Dear lenny7,

Thanks to an outpouring of hundreds of emails from you, the House Finance Committee on Tuesday night voted to close the gun show loophole! Rep. Michael Paymar's amendment to the Game and Fish bill passed 12-11. (For more detail, scroll down.)

It's time to celebrate!! Join us Saturday, May 2, from 4:45 to 7 p.m. at the Urban League, 2100 Plymouth Ave. N. Minneapolis, following the day-long Promoting Peace in Our Communities conference. RSVP by replying to this email, clicking here, or visiting www.blahblahblah.com. (A donation is requested.)

We would like to thank the representatives who voted to close the gun show loophole: Reps. John Benson, Bobby Champion, Karen Clark, Mindy Greiling, Alice Hausman, Phyllis Kahn, Kate Knuth, Ann Lenczewski, Michael Paymar, Nora Slawik, Lyndon Carlson, and Paul Thissen. You can thank all of them at once by clicking here.

There is much more work to do. Your participation and support helps us to educate the public about gun violence prevention and work for sensible policy around guns. If you can't be with us Saturday, please consider making a donation by going to www.blahblahblah.com.

Thank you for all you do,

Heather Martens
Executive Director
Citizens for a Safer Minnesota
www.blahblahblah.com

More about the bill, debate and vote

The gun show loophole bill would require a background check before the sale of any gun sale at a gun show. Current law requires such checks only if the seller is a Federally licensed dealer. To become law, this measure will need to pass in the House and Senate.


Before the meeting, the NRA sent out emails claiming that only 1 percent of crime guns come from gun shows, a figure based on interviews with convicts. But during the committee discussion, Rep. Paymar made it clear that the ATF has identified gun shows as a major trafficking channel. Convicts who are not themselves gun traffickers have little understanding of the gun trafficking pipeline. From 2004 to 2006, the ATF made one arrest for every 1.6 gun shows investigated. (An excellent new report on no-check gun sales can be found at http://www.blahblahblah.org/xshare/pdf/ ... report.pdf)

Quotes of the day:

Rep. Al Juhnke, to Rep. Bobby Champion of North Minneapolis: "If I lived in your district, I'd vote for everything (gun regulation)."

Rep. Tom Hackbarth to one of our supporters by email:
"I do not support infringing upon a person's second amendment right; or any of their constitutional rights!"


The votes

Voting against were Reps. Laura Brod, Mark Buesgens, Pat Garofalo, Tom Hackbarth, Bill Hilty, Al Juhnke, Paul Kohls, Tom Rukavina, Ron Shimanski, Steve Smith, Loren Solberg.

Abstention: Rep. Steve Simon.

Absent: Reps. Tom Emmer, Larry Howes, Tom Huntley, Mary Kiffmeyer, Mary Murphy, Gene Pelowski, Joyce Peppin, Marty Seifert, Ryan Winkler, Jean Wagenius.

For more information, and to stay posted on what happens next with the bill, visit our web site, www.blahblahblah.com.

For those who came in late .... there are three nonlegislators without whom most of you would not have your carry permits: Joe Olson, David Gross, and Al Fingulin. (There's lots of other important folks, like Lonn and John and Tim, and lesser players like me, all of whom were important, but if any one of us had gotten run over by a truck, the bill would still have passed. Without Joe and David taking point, and Alfred teaching us all how to do grassroots activism on this, it just plain wouldn't have happened.)

Showing up is half the battle. The legislators know that for six working guys to show up on short notice, there's dozens or hundreds that would pack the room if they had enough time, and that there's literally thousands and thousands who are watching, and just about all of them vote.

Honest: people like Joe and lesser lights like me don't often ask you to show up for a hearing or demonstration in St. Paul. We don't ask that lightly; but when we do, it's important. If you can't, you can't; but if you can, please do.

We are going to try to take this out again in Finance tomorrow. Stay tuned...