Tag: Minnesota

Defense of Dwelling and Person Act Will Be Heard Friday

Talk about fast results. “Representative” Limmer claimed that the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee didn’t have enough time to heard the S.F. 1357, the Defense of Dwelling and Person Act, but miraculously was able to conjure up some time after Minnesota gun rights activists flooded his office with call. Good work everybody.

The hearing will be on Friday May 5th starting at noon. If you can make it to the hearing do so. We want a strong showing in order to prevent any rumors being spread that there isn’t enough support for this bill. If we get the Committee’s approval on this it goes for an actual vote.

Senator Limmer Trying To Bar Hearing the Defense of Dwelling and Person Act

What’s the easiest way to kill a bill? By tabling it. Word just dropped from the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) that “representative” Limmer is baring the Defense of Dwelling and Person Act from being heard by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.

S.F. 1357,The Defense of Dwelling and Person Act, is the companion bill to the previously mentioned H.F. 1467.

This is nothing more than an underhanded way to prevent the much needed self-defense act from moving forward. GOCRA is asking that you call “representative” Limmer at 1 (651) 296-2159 and “representative” Koch at 1 (651) 296-5981 as soon as possible and tell them this bill needs to be near this week.

Gun Rights Omnibus Bill Judiciary Committee Hearing Wednesday Morning

H.F. 1467, the gun rights omnibus bill passed the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee last week and is now scheduled to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday May 4th. If you can make the hearing you should appear as a strong presence usually encourages the committees to vote in favor of the bill being heard at the Capitol.

The hearing will be at 8:15 a.m. in room 10 of the State Office Building. Regardless if you can make it you should also contact the members of the committee and urge them to support the bill (contact information for the members of the committee can be found at the last link of this post).

Minnesota H.F. 1467 Passes Public Safety Committee

H.F. 1467, the omnibus gun rights bill passed the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee with a 10 to 7 vote. Now the bill will move to the House Judiciary Committee for yet another round of fun and games. We’re making progress, now let’s just hope we can get this bill through and finally have castle doctrine and stand your ground laws in Minnesota.

If you want to watch a video of the debate an archive is available here.

So How’s That Budget Going

Remember all those Minnesota “representatives” who were going on about how they were going to fix the budget lickety-split? That and promoting job creation was going to be job one. I’m glad to see those guys are moving to make both of these promises come true working to push a consittutional amendment banning gay marriage… wait what?

Republicans in the Minnesota House and Senate announced a bill Tuesday that would put the issue on the statewide ballot in 2012 as a proposed constitutional amendment.

The proposed amendment would define marriage as between one man and one woman. Republicans have tried unsuccessfully in the past to get a similar measure on the ballot, but now they have majorities in the House and Senate. Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said a constitutional amendment will let voters decide the issue.

Three questions come to mind. First, how is this going to fix the budget? Second, how is this going to promote job creation? Third, why the fuck is government still involved in the concept of marriage? I think the third question is the one of most importance. As the debate about allowing gay marriage rages across the country I’ve been listening to both sides and have come to the conclusion that the only proper action that can be taken is to get government out of the whole institution of marriage. Marriage is really a religious and contractual issue and should be dealt with between the two individuals who wish to join together.

Government should have no more say in marriage than they have in what socks I wear… I take that back they shouldn’t have any say in marriage and through cotton regulations I’m sure they have some say in what socks I wear.

Hearing on Gun Rights Omnibus Bill Thursday

The Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) have just dropped word that there will be a hearing about the recently introduced gun rights bill on Thursday. The hearing will be in Room 10 of the State Office Building at 10:15 a.m.

GOCRA is asking for as many people to show up as possible. Also remember you can’t carry at the State Office Building unless you’ve submitted prior notification. Thankfully GOCRA has posted a nice guide about submitting the required notification.

Mileage Based Tax and Other Fun Uses for GPS

Those of you who have purchased hybrid or electric cars recently probably remember a pretty nice tax incentive. Not only has the government been granting tax breaks to those purchasing fuel efficient vehicles but those who have these cars pay the government less gasoline tax as well. Unfortunately for you guys the government doesn’t like missing out on what it considers revenue and the State of Minnesota is looking into mileage based taxation:

The state’s Department of Transportation is recruiting 500 drivers in Hennepin and Wright counties to travel with GPS-enabled smart phones for a “Minnesota Road Fee Test.” The data will be used as state officials consider replacing gas taxes with mileage-based user fees.

It seems the state has a hard on for putting GPS devices in automobiles. If that state decides to go this route I wouldn’t be surprised if inclusion of these devices becomes mandatory (maybe that’s when I’ll move to join the Free Staters in New Hampshire) through legislation. These types of devices would grant the state three major benefits as I see it; the ability to tax people based on miles driven, the ability to track the whereabouts of vehicles for law enforcement uses, and the ability to automatically write traffic violations.

The first item is the justification being used by the states to get the pilot program going. It’s doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see the police using these devices to track where somebody has been. Police have a bigger hard on for violating rights than the politicians.

The second item is the most interesting because it would create an additional source of revenue. A GPS system can be used for many things including determining the speed of a vehicle. With the correct data the device in your vehicle could know the speed limit on each street in Minnesota. The GPS could be used to determine the speed of your vehicle and the speed limit of the street your traversing; if the first value is higher than the second the device can automatically issue you a speeding ticket. And there you have it, instant additional revenue.

Man I miss the days when I was naive of government desires and thought these ideas were just cooky conspiracy theories.

Legislation Moving to Ban Firearms from the Minnesota State Capitol

Well that worthless piece of shit Paymar is at it again and has introduced yet another pointless anti-gun bill. This time he’s introduced a bill to ban those of us with carry permits from carrying at the state capitol building.

As it currently sits people with Minnesota carry permits are able to carry at the capitol building if they submit a letter of notification. In the years since Minnesota passed right to carry legislation not a single incident has been raised because of this yet Paymar is willing to waste our time trying to ban it because he’s an asshole. What’s his reasoning? Well he’s jumping on the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords bandwagon (rather late I might add):

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Michael Paymar, comes on the heels of a report last month that found potential threats lurking around the Capitol Complex.

That report, which did not recommend barring guns, was spurred by the attempted assassination of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson this January.

“Back when Tucson happened … I just thought if we do nothing, I just think that’s unconscionable,” said Paymar, DFL-St. Paul.

Let me get this straight. You are worried somebody might come to the capitol building to shoot a “representative.” Somehow you believe if a law is passed that prohibits people with issued carry permits from carrying there this kind of scenario is impossible. You believe this even though the number of shootings committed by permit holders in Minnesota is almost non-existent. You also appear to believe somebody willing to commit murder is just going to ignore a law prohibiting them from legally carrying a firearm. In other words you’re an idiot.

Oh, by the way Tony Cornish is a pretty stand up guy:

One of them is Public Safety Committee Chairman Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, who called the bill a “terrible idea” and “dead on arrival” during an interview on the House floor Monday.

“It’s a longstanding practice to carry guns at the Capitol,” said an armed Cornish, who is also a police chief. “And we’ve never had any problems with it.”

He has a brain, unlike Paymar. Oh, did also I mention this bill presented by Paymar is going to cost Minnesota more money even though we’re already in debt up to our eyeballs?

The bill appropriates $6 million in bonding money for tunnel improvements and an unspecified amount for metal detectors. The report said the state should consider metal detectors at the Capitol, but did not explicitly recommend them.

Yeah because that’s a good idea. Let’s spend money we don’t have to fix a problem we don’t have. That’s your government at work.

Important Self-Defense Bill Introduced in Minnesota

I guess it’s my turn to utilized the activism page. The Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance has just dropped word that H.F. 1467 has been introduced into the Minnesota House. The bill is a sweeping reform to Minnesota’s self-defense laws and would enact the following changes:

Enacts Stand Your Ground – Stand your ground legislation removes the requirement for an intended victim of a violent crime to flee the area where you have a right to be.

Enacts Castle Doctrine – Similar to the above except this applies specifically to your own property. As it currently stands if somebody breaks into your home you have a legal obligation to attempt to flee before using force to defend yourself. A person should not be required to flee their own home because a malicious person has illegal broken in.

Prohibits the Confiscation of Firearms in a State of Emergency – This would prohibit the government from confiscating the firearms of gun owners when a state of emergency has been declared. During Hurricane Katrina the National Guard confiscated the firearms on New Orleans residents leaving them defenseless. A time of emergency is one of the most important times to have access to a means of self-defense.

Extends the Validity of Purchase Permits to Five Years – In Minnesota you are required to get either a permit to purchase or a permit to carry in order to buy a handgun or a military style semi-automatic rifle. A permit to purchase is only valid for one year while a carry permit is valid for five. This would make a permit to purchase valid for the same period of time as a carry permit.

Recognition of All Out of State Carry Permits – This would make the state of Minnesota recognize carry permits from all other states. A person shouldn’t be barred their right to self-defense just because they entered our fine state.

The members of the House Public Safety committee need to be contacted and asked to support this bill. This numbers and e-mail addresses are located on the first link.

Minnesota Anti-Gunners Moving to Potentially Ban Carrying at the State Capitol

I have no actual details on this but the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) is putting out the word that some of Minnesota’s anti-gun politicians might be trying to sneak some carry prohibitions into the light rail finance bill:

On Tuesday, the Minnesota House State Government Finance Committee will be looking at an appropriations bill for improvements to capitol security. The bill funds construction of a tunnel under University Avenue.

The bill, HF1287, is fine as it stands, but some anti-gun house members intend to add new restrictions — or even an outright ban — on permit holders carrying at the capitol.

GOCRA is asking that you contact your “representatives” and tell them to either kill the bill or pass it as-is. Personally I’m all for killing this bill as spending tons of money on a light rail system at a time where our state is massively in debt doesn’t make financial sense to me. What makes even less sense though is attaching a restriction to our right to carry to a fucking finance bill.

Contact your “representatives” and let them know either anti-gun legislation stays out of this bill or they will be staying out of the capitol come next election cycle.