From the Heartland

This is my soap box, on these pages I publish my opinions on firearms and any other subject I feel like writing about.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Passing a broke bill

It has been no big secret that I do not like LB454 in its current form. I along with several other hard working and dedicated people have been addressing our concerns for the shortcomings of LB454 with the various members of the judiciary committee. If certain sections of the bill would be amended and/or changed it could provide for a serious working model for future enhancement.

In previous posts I have addressed the most serious of those issues and won't bore you with a re-hash of that.

Mostly what I am hearing from people that support LB454 as it is written, including several of the Senators and the NRA is that "it is essential that we get THIS bill made into law. Once we have the law it will be easier to get it changed."

Excuse me!!!!!!!!!!!

Pardon me while I dissagree.


How in hell would anyone think that? Especially about Nebraska.

If this bill passes this year it will be because nearly every Senator in the Unicameral has been dragged kicking and screaming to the podium to vote for cloture of a Senator Chambers filibuster. And it will have taken the better part of a decade to get that done.

Previously I have written of my conversations with Senator Chambers. He is a very intellegent and well read Senator and citizen of Nebraska. He opposes CCW because he has researched the subject and based on his life experiences has come to the conclusion that it is not necessary. That is one man speaking from his own heart and not the voice of those Senators that hide behind him.

If there is one thing Ernie Chambers is not it is a liar. When Ernie Chambers tells you that there are any number of Senators that supposedly support CCW to their constituency and count on him to successfully filibuster it into oblivion every year because they really do not want the people that vote for them to have the ability to protect themselves YOU CAN TAKE THAT CHECK TO THE BANK.

Most of Nebraskas Senators don't really seem to favor or want it, how are they going to be when we go back to them in two years and tell them we want changes to it that make it easier for law abiding citizens to protect themselves?

It ain't gonna happen folks!!!!!!!!!!!!

If we do not get a good bill out of the gate then we will spend the next 10 years trying to change it all the while whining, crying, pissing and moaning about how restrictive it is and how it is better to take your chances under 28-1202 than to jump through all of the hoops like a good little state trained puppy dog for that permission slip to exercise a right. Waaaa waaaa waaaa

Sure we get a bill and the Unicameral has an out; they delegated all of the authority for its enactment to non-elected, non-accountable bereaucrats.

Dear Citizens,

You wanted a bill, we gave you a bill. A bill that was backed wholey and completely by the NRA, we might add. We delegated the powers in this bill to agencies that are trusted and viewed as responsible. Since that is a separate branch of Government we have no authority over them. Any changes that you deem necessary must be addressed by the supervisors of those individual departments, or take it up with the NRA since we gave that organization the bill that they asked for on your behalf.

Signed,
Your Unicameral


This bill allows the Senators to have it both ways. The ones that are not truely in favor of it get to pass a CCW law that will surely get some of them re-elected. By leaving the admistration of the law up to departments run by non-elected, and possibly anti-gun bereaucrats, they can disavow any responsibility when the majority of the citizens can not get a permit.

Which you can bet your bottom dollar that most of them want it that way anyway.

To re-cap; If it passes this time it will have taken nearly 10 years for it too happen. What the hell makes anyone think that it will take any less time for any changes however minor to be effected?

Get a grip on reality people; most of your Senators DO NOT WANT YOU TO HAVE THIS. If you insist on it they will pass the most benign bill they can.

If your Senators were genuinely as supportive of this as they claim to be, it would have been law 8 years ago and we would be arguing about the changes that need addressing today not the enactment of the bill itsself.

I know there are is a very intellegent group of law abiding people that are working very hard to make a silk purse out of this sows ear, concerning LB454. I have met them. THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING, but they can't do it all or bring to bear the kind of pressure only large numbers of people can bring.

To the rest of you:

Get off your asses and do something. Start making some phone calls. Write some letters. If you live within 50 miles of Lincoln take some time and visit your Senators office in the unicameral and tell them that you made the trip just to let them know how you feel about LB454 and what you EXPECT them to do about it if they want your vote for re-election. Hell take two or three friends with you.

If you can't make it to Lincoln, find out when your Senator will be home or in your area, put together a meeting and invite that person to attend. If they don't show up tell the media about it, write letters to the editor of your local papers suggesting that your Senator is dodging his/her constituency. You are suppose to tell them what you want, not have them tell you what you are going to get.

One of the biggest reasons a CCW law has not been passed in Nebraska is not Senator Ernie Chambers, it is the apathy of the citizens in the state of Nebraska. If a majority of Nebraskans do not want CCW then that is fine with me, that is the way the system is suppose to work. If there are a large number of Nebraskans that want it but are unwilling to put forth any effort to get it passed then it will never happen, and that is the way the system works too.

The system works and will continue to work whether you are a part of it or not. But if your not a part of it don't expect anything from it. The reason our elected officials get away with so much is because so many of us are not a part of it and they count on that.

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