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HB 271: Elitist GOP Deep State Declares Open
Season on Homeless Gun Owners
HB 271: Elitist
GOP Deep State Declares Open Season on Homeless Gun
Owners
Threat briefing last updated:
3/10/20 at 3:40p
"Reload" this page to see latest version.
Summary:
House Bill 271 (HB 271) was originally listed as a "Good"
bill. It restricted any state
or local agency or local government authority/entity from
prohibiting firearms or firearm accessories to any extent that
is more restrictive than state statute.
Thanks to hostile amendments by
gun control zealot Paul Ray ("Republican"), however, HB 271 now
empowers these government agents and agencies to
prohibit homeless gun owners, and those who visit them, from
possessing firearms inside government-controlled homeless shelters. All
possession could be banned without requiring so much as a
secure storage locker, or armed personnel to
protect them absent their firearms.
Ray's amendments also provide
Statute Enforcement Agents
(SEAs) immunity from
lawsuit or liability for
"knowingly" and "willfully"
violating the rights of gun owners. This despicable
double-standard should be compared with recently-passed
HB 73, which provides jail time for Citizens who
"unknowingly" and "unintentionally" "interfere" with SEAs.
The message of betrayal from the corrupt, elitist GOP
Deep State is clear: It is open season on Utah gun owners.
SEAs and local officials are encouraged to abuse gun owners
and disarm them whenever they wish
— starting with those who are
the most financially-vulnerable.
Position: UT Gun
Rights opposes this bill.
Status:
Alert!
This bill
passed
the entire state house, and is now in Stuart Adams'
hand-picked senate rules committee. See its
bill status page. Find
and contact your
house
(including the house bully, Brad Wilson),
senate
(including the senate bully, Stuart Adams), and
executive branch
officials.
IMPORTANT UPDATE!
Killing it in the senate is a reasonable approach, however,
the house can still take action. Any house member can initiate
action to kill HB 271 in three ways.
(1) The preferred solution is for
a house member to make a motion to strike the bill's enabling
clause, by a constitutional majority of house members.
See
JR4-3-109. Striking the enacting
clause.
(2) A house member can also make a
motion for the bill to be "returned" to the house, but this
requires approval by both houses. See
JR4-3-203. Possession of a bill
-- Process for obtaining the return of legislation sent to the
other house.
(3) A house member can also make a
motion to "recall" the bill to the house, but this again
requires approval by both houses. See
JR4-5-201. Recalling legislation before it is signed by the
speaker and president.
Sponsors:
Cory Maloy ("Republican") in the house and
Curt Bramble ("Republican") in the senate.
Jump down to any topic:
1. Original HB 271 Before it was Hijacked
Government Contractors Could No Longer
be Coerced
Actual Risk to SEAs Who Abuse Gun Owners
Government Shooting Ranges Excepted
2. Utah's Secretive Deep State Inserts Sinister
Amendments
Open Season on Homeless Gun Owners
Removal of Individual Liability for Abusive SEAs
3. Feudalism in Zion: Only Powerful Land Owners Enjoy Rights
4. "Pro-RKBA" Organizations Cheerleading for another Boner
5. Appropriate
Action
Refuse to be Divided — No Matter What
Demand More Rigorous Bill Study
Oppose Rushed Bills by Default
Oppose Bills that Start Badly NO
MATTER WHAT
Recognize that Political Feces Rolls
Downhill
Start the Real Work AFTER the Session
Utah's legislature is
only adept at stealing defeat from the jaws of
victory. |
1.
Original HB 271 Before it was Hijacked
HB 271 originally tightened up language asserting that the
Utah state legislature was the only body that could PROHIBIT
the possession and use of firearms and firearm accessories.
From
lines 61-62 (underlined italics indicates new language; words
in brackets with strikethrough indicates stricken language):
"...The Legislature occupies
the whole field of state regulation of firearms and ammunition..."
It is reasonable for state
statute, in this case any statutory regulation (i.e.
restriction) of firearms and ammunition, to be defined by the
highest body of government. Were this current crop of
legislators capable of occupying more than jail cells and
unemployment lines, such language would be more comforting.
Allowing lower bodies to restrict fundamental rights,
however, opens the door to a confusing mess of contradiction.
How can any gun owner know which regulations are in place for
every county or municipality he/she may conduct personal or
business activities in?
[DISCLAIMER: Whenever statutory
powers are debated, it is critical to differentiate between
natural law and statute. Natural law represents rules of
conduct that are inherently just, unchanging, and beyond human
perversion. By contrast, statutes are demands and
impositions which frequently undermine and subvert natural
law.]
Salt Lake County mayor
Jenny Wilson thinks it's cute to violate the natural
rights of Utah gun owners and private vendors. |
Government Contractors Could No Longer be Coerced
HB 271 also removed private or pseudo-private contracting vendors
from the equation.
"Unless specifically authorized by the Legislature by
statute, a local authority or state [entity]
agency, including
organizations or vendors that contract with a local authority
or state agency, may not enact, establish, or
enforce any ordinance, regulation, rule, or policy pertaining
to firearms that in any way inhibits or restricts the
possession, transfer, or use of firearms on either public or
private property. (lines 78-81)
In 2019, Salt Lake County mayor Jennifer Wilson abused her power by
acting "under
color of the law" to
coerce private vendors
associated with gun shows held in county facilities to subject private sales to a federal
background check. Her handlers rationalized their
abuses by supposing that existing statute did not
explicitly prohibit them from regulating the "transfer"
of firearms.
HB 271 would theoretically prohibit
such abuse of power, though it is arguably implied in the
existing statute. How can an individual "possess" a
firearm if he/she cannot freely give or receive it?
Wilson and her handlers were skating on thin ice, and they
knew it.
HB 271 also provides the caveat that private property rights
not be impacted:
"Nothing in this part restricts or expands private property
rights." (line 233)
As it should be.
In 2017, Utah Nurse Alex
Wubbels was
violently arrested after refusing to draw blood
from an unconscious accident victim. Her
perpetrator, then-detective Jeff Payne, was never charged with a
crime. His supervisor, James Tracy, is still
employed with the SLC Police Department. |
Actual Risk to SEAs Who Abuse Gun Owners
As UT Gun Rights has repeatedly stressed over several years,
state Statute
Enforcement Agents (SEAs) who violate the rights of innocent
gun owners almost never face substantive
punishment.
Why? Because Utah's prison industrial complex
currently shields, harbors, protects, and encourages violent
thugs, including corrupt police officers, prosecuting
attorneys, and injustice court judges, to grossly violate the
natural rights of citizens.
As
Clark Aposhian of the Utah Shooting Sports Council discovered,
Utah's injustice system is entirely stacked against the innocent. So much
so, these regime criminals are protected by a comprehensive
patchwork of government immunity statutes, pseudo-governmental
unions, and often the state itself, when they abuse their
employers (i.e. you).
Learn more about the history of Utah's
perverse government agent immunity statutes by studying
SB 176 S2 enacted in 2015,
SB 55 S1 enacted in 2004, and
SB 225 S1 enacted in 2003.
Therefore, the most encouraging part of the original HB 271
was that it created a grievance process that specifically
waived "government immunity statutes" for entities AND
THEIR SEAs who dare to act beyond state statute in prohibiting firearm
possession and use.
In the case of individual SEAs, they could be PERSONALLY SUED
and were PERSONALLY LIABLE:
"...An individual acting in an official capacity for a state
agency or local authority who knowingly or willfully violates
this part is not immune from suit or liability for the
violation." (lines 427-429)
Word of personal liability, particularly amongst SEAs, gets
around very quickly. If they know they are putting
themselves at risk, they will be far more cautious generally.
In a just society, this would be the absolute
standard.
Government Shooting Ranges
Excepted
Another exception regarded public shooting ranges:
"A political subdivision may enact an ordinance, rule, or
resolution regarding the use of public shooting ranges,
facilities, and targets, to include limits on the use of
firearms and ammunition within the range design criteria."
(lines
51-53)
This appears to be restrictive of shooting ranges that, according
to, "47-3-301. Access
to publicly funded ranges,"
are,
"...Constructed with public funds and operated or controlled
by the state, an institution of higher education, or a
political subdivision...."
As such, UT Gun Rights viewed this as acceptable.
Back to
Topics
2.
Utah's Secretive Deep State Inserts Sinister Amendments
In typical fashion,
Utah's secretive Deep State deliberately took control of
HB 271.
They did so in two ways:
1)
Notorious gun control charlatan Curt Bramble was recruited
as HB 271's senate sponsor. Bramble has a
lifetime corruption rating of -135% (that's MINUS).
Bramble is typically employed to undermine, neutralize, and
pervert positive legislative efforts. Learn about
his devastating role in enacting HB 276: Violence Against Gun
Owners in 2014, for example. Or his
pivotal role in re-opening the floodgates of taxpayer-funded
abortion-on-demand.
2)
Paul "Supersize
Me" Ray introduced hostile amendments to HB 271 designed to destroy
its original purpose, and to
pit Utah's community of gun owners against each other.
Ray is addicted to more than just fast food
and opioid campaign contributions. He has a
lifetime
corruption rating of -61% (that's MINUS).
Ray is often at the nexus of gun control efforts, to
include
sponsoring the original Veteran Disarmament Courts pilot
program in 2015. In 2013, he played a pivotal role
in
attacking the right of Utahans to open carry.
Ray and his handlers are employing a "divide and conquer" strategy.
Today's lure is the false hope that the remaining
"good" portions of HB 271 will better protect you
and gun owners in your social circles.
In exchange for this "protection," however, you must willingly throw your poorer brothers and
sisters
— those who are are unable to keep a roof over their
heads
— under the gun control bus.
Open Season on
Homeless Gun Owners
Paul "Supersize
Me" Ray continues to serve his ethically-vacuous, heartless, effeminate masters well.
From his
hostile amendments on lines 87a to 87f:
53-5a-103.5. Homeless Shelters.
1) As used in this section,
"homeless shelter" means a facility that provides temporary
shelter to homeless individuals and has the capacity to
provide temporary shelter to at least 20 individuals per
night.
(2) A local government entity may prohibit the
possession of firearms within a homeless shelter over which it
exercises authority. [bold added]
Consider the poisonous impact of this language.
A firearm is often the only realistic means a homeless gun owner
may have to defend self or family.
Where does she leave her firearm if she must seek shelter?
Should she hide it under a bush outside and hope to retrieve
it in the morning? Should she surrender it to
authorities and lose her ability to protect herself from
violent criminals? Should she remain outside in the cold
with her only means of protection?
Under Ray's amendment, state and local agencies and local
governments enjoy complete latitude to ban firearms on
taxpayer-funded properties without any accountability for harm
done to innocent gun owners. For example:
1) Secure lockers are NOT required to be provided for gun
owners who sleep in the facility, or those who visit them.
2) No 24-hour armed security is required to be present to
protect disarmed gun owners from violence in these facilities
or when they leave. For visitors, this likely means
leaving their firearms at home, or in unsecured vehicles
parked in dangerous areas.
3) No signs need be posted at these facilities, requiring
Citizens to be independently familiar with any obscure
policies or rules prohibiting firearms.
Innocent gun owners compelled to utilize the tax-funded facilities
they have already contributed to, must entirely disarm and pray they are not murdered,
raped, or otherwise attacked and molested.
Removal of Individual
Liability for Abusive SEAs
Paul "Supersize
Me" Ray's hostile amendments to HB
271 also included striking the following language:
"...[An individual acting in an official capacity for a state
agency or local authority who knowingly or willfully violates
this part is not immune from suit or liability for the
violation]." (lines 427-429)
In other words, Statute Enforcement Agents (SEAs) will be
personally immune from accountability in Utah's injustice
courts. Think about the incredible double-standard this
perpetrates.
SEAs are personally immune from liability even if they
KNOWINGLY and WILLFULLY violate state statute. They have
no duty or obligation under HB 271 to follow the statute at
all. They can abuse innocent gun owners at will.
In the
2020 Bill Tracking Page: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly,
UT Gun Rights highlighted a bill that shows just
how
different the standards of accountability are between SEAs and
the Citizens they supposedly serve.
House Bill 73: Jail Time for Unknowingly and
Unintentionally "Interfering" with State Agents:
HB 73
provides that nearly anything could be considered "intereference"
and "obstruction" of a "public servant," punishable by
imprisonment and fines. Line 32 also strikes the
essential language that such behavior be done
"knowingly" and "intentionally." Someone who
doesn't even COMPREHEND that he/she is "interfering"
or "obstructing" would be "guilty." And if in
possession of a firearm, additional charges could
theoretically be added (i.e. a "crime" committed with
a dangerous weapon). There would be a "chilling
effect" on gun owners who might have a duty to
NON-VIOLENTLY refuse to cooperate with unjust,
inappropriate police behaviors.
Did you get that? Citizens are unknowingly and
unintentionally "guilty" of "interfering" or "obstructing"
state statute. Meanwhile, SEAs can knowingly and
willfully do the same without fear or accountability.
Supporters may argue that HB 271 still retains language that
falsely appears to waive immunity for SEAs in
lines 206-208:
"Immunity
from suit of each governmental entity and its employees or
agents is
waived with respect to the provisions of Title 78B,
Chapter 6, Part 22, Firearms Preemption
Enforcement Act."
Part 22, comprised of
lines 362-429, creates a process for agrieved gun owners
whose rights were violated. Lines 404-429 lay out the
specifics.
With the deletion
of lines 427-429, however, this new process specifically EXCLUDES any court
action against SEAs who carried out that abuse. Only
government agencies and entities can be sued.
In other words,
without lines 427-429, lines 206-208 are meaningless.
SEAs once again enjoy immunity when they abuse innocent gun
owners.
Why is this so significant? Most Citizens lack the
resources to engage in long court battles with faceless
government agencies and entities. The only real
deterrent every Citizen can equally afford is for SEAs to fear
the potential risks of spending their own time and
resources in court.
Back to
Topics
3.
Feudalism in Zion: Only Powerful Land Owners Enjoy Rights
During the
Dark Ages of Feudalism, land ownership often separated
those who could enjoy the full exercise of their natural
rights, and those who could not. Landed "Lords" ruled
and divided territories granted to them by "Monarchs."
Those without land typically served these elites as "Serfs,"
or slaves.
Even during the
early settlement and founding of America, voting and other
natural rights were often restricted to those who owned land.
Those who were not fortunate enough to own land were deprived
of the right to vote, and were thereby more vulnerable to
attacks against their natural rights. This only changed
as community brothers came together to demand more.
The corrupt, globalist elites who control and manage the
current Utah
Statutarium (aka "legislature"), and who have
turned Utah into the fraud capital of America, have spent
decades busily pursuing their own brand of Feudalism.
Everything is a "pay-to-play"
game for them, and taxpaying Citizens are the
"reservoir of funds" they shamelessly exploit.
First, they reduce your brothers and sisters to poverty via heavy taxation,
regulation, and outright theft. Once on the
street and impoverished, what few
natural rights and protections they haver are destroyed by bills
like HB 271.
In, "Warning!
Utah's "Cannabis" Bill Designed to Entrap Gun Owners," UT
Gun Rights revealed how innocent Utahans are being targeted
for gun control abuses who are severely or terminally ill,
pain-ridden, and destitute. The greater the Citizen's
vulnerability, the easier his/her rights can be restricted
through regulation.
And as was exposed in "Armed
Texas Non-Mormons Stop Shooter: Lessons for Disarmed Mormons*,"
Utah is the place... for a rebranded form of Feudalism, where
corrupt elitists flagrantly demonstrate their deep-seeded disdain
and contempt for honest, sincere human beings and real
community.
Back to
Topics
There will be many contenders for this year's French Army Award. |
4. "Pro-RKBA" Organizations
Cheerleading for another Boner
Utah's Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) community is falling hard for HB 271. For
example, the Utah Shooting SPORTS Council (USSC) continues to
support HB 271 with the
following message:
"Clarifies that Counties, cities, etc cannot make gun
laws or require background checks not required by state law.
(Yes, this is a smack down of Salt Lake County's attempt
to impose firearms restrictions by telling their contractor,
who runs the county owned Mountain American Expo Center, to
require gun show promoters to conduct universal background
checks or they cannot rent the facility. Shame on the SL
County Mayor Jenny Wilson and District Attorney Sim Gill for
the clear violation of the intent of existing state law!)
STRONGLY SUPPORT!"
Ironically, the USSC markets itself as refusing to compromise
over fundamental human, constitutional and civil rights,
regardless of an individuals "status":
"USSC is committed to the principle of supporting the
fundamental human, constitutional, and civil rights of every
individual without regard to race, gender, ethnic or national
origin, religion, political affiliation, age, physical
disability, or other status. On these fundamental human,
constitutional and civil rights, there can and will be no
compromise." [Source:
USSC "About Us" page]
Well, what about the "status" of the homeless who have now
been targeted for discrimination by a bill the USSC "strongly
support[s]"? Why is compromise "ok" in this instance?
Perhaps the USSC simply did not catch the problems with
Paul "Supersize
Me" Ray's amendments with regard to homeless gun owners?
The nefarious schemes constantly concocted by Utah's political
effeminate lowlifes are so insidious and complex, they are
often confusing and difficult to catch. No individual or
organization is sharp enough to catch every trick of their
dark trade.
As
Warfighting, the Marine Corps Book of Instruction,
expressed it:
"In an environment of friction, uncertainty, and fluidity, war
gravitates naturally toward disorder. Like the other
attributes of the environment of war, disorder is an integral
characteristic of war; we can never eliminate it. In the heat
of battle, plans will go awry, instructions and information
will be unclear and misinterpreted, communications will fail,
and mistakes and unforeseen events will be commonplace. It is
precisely this natural disorder which creates the conditions
ripe for exploitation by an opportunistic will."
The opportunistic will, in the case of HB 271, consists of
corrupt agitators like
Paul "Supersize
Me" Ray, who deliberately inserted poison and chaos into
what could have been an essentially clean and productive bill.
Unfortunately in the case of USSC, this isn't an isolated
mistake or oversight. USSC has an abysmal track record of falling
for opportunistic agitators. Look at UT Gun Rights'
2020 Bill
Tracking Page: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly, and examine
how many of the gun control bills are either supported, or not
opposed, by USSC.
USSC supports...
* HB 197 "Bureaucratic Jury-less Penalties that
Exclusively Discriminate Against Innocent Gun Owners";
* HB 171 "Point Your Finger-Gun in School & Go to Jail".
USSC has taken no position on...
* HB 73 "Jail Time for Unknowingly and
Unintentionally 'Interfering' with State Agents";
* HB 100 "Veteran Disarmament Courts";
* SB 62 "Gun Control by Unelected Bureaucrats".
USSC is "neutral" on...
* SB 87
"Government-Endorsed Theft of Firearms from
Innocent Owners".
These problems date back to at least 2013, when Clark
Aposhian, president of the Utah Shooting Sports Council,
appeared to secretively facilitate opposition to a permitless
carry bill.
USSC has repeatedly demonstrated that the damage done by supposed allies
can be far more devastating
than the worst communist, snowflake Democrat. As U.S. General George S.
Patton purportedly expressed it during World War II,
"I'd rather have a division of Germans in front of me,
than a French one behind me."
USSC is not alone in its support of HB 271. Other organizations, for
whatever reasons, have fallen for its trappings, including:
Utah Grassroots:
See their alert.
Utah Carry Laws:
See their bill tracking page.
Utah Firearms Association:
See their alert.
Are these mistakes deliberate? Likely not in all cases. All
organizations, including UT Gun Rights, err and
miscalculate. Such is the nature of political warfare.
As long as the "leaders" of the RKBA community fall for cheap
divide-and-conquer distractions, however, gun owners lose.
And the
losses are becoming exponentially more significant every year.
Back to
Topics
Utah's political theater encapsulated in one photo. [Note: This is an undoctored photo taken in the Utah
house.] |
The gun control games exposed in this threat assessment are
not new to the 2020 general legislative session.
Gun owners have been abused like this for a long time.
Eventually, more gun owners must join the comunity of Right to
Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA) savvy citizens,
denounce the abysmal traitors and/or ignoramouses currently
infesting every branch of Utah government, and help motivate Utah's RKBA community to
step up its
game in a big way.
Below are a few suggestions on how this can
be accomplished.
If Utah gun owners are to exert their power more completely,
they must utterly refuse to accept any bill that unjustly
discriminates against innocent members of their community.
No human being should fear that the pro-RKBA community will turn
its back on them for political expedience.
No victory is worth the cost. Ever.
In the case of HB 271, gun owners should vehemently oppose throwing
their homeless brothers and sisters under the gun control bus.
Bills, and changes to proposed bills, must be studied far more
rigorously, and publicly, before they are championed. Utah
statute is too complex and hostile by its nature to treat
lightly or flippantly.
What are potentially-unseen ramifications of a given bill?
Can you think of any constituencies who might be unjustly
harmed? Can anyone else come up with a potential
problem?
Do you comprehend each line of code sufficiently to support it
with confidence? Or is something nagging in the back of
your mind? Trust that instinct. Whenever you deal
with
slimy serpents, you should err on the side of extreme
caution.
That caution applies to everyone. No sponsor, lobbyist, or
organization should be trusted exclusively to comprehend bills
and judge bills
— including UT Gun Rights.
Notice that UT
Gun Rights cites other organizations that disagree with
various positions. This is not merely to "bash them,"
but to encourage public study and debate.
When bills are sprung on gun owners with little time to digest
them, the default position should be to oppose them.
Rushed efforts are rarely positive, and almost always
hide ulterior motives by the
same secretive back channels that currently infest Utah's capitol.
Supporting a "lemon" destroys the credibility of the
organizations that backed it. More importantly,
it destroys the morale of honest activists who will eventually realize
they were duped.
Even IF a rushed bill is miraculously "net-positive," the precedent for
supporting it is dangerous because it sets a precedent that
the gun community will tolerate half-ass, last-minute efforts.
Sponsors who expect anything other than ridicule and derision
should communicate with Utah's pro-RKBA community EARLY.
Rumors of this bill were circulated months ago.
Yet, the sponsor,
Walt Brooks ("Republican"), waited until March 4 to finally
release it to the public. The general session ends
on Thursday, March 12.
Does the sponsor really imagine the entire pro-RKBA community will
believe he has any serious intention of getting the bill
through both a house and senate committee meeting and house
and senate floor votes in SIX BUSINESS DAYS? Why would
anyone take such an absurd, half-ass, paltry "effort"
seriously?
For some reason, pro-RKBA organizations have a tendency to try
to "negotiate" with gun control sponsors. They hold out
"olive branches," try to find the "good" in sponsors'
intentions, and seek amendments to "make a bad bill less bad."
This is utter nonsense.
If a sponsor publishes a gun control bill, THAT BILL
SHOULD BE KILLED WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Attempts to
"negotiate" it into a "neutral" or "good" bill never work, divides
constituencies, and facilitates disaster.
If a sponsor has a hostile political track record and/or didn't get it essentially right to begin with,
then his bill dies an ignominious death. He must go back to the drawing board,
take more time, and allow for more review and direction from
the pro-RKBA community.
In other words, current and future gun control bills should be given the same
respect the sponsors give to gun owners. If sponsors
don't like getting slapped down, then he must learn to
behave properly.
Barring a concerted and immediate effort by Utah's pro-RKBA community,
HB 271 may be enacted by the powerful and corrupt
special interests that currently dominate the legislature.
Calls and emails to your legislators have an impact. But
in order to resist gun control effectively, more Utahans need to comprehend
who, and what, these special interests are, and how they
operate.
When effeminate cowards seize power, they rely on cheap,
underhanded tricks to avoid accountability. These range
from parliamentary maneuverings to the insidious application
of perverse campaign finance pressure. They have so
infested the
capitol battlefield, you are a powerless visitor
they (barely) tolerate.
The enemies of Utah gun owners (and all citizens) have overrun
the capitol. Politically uprooting and eliminating them
will not happen there.
To put the brakes on gun control, the primary orchestrators
and movers of it, house "speaker" Brad Wilson and senate
"president" Stuart Adams, must begin to feel substantive
political heat for their traitorous and contemptible behavior.
They must experience an united pro-RKBA community that doesn't
fall for their treachery.
A political rebellion, from the grassroots up, must remove
Wilson and Adams from their positions, and redistribute the powers of their
positions so that one corrupt politician cannot
dominate the entire process so completely.
To learn how you can start the process of holding the key
perpetrators of gun control accountable, see UT Gun Rights'
article, "What
You Can Do." The real work starts outside of the
legislative session, away from Utah's corrupt capitol, and
among the Citizens.