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Alerts &
Updates > Alert for 11/5/2013: Why Did Utah's
Sheriffs Oppose HB 76?
Update
for 1/2/14:
Utah Sheriffs' Association
president Jim Tracy emailed to contest this alert. To
learn more,
click here.
Why Did Utah's Sheriffs
Oppose HB 76?
(Alert 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 (Carry "Unloaded" Firearms
Concealed) in the
secretive
Law Enforcement Legislative
Committee (LELC).
Thanks to another citizen's
GRAMA request,
we now reveal
Keefe's email
exchange (poor grammar included):
"Yes I will be there [at the rally
opposing HB 76 S1] and I hope that other chiefs will be as
well. It is disappointing that sheriff's may not
be in attendance even thought they have supported these
efforts and vote to oppose this bill in LELC.
It would also be nice if DPS Commissioner Davenport would
speak as well since the governor is pushing this press event,
the governor appears to oppose this bill, and DPS has also
voted in LELC to oppose this bill." [bold added]
As we
reported in our
June 3 alert, "Utah Police Chiefs
Overwhelmingly Support Gun Control,"
the Utah Sheriffs' Association and individual sheriffs seemed
to go conspicuously silent on HB 76. Previous citizen
GRAMA requests produced very few references to sheriffs at
all, and nearly all of those took no clear position on the
bill.
We pointed out, however, that the Utah Sheriffs'
Association president, sheriff Edmunds, holds an official,
voting seat at on the LELC. We now know how he voted.
Secret "Back Channels" Hide
Gun Control Agenda
Rather than
meet in public and disclose the results of their voting
publicly, the LELC meets secretly in the "commission on
criminal and juvenile justice" conference room at the state
capitol to plot against citizens'
rights. According to
their own website,
"Meetings are not open to the public."
The
Utah Sheriffs' Association could freely use the LELC to
promote gun control without any public awareness and scrutiny.
Until now.
Were the
recent, bold letter to Obama
denouncing gun control
to be believed, Utah's sheriffs should have been on the front
lines to encourage Herbert to sign HB 76 S1. As far as
we can ascertain, however, no sheriff publicly supported HB 76.
Why didn't the sheriffs simply make
their position known? Why did they go silent and hide?
At least
Utah's police chiefs publicly and almost-universally admitted
their anti-gun agenda (click here
to see how your city officials behaved). Perhaps they
hid, in part,
because Utah sheriffs are still elected by the people, whereas
police chiefs are selected by city officials and/or
bureaucrats.
But Utah's
sheriffs are no exception to the underhanded norm,
unfortunately. As we exposed in our
June 25 alert, "Legislators Hid
Behind Herbert's Veto of HB 76,"
many other officials likewise prefer to operate through secret
"back channels" with brazen deceitfulness that exemplifies
Utah's non-exceptional culture of political corruption.
This spider web-like network of corporations, lobbyists, and
officials infests every level of government, and
overwhelmingly pursues gun control.
Many who take their marching orders
from this apparatus, such as these sheriffs, police chiefs,
mayors, and councilmembers, hardly seem able to articulate
independent thoughts. They rely instead upon secrecy,
layers of bureaucracies, and the ignorance and apathy of
citizens to conduct their business.
Sheriff Edmunds Attempted to Escape
Earlier GRAMA Request
"I could learn a
thing or two from you sheriffs!" |
According
to an
earlier citizen's report, sheriff Edmunds
called him within a day of his filing a separate
GRAMA request
directly to Utah's sheriffs departments regarding HB 76:
"Not long after the first call [from
sheriff James Tracy] I received another call from David
Edmunds. He apparently is the President of the Utah Sheriffs'
association. We had a lengthy discussion. He was
'disappointed' of my request and stated that it wouldn’t get
the results we were looking for. In fact the request itself
would make other sheriffs uncomfortable with us and the
results would not be what 'we' wanted."
And later in the letter:
"It was
rather obvious that Edmunds wanted me to drop the GRAMA
request. He asked what I would do with the information I told
him that we would publish it... The conversations were rather
funny as both Tracy and Edmunds were rather defensive in their
responses… as if they had plenty to hide, but were lying about
it."
There
certainly was plenty to hide. The Utah Sheriffs'
Association was covertly pursuing gun control.
Appropriate Actions
Thanks to citizens who are tired of being manipulated, this
ongoing political theater is being exposed. Here are
some ideas for you to consider in holding your government
accountable:
1)
Invite your
county sheriff,
city police chief,
and police officers to reconsider their offensive behavior.
Rather than pretend to cherish your right to defend yourself,
their political actions should be consistent with their lofty
proclamations and promises.
2)
Network with local gun owners. Let people know
what is happening. 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 updates 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 citizen 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.
3)
Organize into smaller working groups for your area.
Each of your local politicians should receive 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, literature distribution, holding town meetings,
recruiting alternative candidates, election monitoring and
participation, and filing
GRAMA requests.
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