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Call to Action: SB1342 House Amendment 3 - Oppose


mauserme

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Call to Action

Witness Slips Needed

Witness Slip Instructions

 

Today in the House, SB1342 was amended with adoption of House Amendment 6 and the bill has been sent back to the Senate on concurrence. In additon to Amendment 6, House Amendment 3 to SB1342 was also sent to the Senate, and both are scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning. While we are neutral on Amendment 6, Amendment 3 is a very bad version of the mandatory minimum sentencing language introduced early in the Spring Session.

 

 

We ask out members to voice their opposition the Amendment 3 by filing witness slips as follows:

 

 

Log on to the ILGA Dashboard or Create a New Account

 

 

Oppose

 

SB1342 HCA 3- OPPONENT

 

Optionally, witness slips reflecting No Position on the Merits can be filed on HFA6.

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The amendment seeks to enhance penalties for non-violent possession of firearms under certain circumstances, and for violent crimes made no more violent by firearm possession, while not addressing violent behavior. It is a feel good approach that will ensnare peaceful gun owners while allowing violent behavior to go unchecked.

Additionally, it removes discretion from a process defined in the Constitution as resting with the judiciary, assigning it instead to the legislature and to prosecutors who are not elected officials. It is based on an assumption that the legislature is superior to the judiciary rather than being a co-equal branch; that the legislature is the only body of elected officials capable of reflecting the interests of the electorate without acknowledging that judges are also elected. It relies on the concept of prosecutorial discretion for an appearance of fairness - discretion to be exercised by persons who's occupation it is to put people in prison.

Also, while we realize that there are alternate interpretations, most studies now show mandatory minimums do not reduce crime, but do contribute greatly to prison overcrowding. Our legislature has been making good progress toward a bill that may be introduced in the 2015 Spring Session to address many of these issues. This is no time to derail that process.

Finally, fiscal projections filed last year put the 10 year cost of this amendment at $713,433,100.00, funds we simply don't have for a political statement.

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Thank you for listening.

Why would we not listen to you . Seems to me and many here you have a very good understanding of whats going on and how it can affect us . I am thankful for your dedication

Done 4x

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