senate sponsor, Stephen Urquhart, who boasts a lifetime corruption rating of -66% (that's MINUS)

house sponsor, Sophia DiCaro, who boasts a lifetime corruption rating of -67% (that's MINUS)

Senate Bill 43: Thought Crimes Expansion

by statutator Stephen Urquhart, senate district 29 ("Republican"), and Daniel McCay, house district 31 ("Republican").

Summary: SB 43 creates a pilot program to indoctrinate 8th grade government school students regarding "firearm safety and violence prevention", which is code for gun control.  The Utah attorney general's office would "collaborate" with the state board of education, both notorious gun control advocates, in unilaterially setting the curriculum and choosing the instructors.

Position: UT Gun Rights opposes this bill.  See its bill status page.  To contact your statutators, click here.

Status: This bill passed senate bully Wayne Niederhauser's hand-picked senate judiciary, law [sic] enforcement, and criminal justice committee (4 yeas, 0 nays, 3 absent/not voting), passed the senate (22 yeas, 5 nays, 2 absent/not voting), and is in house bully Greg Hughes' hand-picked rules committee.

"REFRESH" this page to see latest version.  Last updated: 2/15/16 at 3:30 PM.

Jump Down to Topics:

1. "Violence Prevention" is Code for Gun Control

2. Corruption-Infested Utah AG No Friend to Gun Owners

3. State Board of Indoctrination Plots to Impose Gun Control

4. Appropriate Action: Contact the Two Bullies Who Dominate Your Statutators

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"Violence Prevention" is Code for Gun Control

Catchy phrases like "violence prevention" or "reducing violence" sound wonderful, don't they?  Who wouldn't want that?  But how are ideas typically translated and pursued in a government school teaching environment?

According to the Obama regime's report, "Now is the Time: The President's plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun violence," it is all about,

"...creating safer and more nurturing school climates that help prevent school violence..." [bold added]

Do you believe that Obama's vision of safety and nurturing aligns with the views of those who promote the right to keep and bear arms?

The Obama regime is joined by gun control commando and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, co-founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and similar enterprises.  Bloomberg was highlighted in the article, "New Gun Violence Prevention Group 'Everytown for Gun Safety' Unites Mayors, Moms and Millions of Americans on New Paths to Victory: State Capitols, Corporate Responsibility, Voter Activation".   According to these gun control zealots:

"Supporters of Everytown will back candidates and legislation that will save lives, donate to the group’s efforts and take action to raise awareness for important issues like guns in schools, domestic violence, child access to guns, suicide and the other ways that gun violence affects all Americans."

What kind of "legislation" can you imagine Bloomberg et al might openly or secretly "back" to "raise awareness"?  Perhaps bills that indoctrinate children against guns in the name of safety?

Consider the article, "It’s Not Gun Control ­ It’s Gun Violence Prevention," by Tony Wellen, chair of the Coalition Against Gun Violence (CAGV).  He claims that,

"The American people overwhelmingly support common-sense solutions to our gun violence epidemic – policies like universal background checks (88% Democrats and 79% Republicans: July 2015 Pew Poll), an assault weapons ban, a limit on ammunition clips and gun violence protective orders."

Two of the CAGV's policies are:

"...to counter advertising campaigns by the gun lobby and gun manufacturers encouraging gun acquisition through education about the risks associated with gun ownership," and,

"...to encourage legislators at all levels of government to make the effective prevention of gun violence a high priority..." [bold added]

Closer to home, there exists the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah, which advocates the following:

"A primary activity of the Gun Violence Prevention Center is to educate Utahns about the merits of such moderate gun-violence prevention measures as universal background checks, bans on the sale of military-style assault rifles, and limitations on the places where concealed weapons can be carried." [bold added]

Are you starting to get the picture?  "Violence prevention" is code for indoctrinating, in this case children, to accept, and eventually advocate for, gun control.

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Corruption-Infested Utah AG No Friend to Gun Owners

SB 43 directs the Utah attorney general's (AG) office "in collaboration with the State Board of Education, to select a provider to supply materials and curriculum for the instruction to be provided..."  Unfortunately, the AG's office has a sordid history of corruption and antagonism toward gun owners.

Utah's past two attorneys general, Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow, are currently under indictment for corruption and also election fraud.
Sources: "Warrants allege how Mark Shurtleff, John Swallow used political power, by Dennis Romboy, Deseret News, 2/14/15, and "Prosecutors want John Swallow added to election fraud lawsuit," by Pat Reavy, Deseret News, 12/11/15.

Shurtleff notoriously lobbied to re-open the floodgates of federal property confiscation without due process (i.e. "asset forfeiture"), a backdoor attack on innocent gun owners who must defend themselves in federal courts that are often hopelessly stacked against them.
Sources: "Utah Utah Law Enforcement Officials Mislead Legislature to Oppose Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform," by Connor Boyack, Libertas Institute; "Your Guns Are Now Their Guns!" and the "Property Rights" section by Accountability Utah.

Current occupant, Sean "Rambo" Reyes, appears to have retained most of Shurtleff and Swallow's former bureaucrat cronies, and is under increasing attack for unethical activities, including cronyism and establishing a secretive and unethical "strike force".
Sources: "Business as usual? A.G. Reyes’ campaign donations raise conflict-of-interest questions," by Robert Gehrke, Salt Lake Tribune, 6/7/15; "Utah AG's Office battles whistleblower suit filed by one of its own veteran attorneys," by Colby Frazier, Salt Lake City Weekly, 12/23/15, and "Rambo Reyes and The Child Sex Slave Rescue Industry: Vigilantes Cut Through Red Tape", by Lynn Packer, 3/31/15, pp 28-30.

As reported by UT Gun Rights, Reyes has been absent without leave (AWOL) regarding dozens of Utah local governments that have pursued gun controls in direct violation of Utah statute.  An out-of-state private organization, The Second Amendment Foundation, has been vicariously performing Reyes' job for him, by forcing those local officials to comply with Utah statute.

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Reyes is also a voting member of the secretive and contemptible Utah Law [sic] Enforcement Legislative Committee (LELC), which notoriously takes positions in favor of gun control, including:

* Support for HB 384: More Government Power to Steal Your Property in 2013;

* Opposition to HB 76: Carry “Unloaded” Firearms Concealed in 2013, and

* Support for HB 276: Violence Against Open Carry Gun Owners in 2014.

As no surprise, the LELC recently voted in a secret meeting to support SB 43.

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"We must brainwash the youth, comrades!"

State Board of Indoctrination Plots to Impose Gun Control

According to SB 43, the Utah attorney general's office is to coordinate with the Utah state board of education (SBE) on the curriculum and instructor(s).  The SBE has long plotted to undermine gun owners and indoctrinate Utah children against their parents.  Consider this from the 1999 SBE board meeting minutes [bold added]:

"Chairman John Watson indicated that the Board has made a statement. He indicated he wanted to see guns band from school. However, principally if we follow certain rules and processes, we will ultimately get that decision. He felt the Board should get behind the coalition and make our statement known, and wait and watch for a short period of time for legislative action to take place, we get all of our wishes and desires without facing legal action that could come to us.

"Member Grant Hurst commented that he felt the Board had the right and responsibility to take action. However, he would like to have us do something that will create a change in attitude and structure that will keep guns from going into schools with or without anyone’s knowledge. The biggest concern if we take that action is the political process that we could put ourselves in a very dangerous position with the legislature who has said they are not going to take any action, and we force them to the table and they could come back and put it to us financially. Member Hurst suggested that we get solidly in front of the initiative action and make our position clear that as the State Board of Education we are opposed to guns in schools and we will take whatever action necessary to do that. If we get all the education family and churches together, this will be moved ahead quickly. He suggested that the Board give Doug Bates authority to spearhead this.

"Motion was made by Member C. Grant Hurst and seconded by Member Linnea S. Barney that the State Boards of Education get solidly in front of the initiative action in opposition to guns in schools and to authorize Doug Bates to lead the initiative.

"Member Kim Burningham clarified that the legislature has not taken a stand, only legislative committees and a caucus have done so. He felt that when the pressure comes solid heads will win out and the legislature will take the right stand. We can help this by joining this initiative.

"Vice Chairman Jill Kennedy spoke in favor of the motion and indicated that as we do so Board Members need to be on the line and go door to door with petitions, etc. to make our position absolutely clear.

"Chairman Watson indicated that the Board needed to be present at the press conference on September 27.

"Motion carried unanimously."

"Re-educate them all to worship the state!"

In other words, SB 43 is a dream come true for the SBE's historical legacy of scheming to "create a change in attitude and structure" with the objective of scaring children and parents into accepting gun control.  They will now get to "collaborate" to select the instructors, agenda, and tone of this so-called "gun violence prevention program".  Rather than openly promote gun control, the statutarium is handing the SBE the ability to what it has longed to do.

As UT Gun Rights has attempted to convey, this is precisely how Utah's "pay-to-play" culture of political corruption operates, and how gun owners are played for fools.  What gun control zealots cannot accomplish openly, they attempt to accomplish secretly.  See, for example, the article, "HB 76: Political Theater for Suckers".

More recently, the SBE was crystal clear in its opposition to the effort to train teachers to be carry concealed and be first-responders in attacks on schools [bold added]:

"The Utah State Board of Education Chair Debra Roberts released the following statement today on the matter:

'The Utah State Board of Education expresses sympathy to all involved in the recent school shooting in Connecticut. In the face of this terrible tragedy, as schools move forward in taking measures to ensure the safety of students and school personnel, we urge caution and thoughtful consideration.'

"The statement noted that its schools have emergency plans to handle such situations.

"Carol Lear, the board's director of school law and legislation, was more blunt about Aposhian's gun training, telling the Associated Press, 'It's a terrible idea... It's a horrible, no-good, rotten idea.'"
Source: "Utah Teachers Flock to Gun Training," by Christina NG, ABC News, 12/27/12.

How confident are you in the ability of these people to teach children about firearms and firearm safety?

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Appropriate Action: Contact the Two Bullies Who Dominate Your Statutators

As the 2016 Utah Government Corruption Report amply demonstrates, two playground bullies abuse and dominate the house and senate and work together to destroy your rights: house speaker Greg Hughes and senate president Wayne Niederhauser.

Contrary to what you learned in civics class, these two men bully the entire statutarium (i.e. "legislature") and run roughshod over your elected officials.  They set the agenda and your statutators obediently follow it.

How can two people exercise such control? As one example, the house speaker and senate president alone appoint and remove EVERY member of EVERY committee. Hughes and Niederhauser are empowered to do this without any review or confirmation process.
Sources: "The general duties of the Speaker are to:... appoint the members of committees…" (House Rules 1-3-102. Duties of the speaker) and "The general duties of the president are to:… appoint the members of committees…" (SR1-3-102. Duties of the president)

Consider the vast implications of this incredible power. No bill may be voted on in the house or senate without going through a committee. As a result, bills live or die almost entirely upon the calculated orders of these two bullies.

Previous House Bully Becky Lockhart candidly admitted her power to the press:

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

Lockhart's successor, Greg Hughes, likewise empowers the chairs of each house committee because he appoints and fires them at his will alone, as does Niederhauser for every senate committee.

Hughes' and Niederhauser's powers are so extreme, no specific provision exists in the house or senate rules to fire these bullies before their two-year terms are over.  Akin to an elected despotism, these bullies lord over each body, trade political favors, and sell your rights; all while pretending that decisions are made by the will of the majority.

The political buck stops with Hughes and Niederhauser for failing to advance positive gun owner bills, and for every gun control bill enacted. Until more statutators are motivated to oppose their power, your rights will continue to be undermined.

For House Bully Greg Hughes' contact information (and the rest of the house statutators), click here.  For Senate Bully Wayne Niederhauser's contact information (and the rest of the senate statutators), click here.

Other views & opinions to compare and contrast: Utah Grassroots, Utah Shooting Sports Council.

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