Home > Alerts & Updates > Alert for 4/19/2013: Legislature Fails to Override HB 76 Veto: How Did this Happen?

Legislature Fails to Override HB 76 Veto: How Did this Happen?

(Alert for 4/19/13): House speaker Rebecca Lockhart and senate president Wayne Niederhauser have conducted their secretive polling on whether to override governor Herbert's veto of HB 76 S1 (Carry Unloaded Firearms Concealed).  According to the Salt Lake Tribune, they did not obtain the two-thirds majority required to do so. 

Legislators overwhelmingly — sometimes unanimously — passed multiple gun control bills this session.  Yet, they could not muster the votes to override one veto on the one bill that could have advanced your gun rights?

Where did things go wrong?  How could this have happened?

House & Senate Monarchs Control the Agenda

As we have explained, and as "Rule By Monarchy: How the House Speaker Manipulates Your Representative," effectively demonstrates, the house speaker, Rebecca Lockhart, and senate president, Wayne Niederhauser, are monarchs.  Among other inordinate powers, they alone appoint EVERY member of EVERY committee — without any required review or confirmation process.

They who must be obeyed: senate monarch Wayne Niederhauser and house monarchess Rebecca Lockhart.

Bills live or die almost entirely upon their whims and wishes; reducing your "representative" and "senator" to mere servants of their royal will and agenda.

Why was the original HB 76 stalled in committee?  Because Lockhart controlled every committee.  As we pointed out in a recent update, Lockhart brazenly and candidly admitted her power:

"I empower committee chairs to make those decisions..."  [bold added]
Source: "Bill banning enforcement of federal gun laws 'stuck in limbo'," by Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret News, Feb. 22, 2013.

Why did sponsor John Mathis feel compelled to meet with an antagonistic Herbert, and shortly thereafter, withdrew the original HB 76; replacing it with the watered-down substitute bill?  Perhaps because Lockhart and Niederhauser demanded it be watered down before they allowed it to move forward?

Why did the senate just fail to muster the votes to hold a veto override session for HB 76 S1?  Because Niederhauser was displeased with the bill:

"Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said Senate Republicans have not yet talked about how they'll handle HB 76.  'I think now that we know it's coming, we'll discuss the bill,' he said.  Niederhauser, however, expressed his own concerns about the bill.  'The concealed carry law has functioned well,' the Senate leader said.  'I hate to see that diminished in any way.'""
Source: ""'Constitutional carry' gun bill passes House after change" Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret News, March 1, 2013.

Why did HB 76 S1 sponsor, John Mathis, go suddenly silent when numerous activists asked him to request, and publicly share, the results of the secretive poll conducted by Niederhauser and Lockhart?  Because doing so would challenge the royal order, and Mathis is likely concerned with the consequences if he did that.

Are you getting tired of sitting at the back of the political bus?

Appropriate Actions

The monarchs, along with their legislative minions, must be pleased.  They have advanced gun control and 2013 appears to be another extremely successful year in avoiding political accountability for their actions.

It is up to you to prove them wrong.  Consider the following activities:

1) Network with local gun owners.  Let people know what happened this session.  Get them connected with sites like UT Gun Rights so they can receive critical information and form their own, independent opinions.  Sign up for our free email alerts and news at info@utgunrights.com and "Like" us on Facebook at  http://www.facebook.com/UtGunRights

Encourage others to read, analyze, question, confront, challenge, and understand what is going on around them. A highly literate and involved community is required to resist manipulation, deception, and fraud.  Here are two pages they should familiarize themselves with: 2013 Bill Tracking Page: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and our Free Ammo Page.  UT Gun Rights will be providing a 2013 Performance Report in the next few weeks to further assist your efforts.

2) Organize into smaller working groups for your area.  Each legislator should be receiving his/her political marching orders from a group of local, determined, and solidly-educated citizens.  This group can consider political action such as establishing local email/phone political action networks, fliering, holding town meetings, recruiting alternative candidates, voicing their will at government and other political meetings, political involvement in partisan caucuses and conventions, and requesting and publicizing important government records (we will discuss this in more detail in an upcoming message).

3) Infiltrate and exploit the dominant party in your area.  You just witnessed a "Republican" legislature enact gun control.  Realize that there is nothing sacred, special, or wholesome about political parties.  They are merely vehicles that can be steered in a different direction.

Your enemies have dominated these parties for decades.  In recent years, they have become exceedingly arrogant and comfortable... rendering them laughably predictable and politically vulnerable.

In the sentiments of Warfighting: The Marine Corps Book of Instruction, political parties represent an arena "ripe for exploitation by an opportunistic will."  It is time for gun owners to assert themselves and politically displace dirty laundry like Lockhart, Niederhauser, and Herbert.

Sign up for Free E-mail Alerts & Updates!s!