Home > Alerts & Updates > Alert for 6/3/2013: Utah Police Chiefs Overwhelmingly Support Gun Control

Update for 12/12/13: According to Syracuse City councilman Craig Johnson, Syracuse mayor Jamie Nagle and police chief Garret Atkin, falsely listed the city council in their letter of opposition to HB 76 S1. To learn more, click here.

Update for 11/5/13: According to Terry Keefe, president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, the Utah Sheriffs' Association also voted to oppose HB 76 S1 in the secretive Law [sic] Enforcement Legislative Committee. To uncover their betrayal, click here.

The police chiefs have spoken! Let there be gun control!

Recent articles on HB 76: Why Would the USSC Chair Privately Lobby Against HB 76 S1? How Did Your Legislators Vote on the Veto Override? Legislature Fails to Override HB 76 Veto: How Did this Happen? Word is Spreading on Secret Vote to Kill HB 76 S1 Is HB 76 S1 a Real Effort or a Shell Game? HB 76 S1: Will Gary Herbert Foment Grassroots Republicans Against Him Like Mike Leavitt Did?

Utah Police Chiefs Overwhelmingly Support Gun Control

(Alert for 6/3/13):  The saga of betrayal continues.  Police chiefs throughout the state of Utah, many with overt or implied backing of their mayors and city councils, implored governor Herbert to veto HB 76 S1 (Carry Unloaded Firearms Concealed).

In Herbert's veto message, he cited "dozens of letters from law enforcement agencies opposing the bill."  Thanks to another citizen's GRAMA request, UT Gun Rights obtained some of that correspondence.

The Utah Chiefs of Police Association sent a letter to Herbert.  This letter's gun control sentiments were echoed by many police chiefs and other elected servants.

Click on any city below to read the letter sent to Herbert:

American Fork (police chief Lance Call)

Bountiful (police chief Tom Ross)

Centerville (police chief Neal Worsley, apparently representing the entire city government)

Clearfield (police chief Greg Krusi, apparently representing the entire city government; letterhead also lists assistant police chief Mike Stenquist)

Cottonwood Heights (police chief Robby Russo apparently representing the entire city government; letterhead also lists mayor Kelvyn Cullimore, Jr.)

Draper (police chief Bryan Roberts)

Farmington (police chief Wayne Hansen, apparently representing the entire city government)

Granite school district (police chief RM Johnson)

Harrisville (police chief David Nance, apparently representing the entire city government)

Kaysville (police chief Solomon Oberg)

Layton (police chief Terry Keefe; letterhead also listing mayor Stephen Curtis, city manager Alex Jensen, and assistant city manager James Mason)

Lehi City (police chief Chad Smith)

Logan (police chief Gary Jensen)

Mapleton (police chief Dean Pettersson, apparently representing the entire city government)

Midvale (mayor JoAnn Seghini and police chief Tony Mason)

Murray (mayor Daniel Snarr and police chief Peter Fondaco; letterhead also lists chief of staff Jan Wells)

Naples (police chief Mark Watkins)

North Park (police chief Kim Hawkes, "serving" Logan and Hyde Park)

North Salt Lake (police chief Craig Black)

Ogden (mayor Mike Caldwell and chief Mike Ashment)

Park City (police chief Wade Carpenter)

Pleasant Grove (police chief Michael Smith, apparently representing the entire city government)

Pleasant View (police chief Scott Jackson)

Price (mayor Joe Piccolo and police chief Kevin Drolc)

Salem (mayor Randy Brailsford and police chief Brad James)

Salt Lake City Corporation (police chief Chris Burbank; letterhead also lists mayor Ralph Becker)

Sandy (police chief Stephen Chapman; letterhead also lists mayor Tom Dolan and chief administrative officer Byron Jorgenson)

Springville (police chief J. Scott Finlayson, apparently representing the entire city government)

St. George (police chief Marlon Stratton)

Smithfield (police chief Johnny McCoy)

South Salt Lake (police chief Chris Snyder)

Spanish Fork (public safety director chief Steven Adams)

Syracuse (mayor Jamie Nagle and chief Garret Atkin; letterhead also listing city council members Brian Duncan, Craig Johnson, Karianne Lisonbee, Douglas Peterson, and Larry Shingleton)
Special Update! According to councilman Craig Johnson, mayor Nagle and chief Atkin falsely listed the city council, failed to even notify them of their actions, and opposed the council's intent to uphold the right to keep and bear arms.  For more information, see our December 12, 2013, alert, "Mayor & Police Chief Falsely List City Council in Letter Against HB 76".

Tooele (police chief Ron Kirby)

Tremonton (police chief David Nance, apparently representing the entire city government)

Washington (police chief Jim Keith)

West Bountiful (police chief Todd Hixson)

West Jordan (police chief Douglas Diamond)

West Valley (city manager Wayne Pyle and acting chief Anita Schwemmer)

Woods Cross (police chief Greg Butler) 

Terry Keefe, president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, further exposed the Utah League of Cities and Towns, which operates as a United Nations-like assembly for Utah municipal governments.  In an email to numerous officials, Keefe claimed the following:

"I was in attendance when the league [Utah League of Cities and Towns] voted to oppose this bill [HB 76] and the vote was overwhelmingly to oppose it, in fact out of the 80 or so people in attendance only 2 voted no."

To see Keefe's email, click here.  To see the active membership of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, click here, and for their other membership, including private partners, click here.

Observations

"Wow, you police chiefs and sheriffs do remarkable work in Utah!"

As we will continue to demonstrate, Utah's non-exceptional culture of political corruption is comprised of a spider web-like network of corporations, lobbyists, and officials infesting every level of government.  This public-private conglomerate overwhelmingly pursues gun control.

Those who take their marching orders from this apparatus, such as these police chiefs, mayors, and councilmembers, seem hardly able to articulate independent thoughts.  Most were content to copy — almost verbatim — the form letter provided.

Conspicuously absent from the GRAMA information received is any message to governor Herbert from the Utah Sheriff's Association.  If their recent, bold letter to Obama denouncing gun control is to be believed, they should have been on the front lines to encourage Herbert to sign HB 76 S1.  Where were they on such a crucial issue?

A clue may be offered by consideration of the membership of the law enforcement legislative committee (LELC) which is cited as being opposed to HB 76 by the Utah League of Cities and Towns.  One of the members of the LELC is the president of the Utah Sheriff’s Association.

Appropriate Actions

Gun owners have been betrayed by the very people who are supposed to protect and respect their natural rights. In response, consider the following activities:

1) Run for municipal office, and encourage gun-friendly neighbors to do likewise.  The filing deadline to run for municipal office is June 7*, municipal primary elections are August 13, and municipal general elections are November 5, 2013.  For additional information, contact your city.  To locate your municipal officials online, click here (type in your address and zip code and scroll down to the municipal officials).  Question municipal office candidates about whether your tax dollars should fund anti-gun lobbies such as the Utah League of Cities and Towns and whether anti-gun police chiefs should be fired.
* We erroneously reported June 17 as the filing deadline.

2) Conduct your own GRAMA request. Inquire with your city council, mayor, managers, police chief, and county sheriff regarding any communications they had regarding HB 76 S1.  We would be happy to assist you in formulating your request.

3) Invite the servant(s) who signed these letters to engage in public debate.  Consider setting aside time at the next appropriate city council meeting or even at a neighborhood or town meeting you organize privately.

4) Invite each of your city council members and mayor to respond.  Let them share a public statement regarding their views on HB 76 S1, how they feel regarding the efforts of other city servants to oppose HB 76, and any political actions they might undertake to respond to what has happened.

5) Involve yourself in your city.  Consider creative actions, such as forming citizen-only review boards, offering resolutions for council debate, becoming part of your city's ordinance review committee, and monitoring your city's interactions with anti-gun lobbies like the Utah Police Chiefs Association and the Utah League of Cities and Towns.

6) 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 informed activist 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.

7) Organize into smaller working groups for your area.  Each of your local politicians should receive his/her political direction from a group of local, determined, solidly-educated gun rights activists.  This group can consider political action such as establishing local email/phone political action networks, fliering, holding town meetings, recruiting alternative candidates, and election monitoring and participation.

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