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 05.21.09
CHL PRIVACY BILL. IT AIN'T DEAD YET. |
HB
2727 A was heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
As you know, in its original
form, the bill provided extensive protections for CHL holders'
privacy.
But the bill was essentially neutered in the House Judiciary
Committee and now provides little more than window dressing.
But even those meager protections were too much for Ginny
Burdick, Portland City Commissioner Randy
Leonard, the ACLU and the Oregonian newspaper, all of whom
came to complain that the bill afforded too much privacy
for CHL holders.
Burdick and Leonard have long been vocal opponents of gun rights
(although Leonard has had a CHL himself in the past) and the
Oregonian makes no secret of their desire to have access to
the private records of Oregon gun owners. The ACLU, of course,
are big protectors of privacy rights, unless those rights belong
to gun owners. The ACLU's hypocrisy on this issue is both glaring
and expected.
Andrea Meyer , the ACLU's
lobbyist, testified that CHL holders records should be open
to the public on the same day that she testified that drunk
drivers should not be forced to submit to urine analysis.
Protection of people's rights is a highly selective
endeavor at the ACLU.
But pro-gunners opposed the bill for the opposite reason. It
simply provides no real safeguards for CHL holders. And that's
why it's more important than ever that you contact not only
the Senate Judiciary Committee members, but your own Senator
(if he or she is not on the committee) and urge them to restore
the original safeguards that appeared in the unamended bill.
Although the hearing was held today, no action was taken on
the bill and the Chairman, Floyd Prozanski, did not rule out
restoring the safeguards that were stripped out in the House.
If those are restored, the House will have to concur with the
changed bill, but it's a fight worth having rather than settling
for a bill than is little more than smoke and mirrors.
You can contact the Senate Judiciary Committee
here.
Please let them know that without the original protections,
the bill means very little. And be sure to contact your own
Senator if he or she is not on the Committee. They may
not have a vote in the Committee, but they can still make their
feelings known to the Committee members.
You can find your State Senator using this link.
Your STATE Senator will be the 4th person listed. You can write
directly to your legislators using this link.
The bill is scheduled to be acted on next Tuesday. Please contact
the Committee and your Senator as soon as possible.
Sample message:
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Dear Senator,
Testimony given at the hearing for HB2727 "A"
made it clear that some people want access to the private records
of CHL holders. As you know, several counties have already made
that information available to private organizations who are
using it for fundraising purposes and who could easily sell
it to third parties.
CHL holders deserve to have their personal information kept
private. These are not "non-sensitive government
documents." These are highly sensitive documents
filled with the personal information, not only of the
license holders and applicants, but also of the references they
are required by law to provide.
In its current form, HB 2727 "A" provides virtually
no protections for CHL holders. I urge you to restore
the original protections that HB 2727 contained.
Yours,
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