One year ago, gun owners in Arkansas were in an uproar. On February 16 of 2009, Arkansas Times blogger Max Brantley viciously posted the list of Concealed Handgun License holders in Arkansas on his web page, causing a backlash which will last until CHL holders receive full privacy of the list.
In the days which followed, a bill was filed by Representative Randy Stewart, a Democrat from Kirby, which would completely privatize the CHL list. This bill was put on the fast track; on March 6th it was passed by the House on a vote of 98-1, with only Lindsley Smith of Fayetteville voting no. This vote margin was a mirror of the outrage from Arkansans all over the state.
The bill was then sent to the Senate for approval by the State Agencies & Governmental Affairs committee. It was expected to move swiftly through this committee to the Senate floor for obvious approval. However, forces were at work to stop the bill (as written) dead.
In true political fashion, what the people of Arkansas wanted was not what they received. Governor Mike Beebe became involved, working with the Arkansas Press Association, the Arkansas Times and the Arkansas Democrat to water down the bill. Pressure was brought upon members of the committee, and committee members Ed Wilkinson of Greenwood and Kim Hendren of Gravette were used to hijack the bill. The bill failed to pass “as is” and was amended to allow names and zip codes to be kept public. The Arkansas Senate then voted this very much weaker bill through with a vote of 34-0. Voters were livid, but helpless at this time against the liberal politics of Little Rock.
Now, some further details of the votes in the State Agencies committee are becoming known. In a blog by John Anderson of the Arkansas Concealed Carry Association, he states,
One thing that was never pointed out however was the fact that Senator Gilbert Baker could have stopped the whole hijacking had he just voted for the bill when it first came up before the committee. He was the swing vote that could have passed the bill through committee, "as is."The bills sponsor Randy Stewart told us that Baker had told him that he had a talk with Beebe and could not support the bill as written. That day I watched from the sidelines as Baker refused to answer a "yes" or "no" vote when his name was called.
It’s obvious now the shenanigans of Senators Wilkinson and Hendren caused the CHL privacy bill to be amended and watered down. However, it wasn’t so clear to gun owners Senator Gilbert Baker could have easily voted the original bill through to the Senate, where it was sure to pass.
Senator Gilbert Baker is now running for the United States Senate seat held by Senator Blanche Lincoln. After watching the politics of Senator Mark Pryor this past year, I am not sure we need another politician playing games with our trust on gun votes. We definitely do not need another politician in Washington, D.C. forcing laws on us we do not want.
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Comments
The duty of the media has shifted drastically from ensuring our government operates within its bounds and protecting from infringements upon us the people to deeming Americans as the threat. The deliberate posting of CHL names on Mr. Brantley's blog was intended to divide people among ideological lines. The media is no longer the buffer between the people and the government as it was originally conceived by our Founders. The media corrupted into an extension of our government. Help us.
This proves even more that Bert Baker is just a shill. I guess he's going to take a 2nd Amendment pledge now just like he's taken a no tax pledge. The guy rants and raves that he's a constitutional conservative yet he had to take campaign pledges ad nauseum to cover his very statist legislative voting record on taxes, spending, growth in centralized redundant government beauracracies, and now this anti privacy / anti 2nd amendment cowardly vote. I am just as disappointed in Kim Hendren as I am at Bert. Why do guys who call themselves conservatives always get punked by the democrats and freedom hating gun grabbers here in Arkansas?
CHL holders want their identities concealed so that when one of then commit a crime, it's easier to deny they were a CHL holder and maintain the fiction that CHL holders are model citizens who never commit crimes. These laws that "protect" the identities of CHL serve no other purpose than to provide a smoke screen for comcealed handgun license holders to hide their crimes behind.
Alex... You should educate yourself better. Privatizing the CHL list doesn't mean you will always be able to hide it completely from the world. Law enforcement officials are now able to know who they are dealing with as soon as they check your driver's license. An identity check with law enforcement will always turn up the CHL permit. The privacy law will keep my address and phone number and social security number out of the hands of gun-owner haters who will intentionally hurt innocent law abiding people... Alex, you don't want to intentionally hurt law-abiding gun owners, do you?
Why! Yes, Steve, that is exactly what he wants to do. He wants to hurt CHL holders. Why? Because he is afraid of them. Why? Because no man needs another unarmed unless he has evil intent for that other. When that other is armed those with evil intent are afraid to pursue their evil intentions. Therefore, they try to force upon them at government gunpoint into a condition of defenselessness.
People like Alex are very dangerous to all people. It was people like Alex who enabled Hitler,Mao, Stalin, and others who amongst them murdered 100's of millions of their own people whom they had previously disarmed. Unless we are to believe Alex is stupid, we must assume he knows this undeniable historical fact and has no problem with its repeat.
Everywhere a database of gunowners has been instituted, confiscation has followed, reliably followed by genocide.
We must also assume Alex knows this, unless of course, he pleads stupidity. Then we must try to decide between his plea and evil
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