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 05.09.09
CHL PRIVACY BILL GETS SECOND CHANCE |
As
you know, HB 2727, a bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders,
was eviscerated in the House Judiciary Committee by Judy
Steigler and passed the full House in its severely amended
and almost useless
form.
The bill Kim Thatcher worked so hard to pass in order to provide
real protections, now provides virtually none. The new bill
is so bad that the "Newberg Graphic" calls it
" a step in the right direction."
To get an idea why the
Newberg Graphic would applaud this now worthless bill, look
at what else they had to say in a recent editorial.
"This newspaper, and many others, have accessed information
on CHL holders in order to report, for instance, that teachers
with CHL permits are carrying handguns in schools."
Of course it is absurd to conclude that simply because a person
has a permit they are "carrying in school" (although
they have every right to do so) but this is the exact kind of
abuse we need to address. The Graphic goes on to say
"That's information that parents of students should have
access to in order to decide if that particular school district
needs to change its policies in order to protect its students."
Here, the Graphic displays astonishing ignorance about how Oregon
gun laws are enforced, but more so reveals that some organizations
clearly want access to this information simply to harass gun
owners.
The position that the paper takes, that they need access to
these private records to determine if the government is working
in the "public's best interest," is an obvious sham
and a demonstration of why we must do all we can to
keep these records private.
CHL holders are not government agencies that require
public oversight. CHL holders get licenses because the state
demands that they request permission to exercise a right, something
not required of residents of states like Alaska and Vermont.
As such, the information on your license and application should
be as private as your medical records and your tax returns.
But now, thanks to House Democrats, and several Republican Committee
members who capitulated on the amendment vote, HB 2727 has morphed
into 2727A,
a useless piece of window dressing which fixes nothing.
But the story is not over. Before the bill can become law, it
must pass the Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee is Floyd Prozanski.
As chairman he has tremendous control over how this bill proceeds.
His committee has the power to amend the bill to return the
safeguards that the original bill provided. Prozanski was also
a cosponsor of the original bill.
As a cosponsor of the clean bill, Prozanzki knows the importance
of real protections for CHL holders, something the amended bill
simply does NOT provide.
Because your private, personal information is at stake and available
to gun hating organizations like the Newberg
Graphic and the Medford
Mail Tribune, it is essential that we do all we can to make
sure a bill is passed that actually provides the protections
that the original bill included.
Please contact Senator Prozanski by e-mail and phone and urge
him not to waste time with HB2727 A in its current form. Please
consider sending a copy of your e-mail to the entire committee.
Please tell him that the bill provides nothing but window dressing
when what we need is real privacy. Contact information and a
sample message follow:
Full
Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Floyd Prozanski
sen.floydprozanski@state.or.us
900 Court St. NE, S-417, Salem, OR, 97301
503-986 -1704
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Dear Senator Prozanski,
As an original sponsor of HB 2727, you clearly understand the
importance of the protections provided under that bill to holders
of concealed handgun licenses. As an attorney and prosecutor,
you also understand how little the amended bill provides in
terms of these protections.
HB 2727 A is a pointless exercise in political posturing. Without
real safeguards license holders will have been sold a bill of
goods by the legislature. Even now, newspapers like the
Newberg Graphic are celebrating the bill as passed because it
will allow them to expose the identity of teachers with CHL's.
(See their May 7th editorial.)
When HB 2727 A arrives in your committee, I urge you in the
strongest terms to seek and allow, amendments to make the bill
actually do something for license holders. WIthout real safeguards,
the bill is not worth your time to hear.
Yours,
__________________________
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© 2000 - 2010, Oregon Firearms Federation. All Rights Reserved.
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