Overlooking the Missouri House chamber.

A petition on CREDO Action has been started by Representative Stacey Newman (D):

Stop Pro-NRA Bills Just to Attack Lawmakers

To: Pro-NRA Legislators in the Missouri State Legislature

Stop outrageous pro-NRA Missouri bills making it a felony to propose gun safety legislation.

Why is this important?

This past week Missouri State Rep. Mike Leara (R-St. Louis) proposed legislation:  “[a]ny member of the general assembly who proposes a piece of legislation that further restricts the right of an individual to bear arms, as set forth under the second amendment of the Constitution of the United States, shall be guilty of a class D felony.”

I am one of those legislators my colleague and the NRA is targetting.  Rep. Lear wants me to go to prison with his bill.

Why?  I filed a common sense bill calling for closing the background checks loophole in Missouri, almost identical the proposal called for by the White House and other lawmakers around the country.

Over 2000 people in the U.S. have been killed by firearms to date since the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting…more than 30 lives are killed daily.  

Rep. Lear’s response?  Criminalize legislators, like myself, for standing up against the NRA in Missouri by proposing common sense supported by the majority of citizens.

So why the political games to make it a felony for Missouri legislators to file gun safety bills?

Rep. Lear stated, “I filed HB 633 as a matter of principle and as a statement in defense of the Second Amendment rights of all Missourians”.  He said, ” I want it to be clear that the Missouri House will stand in defense of the people’s Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

We need responsible legislators in Missouri who care about saving lives, not ones who grandstand with the media and play political games just to get on comedy shows.    

Get serious or go home.

Previously:

HB 633: we really never do get out of junior high school (February 18, 2013)

But, that’s not all:

HB 162: Tenthers and guns, what could go wrong? (January 15, 2013)

HB 170: so much for “originalism” (January 16, 2013)

HB 276: Shootout at the K-12 corral? (January 27, 2013)

HB 350: “Nobody move suddenly, he’s got a duck and he knows how to use it.” (January 29, 2013)

HB 436: loonier than Wayne LaPierre at a press conference (February 5, 2013)

HB 420: when pie tins are outlawed, only outlaws will have pie tins (February 5, 2013)

Missouri General Assembly: it’s their world, the rest of us only get to live in it (February 18, 2013)

HB 640: the devil is always in the details (February 20, 2013)

HB 640: ballots don’t kill people, people do (February 20, 2013)

There’s a pattern here.

From the Federal Aviation Administration:

FAA Planning for $600 Million in 2013 Spending Cuts

February 22- To prepare for the possibility of a budget sequestration on March 1, 2013, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is making plans to reduce its expenditures by approximately $600 million for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2013.

Among the changes we are considering are furloughing the vast majority of our 47,000 employees for approximately one day per pay period; closing over 100 air traffic control facilities; eliminating the overnight shift at over 60 facilities; and reducing preventive maintenance and support for all air traffic control equipment. All of these changes will be finalized as to scope and details through collaborative discussions with our users and our unions.

We will begin furloughs and start facility shut-downs in April. You can read more about this process in this letter from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta (PDF).

[….]

The air traffic control facilities in Missouri which could be shut down by sequestration (from the FAA):

Air Traffic Control Facilities That Could be Closed [pdf]

[….]

BBG Branson Branson MO

COU Columbia Regional Columbia MO

JEF Jefferson City Memorial Jefferson City MO

JLN Joplin Regional Joplin MO

STJ Rosecrans Memorial St. Joseph MO

[….]

Let’s see, Joplin and Branson are represented in Congress by Billy Long (r).  St. Joesph is represented in Congress by Sam Graves (r). Columbia is (now) represented in Congress by Vicky Hartzler (r). Jefferson City is (now) represented in Congress by Blaine Luetkemeyer (r).

And how did they vote on the sequester?:

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 690

S 365      RECORDED VOTE      1-Aug-2011      7:09 PM

     QUESTION:  On Passage

     BILL TITLE: To make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002

—- AYES    269 —

Graves (MO)

Long

Luetkemeyer

—- NOES    161 —

Hartzler

—- NOT VOTING    3 —

Well, yes, Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) voted against sequestration. Probably not particularly because she anticipated air traffic control tower closings.

And in the Senate?:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 112th Congress – 1st Session

[….]

Vote Summary

Question: On the Motion (Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to S. 365 )

Vote Number: 123 Vote Date: August 2, 2011, 12:16 PM

Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Motion Agreed to

Measure Number: S. 365 (Budget Control Act of 2011 )

Measure Title: An act to provide for budget control.

[….]

Blunt (R-MO), Yea

McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

[….]

Flying those Missouri skies might not be so friendly come March 1st (and April).

In the past week at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C091068 02/15/2013 HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE INC Citizens For Timothy W. Jones PO Box 434 Eureka MO 63025 2/14/2013 $5,005.00

C091068 02/22/2013 HOUSE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE INC Friends of Caleb Jones PO Box 5 California MO 65018 2/20/2013 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

No shortages there.

…is that the Missouri General Assembly wasn’t in session.

Close to a foot of snow in came down in west central Missouri today

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C000824 02/21/2013 CIVIC PROGRESS ACTION COMMITTEE Commerce Bancshares, Inc. 1000 Walnut Street Kansas City MO 64106 2/20/2013 $20,000.00

C121489 02/21/2013 CITIZENS FOR SAFE AND ACCESSIBLE ARCH AND PUBLIC PARKS INITIATIVE IN COLLABORATION WITH CIVIC PROGRESS ACTION COMMITTEE Civic Progress Action Committee 800 Market Street, Suite 1900 Saint Louis MO 63101 2/20/2013 $250,000.00

[emphasis added]

Someone’s been saving their pennies.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: why, that would be $1,436.31 per letter (January 29, 2013)

Maybe the price per letter went up.

In the Missouri Constitution, Bill of Rights:

Missouri Constitution

Article I

BILL OF RIGHTS

Section 29

Organized labor and collective bargaining.

Section 29. That employees shall have the right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.

   [….][footnotes]

   (2007) Section applies to public employees as well as private sector employees. Independence-National Education Association v. Independence School District, 223 S.W.3d 131 (Mo.banc).

[emphasis added]

I wonder what brought this on?:

HB 677

Specifies that any member of the General Assembly who proposes legislation that further restricts an individual’s right to bargain collectively will be guilty of a class D felony

Sponsor: Roorda, Jeff (113)

Co-Sponsor: Burns, Bob (093) … et al.

Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2013

LR Number: 1783L.01I

Last Action: 2/20/2013 – Introduced and Read First Time (H)

[….]

Heh.

HB 633: we really never do get out of junior high school (February 18, 2013)

Ah, for republicans guns trump everything else. Well, that and abortion and gays. And whatever else Obama and/or Democrats are for.

Previously:

HB 640: the devil is always in the details (February 20, 2013)

And, we have the details:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 640

97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES PARKINSON (Sponsor), DIEHL, BAHR, FITZPATRICK, FLANIGAN, LEARA, BROWN, KELLEY (127), CURTMAN, DAVIS, REMOLE, SPENCER, CONWAY (104), ROSS, FRAKER, WALKER, FUNDERBURK AND BRATTIN (Co-sponsors).

1678H.02I   D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 571, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the purchase of firearms.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 571, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 571.069, to read as follows:

           571.069. 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a federally licensed firearms dealer shall, consistent with the laws of this state, conduct a federal background check and sell a firearm to any person who has presented one of the following forms of identification to such dealer:

           (1) Identification issued by the federal government, state of Missouri, or a local election authority;

           (2) Identification issued by a Missouri institution of higher education, whether public or private, including a university, college, vocational and technical school;

           (3) A copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or other government document that contains the name and address of the individual;

           (4) A driver’s license or state identification card issued by another state; or

           (5) An attestation from two or more federally licensed firearms dealers that they know the individual.

           2. A federally licensed firearms dealer shall run any background check required by federal law once presented with the aforementioned information under subsection 1 of this section.

[emphasis in original]

Gee, where have we seen that language before? Maybe voter ID?

This is interesting:

….Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a federally licensed firearms dealer shall, consistent with the laws of this state, conduct a federal background check…

Uh, does that require a background check? Just asking.

Evidently some people never watched public television when they were little.

Firearms legislation is definitely a growth industry in the Missouri General Assembly. It’s too bad jobs legislation isn’t.

Representative Mark Parkinson (r) in the House on February 18, 2013.

We patiently await the full text of the bill, introduced yesterday:

HB 640

Establishes the forms of identification that may be accepted by federally licensed firearms dealers

Sponsor: Parkinson, Mark (105)

Co-Sponsor: Diehl, John (089) … et al.

Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2013

LR Number: 1678H.02I

Last Action: 2/19/2013 – Introduced and Read First Time (H)

[….]

Why should Representative Leara (r) get all the national attention, right? Yeah, we know, it’s the republican controlled Missouri General Assembly.

Previously:

HB 162: Tenthers and guns, what could go wrong? (January 15, 2013)

HB 170: so much for “originalism” (January 16, 2013)

HB 276: Shootout at the K-12 corral? (January 27, 2013)

HB 350: “Nobody move suddenly, he’s got a duck and he knows how to use it.” (January 29, 2013)

HB 436: loonier than Wayne LaPierre at a press conference (February 5, 2013)

HB 420: when pie tins are outlawed, only outlaws will have pie tins (February 5, 2013)

This speaking out is kind of a new thing… (February 17, 2013)

Missouri General Assembly: it’s their world, the rest of us only get to live in it (February 18, 2013)

HB 633: we really never do get out of junior high school (February 18, 2013)

Via Digby who comments that “… this logic has been pervasive for at least a decade and it just keeps rolling.”

The sad about this type of smoke and mirrors is that neither the media nor lots of good Democratic pols seem to have caught on to the hustle. I distinctly remember being at a local meeting where I heard Claire McCaskill talk about why she might consider Social Security funding “fixes” that would seriously weaken the program in order to “save” it. And she was all wide eyed, filled with conviction, and good intentions. Why are these folks, upon whom we so desperately depend, so easily diverted from the real issues?

Because, of course, the really sad thing here is the fact that a formula for government that posits as its leading axiom that we do the distasteful deed today so we won’t have to do it tomorrow not only often proceeds from unexamined and often false premises, but keeps us from doing what we need to do to identify and fix the real problems.  

…they left out the bronze foot in his mouth.

The bronze bust of Rush Limbaugh in the Missouri Capitol.

Couldn’t help it. Had to make the pilgrimage.

Previously:

There’s no room for sluts in the gallery. There is for prostitutes. (March 5, 2012)

Destined to be one of the top political quotes in the history of Missouri (March 5, 2012)

Steve Tilley owes Dred Scott and Buck O’Neil an apology (March 6, 2012)

Rush’s Bust (March 6, 2012)

What has your representative said about honoring Rush? (March 7, 2012)

Rush Limbaugh’s bust ain’t exactly a hit in small town Missouri (March 7, 2012)

Rush Limbaugh (r): on derangement (May 14, 2012)

The first inductee into the Hall of Infamous Missourians (May 15, 2012)

Speaker Steve Tilley (r): on Rush Limbaugh and intolerant liberals (May 15, 2012)

This would have left a mark, if they cared… (May 16, 2012)