DC Personal Protection Act - Now is the time...

[Sylvan-Forge]

Please disregard request to email. See Posts Below.


District of Columbia Personal Protection Act (Introduced in Senate)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.1082:

S.1082 status
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.01082:

Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/index.cfm?Fuseaction=About.Membership

Who in turn, referred to Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia.
http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Subcommittees.Home&SubcommitteeID=10&Initials=OGM

Where it sits gathering dust
http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Legislation.Home&Congress=109&ShowAll=True
S.1082 is about 3/4 the way down the page (can use Edit, Find :1082)

With the exception of Joseph I. Lieberman and Susan M. Collins the committee and subcommittee are chaired by the same people.

...To email the committee and tell 'em to get off their butts on this bill !

Go back to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
http://www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/index.cfm?Fuseaction=About.Membership
Click each member to go to their website.
Navigate each site to find their email contact and give 'em hell!

DC residents need our help!

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

To make things easier, here's the committee members' email links

Please disregard request to email. See Posts Below.


Susan M. Collins Chairman (R-ME)
http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.Email

Joseph I. Lieberman Ranking Member (D-CT)
http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm?regarding=issue

Ted Stevens (R-AK)
http://stevens.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Carl Levin (D-MI)
http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

George V. Voinovich (R-OH)
http://voinovich.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI)
http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Norm Coleman (R-MN)
http://coleman.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

Thomas R. Carper (D-DE)
http://carper.senate.gov/aemail.htm

Tom Coburn (R-OK)
http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCoburn.Home

Mark Dayton (D-MN)
http://dayton.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm

Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI)
http://chafee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home

Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
http://lautenberg.senate.gov/contact/

Robert F. Bennett (R-UT)
http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/email_opinion.cfm

Mark Pryor (D-AR)
http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/

Pete V. Domenici (R-NM)
http://domenici.senate.gov/contact/contactform.cfm

John W. Warner (R-VA)
http://warner.senate.gov/contact/contactme.cfm





:::Example Form Letter:::
Dear Senator,

Please expedite S.1082.
..the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Regards,




.

 

[makarova]

Done!

Just got mine off!

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Such legislation could "moot" the Parker case, currently pending in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the best shot we have had in decades of having the Supreme Court declare the Second Amendment to be any sort of individual right.

 

[DKSuddeth]

funny that you should say that malum, I was just thinking that the organized anti-gunners could possibly see that the 2nd could be confirmed as an individual right (something the antis would never want) and conspire to have the D.C. assembly repeal their ban, just to keep the second in a state of misinterpretation.

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

makarova,
Thanks for your efforts and enthusiasm.

Malum Prohibitum and DKSuddeth,
Good point on the Parker case. I wasn't aware of it until now.

Thanks for the warning guys.

I'll put a note of warning the above posts.
But will keep them there to show how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing (especially for me)

Here's where I found additional enlightenment http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/entry/6045.jsp

http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/group/category/arms_control/lawsuits/parker/index.jsp

http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/group/category/arms_control/lawsuits/seegars/index.jsp

http://www.gurapossessky.com/

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

It seems there will be some new action coming up with the Parker case.
Just to be safe, I'll ask for permission this monday on posting source and quote.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

What? What? What? It is Monday! Don't keep us in suspense!

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Two very good links on these cases:

One:
http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=344&highlight=parker

Two:
http://www.georgiapacking.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=776&highlight=parker

 

[LAR-15]

You tell that to the DC residents who need a rifled bore handgun RIGHT NOW

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

Ok,

I emailed the firm handling Parker v DC.
Mr. Alan Gura of http://www.gurapossessky.com/
kindly answered my request for a case update.

" The next event in the case is expected to be the filing of the defendants-appellees' brief, due July 21. The amici for the appellees will be filing their briefs by August 7, and we will then file our reply brief by August 21. The case will be argued sometime after October, but we do not have an exact date, nor do we yet know the identity of the panel. "

" The docket number is 04-7041. However, please note that PACER does not operate in real time. It has often taken weeks for documents filed to appear on PACER. It seems that documents generated by the Court, i.e. orders, appear in real time, but other filings do not necessarily do so. "


PACER :
http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

DKSuddeth

DKSuddeth, please do not take this as an attack, but if you read the links I provided above on July 17 at 8:59, you will see that in this case the "organized antigunners" to whom you refer are the NRA and Orrin Hatch.

 

[beerslurpy]

<Insult removed by Art> Parker would be mooted if the law it is challenging is repealed. Parker is an awesome opportunity to get a very pro-gun precedent on the books. The lawyers have put too much outstanding effort into Parker over the past couple of years to jeopardize it by passing a feel-good measure that will only affect DC. If Parker succceeds or makes it to the Supreme Court and succeeds, this will be an enormous victory for gun rights, far greater than the DC protection act could bring.

We need to get Parker out of the way before we go playing legislative Santa Claus. In the unlikely event Parker fails, we can always just go about repealing everything as planned.

The NRA has been trying to sink the suit for years because they arent part of it. They dont want to be left out of what could be one of the major pro-gun court victories of the century. They would rather pass the DC Personal Protection Act and get some credit there than being sidelined while some non-NRA group of lawyers gets the Brown v Board of Education of the gun rights movement. Yes, that is very petty and short sighted of them, but obviously I'm not making policy there.

 

[beerslurpy]

LAR-15, the legal system works slower than that. If you need a handgun "right now" as you put it, move out of DC. It is really the fastest solution.

Neither Parker nor DCPPA will bear fruit this week. However, pushing forward with DCPPA will kill a much bigger victory at hand in Parker. Your attitude is very short sighted.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Think about it this way -

If the DC Personal Protection Act passes, residents can keep functioning firearms in their homes, subject to Congress not changing the law again.

If, however, the Parker case succeeds, either in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court, then the right to keep functioning firearms in the home is merely the opening of the floodgates.

The court may still side step the issue by ruling there is no standing, but that is much less likely in this case than the NRA's Seegars case.

Sooner or later, a Second Amendment case will make it to the Supreme Court. I would rather it is Plaintiffs like in the Parker case that make than have the ruling issue from some criminal case involving a drug dealer. Do we really want the poster boy for the Second Amendment to be a drug dealer?

Keep track of the Parker case, folks.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Beerslurpy

Deleted

 

[DKSuddeth]

Malum, I do indeed know that the NRA has been trying to undermine this case and I did not take your post as an attack, just an FYI for me. Thank you.

My original post and thought was that certain GC groups like the 'legal community against violence, ICHV, etc. who DO have D.C. contacts could be doing this as well and maybe more effectively. well, maybe except for Hatch

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

oo7

Thanks for posting the update!

I am eager to see the outcome of this case.

 

[Sylvan-Forge]

Malum Prohibitum, sure thing. Thanks again for letting me know about Parker.

Well, it's July 21st - the filing of the defendants appellees' brief ...
Some stuff on Aug 7th & 21st ... after October the arguments begin ..

The wheels of justice turn so ever slowly .

 

[LAR-15]

What do you think will happen with Parker?

 

[Phetro]

What do you think will happen with Parker?

That's the funny (not really) thing: everyone so wants this case to go through...

The best case we can hope for, however, is to lose 5-4. Five--count them, FIVE, as in, the majority--of the SCotUS are socialists, a few in a RiNo disguise:

Ginsburg
Kennedy
Souter
Stevens
Breyer

And of the remaining four:

Roberts is not an originalist
Alito is not an originalist
Thomas just plain rocks--the best one there is!
Scalia is great--No. 2 in my book

It's like hoping the SCotUS will suddently strike down welfare...not gonna happen until we get some people on there who read the Constitution instead of following ideology.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

We will lose in the Court of Appeals. Appeal to the Supreme Court. Do not know whether they will take it, but Kennedy will be the one to dictate whether there is a Second Amendment in our Constitution, unless on of the people on Phetro's list above dies or steps down in the intervening years.

Probably Stevens. What is he now, like 102?

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

A case is going to get there sooner or later, though. You decide who should be the poster child for the Second Amendment and what the question should be for decision.

(1) Crack dealer with AK-47.

(2) Regular D.C. homeowner asking for the right to possess a functioning firearm within her home for self protection.


I choose (2), and so does the Cato Institute.

I bet Kennedy does, too.

Keep in mind that Kennedy does not have to make any sweeping pronouncements in a case like this for a favorable ruling. The Cato Institute made the question very narrow on purpose.

This case is all about shaping the issue.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Kennedy

Gulp.

Q: You esteem the Constitution, but it hurts us too. The right to bear arms and protection from self-incrimination have caused real problems for society.

I disagree. The Constitution is the “single most brilliant and inspiring document in the history of western civilization”. These people who had only known monarchies managed to protect our rights and human dignities. The rule of law has three parts: 1) The Government is bound by the law. 2) All people are equal. 3) The individual has a core personality that cannot be violated.

I don’t lose sleep at night thinking about how to protect the Second Amendment. But protection from self-incrimination is important. We can’t let people be tortured.


http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001047

 

[Diomed]

Phetro is pretty much dead on. This case goes to the SC, we lose. A 5-4 loss is best case, it'll probably be worse than that (not that there's a qualitative difference).

The choice is maintaining the current uncertainty and equipoise, meaning slow and steady erosion of rights, or getting completely shafted and losing everything all at once. I guess the latter has a better chance of getting people to start actively resisting, but I'm not holding my breath.