Hmm. Been a while since I posted. Things've been busy. Diana and I have been to the State House twice since I last posted; on the first visit, we met with several senators and representatives and not one expressed any negative thoughts about the bills we support, including the Democrats.
Now granted, we're not naive enough to believe that politicians always tell the truth, but most of the ones we talked to were openly supportive, and that's a good thing (they could have as easily just nodded or said something like, "I'll look those over.", but they chose instead to say that things sounded good. The least supportive thing we heard was "I don't see any problems there.", and to me, that doesn't sound like a vote against at all.
On our second trip, our primary concern was another matter, but we did meet briefly with Rep. Eric Koch <h65@in.gov>, who introduced HB 1043 to prevent Katrina-like gun confiscations in the aftermath of emergencies and/or disasters. At present, this bill is stalled and not slated to be heard in the Committee on Interstate and International Cooperation, chaired by Rep. Earl Harris <h2@in.gov>. I don't know at this writing if anyone else has done so, but I wrote to Rep. Harris (who, by the way, was one of the few who voted against Castle Doctrine in 2006) and urged him to hear this bill and pass it to the full House. I don't yet have a reply.
Conversely, however, Rep. Trent Van Haaften <h76@in.gov> has responded to many, many letters and calls and has refused to hear Rep. Bill Crawford's <h98@in.gov> HB 1260 which would have required "Encoded Ammunition" exclusively to be sold in Indiana after July of 2009, and is much like the useless and harmful "microstamping" bill California passed last year. This bill is going no further- not THIS session, anyway!
And the news keeps getting better! SB 356, proposed by a true friend of the Second Amendment, Sen. Johnny Nugent <s43@in.gov>, now has SEVEN co-authors, four of whom are on the Committee on Corrections, Criminal, and Civil Matters, chaired by (co-author) Sen. Brent Steele <s44@in.gov>. This bill will prohibit those of us who hold Licenses to Carry (LTCs) from being forbidden to carry in any building or on any property owned or administered by any state, city, county, township, or "municipal corporation"governmental entity with the exception of airport secure areas, penal facilities, and (obviously) federal property. The bill will be heard Tuesday the 22nd in room 233 , in a session beginning at 8:30 AM.
Sen. Jeff Drozda's <s21@in.gov> SB 29 also is to be heard the following day in the Senate Chamber at 1:00 PM. This bill will prevent local governments from closing down shooting ranges based on lot size and will also prevent them from defining where you can and can't shoot, so long as it's not land they administer or within 200 feet of a school. I don't know how much support there is for this bill, but I know that more can never hurt. Senator Lawson <s24@in.gov> is chairing the Committee on Local Government and Elections, and writing to her is probably a good idea to show support.
As you can tell from reading this, the fight's not over. We have some really great news, but we also have a lot of work ahead of us. If you've not written your representatives, please do so now. Please also consider writing to the committee members and chairs and let them know what you think, too. Protect your rights, because there are plenty of people out there who would love nothing more than to take them from you.
Please also don't forget our next meeting on the 29th at 6:00 PM at the MCL cafeteria in West Lafayette. See you there!
STAY UNITED - IN Self Defense!