all firearms have the potential
to be used unsafely);
* Mandatory use of cable locks and
gun safes as a phony deterrent to suicides and accidents;
thereby assisting violent criminals in carrying out their
despicable attacks; and
* Reckless expansion of categories of
persons permanently prohibited from owning firearms.
The bill would also create new perverse
financial incentives in the form of "redeemable coupons" (i.e.
tax subsidies) for businesses that sell gun safes to
individuals seeking a government "permit" to carry concealed.
From lines
178-195:
(5)
The state suicide prevention coordinator, in consultation with
the violence and injury prevention coordinator, shall create
and administer a redeemable coupon program described in this
section and Section 76-10-526, that may include:
(a) producing a redeemable coupon
that offers between $10 and $200 off the purchase of a gun
safe from a participating dealer by a Utah resident who has
filed an application for a concealed firearm permit;
(b) advertising the redeemable
coupon program to all dealers and maintaining a list of
dealers who wish to participate in the program;
(c) coordinating with the bureau
in accordance with Subsection 53-10-202 (18) to mail the
redeemable coupon and the firearm safety brochure to the
bureau; and
(d) collecting from participating
dealers receipts described in Section 76-10-526 and
reimbursing the dealers.
(6) In accordance with Title 63G,
Chapter 3, Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act, the state
suicide prevention coordinator, in consultation with the
violence and injury prevention coordinator, shall make rules
that establish procedures for:
(a) producing and distributing the
firearm safety brochures and packets;
(b) procuring the cable-style gun
locks for distribution; and
(c) administering the redeemable
coupon program.
In other words, the state would
provide taxpayer-funds to for-profit businesses and assist
them in gaining unfair market access to concealed carry
government "permit" seekers. Those businesses that choose
to participate will be enriched at taxpayer expense, and those
who honorably do not will see their businesses harmed and
their competitors rewarded for cooperating
with the state.
Perverse
government financial incentives are not only harmful because
of unfair government favoritism, but also prevent people
from courageously pursuing substantive improvements to status quo
injustices.
For example,
the mere existence of Utah's concealed carry government
"permit" has already created a new industry of
bureaucrats who administer the system and concealed carry
"permit" instructors. These individuals are financially beholden to the
state for much, or all, of their livelihood. Because classes
are required by the state to obtain a "permit", these
bureaucrats and instructors are more likely to experience a demand for their services.
Remember this fiasco? |
If
the de facto extortion process underyling government concealed carry
"permits" is ended,
instructors may need to find new avenues of employment.
While some instructors are courageous enough to
resist the temptation to perpetuate the status quo,
many now publicly and/or privately oppose eliminating the
concealed carry mandate.
In the
2013 Utah Government Corruption Report, UT Gun Rights revealed a secret communication
between USSC chairman and concealed carry instructor W. Clark
Aposhian and Mike Mower, Executive Monarch Gary Herbert's
Deputy for Community Outreach. In it, Aposhian appeared to
secretively facilitate opposition to last year's gun rights
bill HB 76 S1 (i.e. to carry "unloaded" firearms concealed
without a permit). To read the transcript,
click here.
How likely
is it that Aposhian would have behaved in this manner had
there been no financial incentive to perpetuate the concealed
carry government permit? Under similar rationale, those
businesses that foolishly choose to participate in HB 134 S1's new
gun safe tax subsidy will be perversely incentivized to continue, and even
expand, it.
Another Trojan Horse Tracking
Program
HB 134 S1 also creates the means to
institute a gun safe owner registry for those who purchase
safes with this new refundable coupon (i.e. tax
subsidy). From
lines
311-319:
(15)
(a) A dealer may participate in the redeemable coupon program
described in Section 62A-15-1102 and this Subsection (15).
(b) A participating dealer shall:
(i) accept the redeemable coupon
only from the individual whose name is on the coupon and apply
it only toward the purchase of a gun safe;
(ii) collect the receipts from the
purchase of gun safes using the redeemable coupon and send
them to the state suicide prevention coordinator for
redemption; and
(iii) make the firearm safety
brochure described in Section 62A-15-1102 available to
customers free of charge.
"Have we got a deal for
you gun owners!" |
How will
this information be utilized? Who (else) will get to see
these receipts? Will the Obama regime get a copy? How long
will they be stored? No answers are provided in the bill
itself, and whenever language is vague, it almost never works
to the favor of innocent gun owners.
It is easy to imaine how the
government might launch quasi-military raids on all owners of
large gun safes. Obviously having a registry of such
owners is a necessary ingredient in the "success" of such a
venture.
Recent
events demonstrate a shocking failure of the state in
protecting private information held by the state as indicated
by the
theft of records involving nearly a million people in 2012.
As well, the state may change the statutes and subject permit
holders and gun safe owners to public scrutiny as
happened in New York state. Finally, it was brought to
the attention of gun owners last year in consideration of
HB 317 that state government bureaucrats have many escapes
from prosecution should they fail to protect private records.
The Statutarium (i.e. "legislature") Continues to
Undermine Your Rights
The right to defend one's self upon
private or shared (i.e. public) property, either by possessing
a weapon openly or in a concealed fashion, pre-exists
government. In other words, it existed naturally and was
freely exercised before such enslavement statutes and
"permits" were imposed. As distinguished American
revolutionary Thomas Paine expressed it,
"Man did not enter into society to
become worse than he was before, nor to have less rights than
he had before, but to have those rights better secured. His
natural rights are he foundation of all his civil rights."
Source:
Rights of Man, Part I, by Thomas Paine in 1791.
Government and private organizations
and citizens are not restricted from OFFERING training. But
restrictions upon natural rights — such as the right to
protect one's self
— must be predicated and substantiated upon
more than the fear that an adult MIGHT abuse them in the
future.
Several states (AK, AZ, VT, WY) in
general or outright do not require government "permits" and
have not suffered any ill effects. It is an absurdity that a
person carrying openly becomes a criminal by putting on a
windbreaker or jacket. Carrying your firearm
— concealed or openly
— is your right; NOT a bureaucrat-authorized
privilege.
If house and senate statutators have
$900,000 to play with, and concealed carry government
"permits" were so important, why wouldn't they reduce, or
eliminate, the fees entirely? Why wouldn't they
eliminate the "permit" requirement entirely?
The answer is that statutators
loathe your right to keep and bear arms, as evidenced by this
bill and their horrendous ratings in the
2013 Utah Government Corruption Report and as may be seen elsewhere on
this site.
Appropriate Action: Contact
The Two People Who Own the Statutarium ("legislature")
As
the
2013 Utah Government Corruption Report demonstrates,
two monarchs abuse and dominate the house and senate and work
together to destroy your rights:
house speaker Rebecca Lockhart and
senate president Wayne Niederhauser. Contrary to what you
learned in civics class, your house and senate statutators
merely serve their gun control agenda.
How can two people possibly exercise
such control? As one example, the house speaker and senate
president alone appoint and remove EVERY member of EVERY
committee. Lockhart and Niederhauser are empowered to do this
without any review or confirmation process.
Sources: "The general duties of the
Speaker are to:... appoint the members of committees…" (House
Rules 1-3-102. Duties of the speaker) and "The general
duties of the president are to:… appoint the members of
committees…" (SR1-3-102.
Duties of the president)
Consider the vast implications of this
incredible power! No bill may be voted on in the house or
senate without going through a committee. As a result, bills
live or die almost entirely upon the calculated orders of
these two monarchs.
Their powers are so extreme, no
provision exists in the house or senate rules to fire the
monarchs before their two-year terms are over. They lord over
each body, trade favors, and sell your rights; all while
pretending that decisions are made by the will of the majority
instead of their monarchial authority.
The political buck stops with Lockhart
and Niederhauser for failing to advance positive gun owner
bills, and for every gun control bill enacted. Until more
statutators are motivated to oppose the iron fists of the
monarchs’ near absolute power, your rights will continue to be
undermined.
Because your house and senate statutators
merely serve their will and agenda, contacting them is often
just a courtesy call. Only two people hold the power
over Utah's statutarium ("legislature"):
For House Monarchess Rebecca Lockhart's contact
information (and the rest of the house statutators),
click here. For Senate Monarch Wayne
Niederhauser's contact information
(and the rest of the senate statutators),
click here.
Other views & opinions to compare and contrast:
GoUtah!
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