When we last reported on H.606, it had left House Judiciary with 4 sections, but after being introduced into Senate Judiciary, it underwent a major transformation. At that time: S.329 did not even exist.
When H.606 was picked up in Senate Judiciary, two amendments were immediately offered and a third was suggested. The first amendment came from the AG’s Office and added several sections that would pertain to handling Firearm Relinquishment when a court orders this to occur. The second was a proposed amendment from Senator Baruth concerning a statewide ban on possessing a firearm in locations which serve alcohol, commonly referred to as “No Guns in Bars.” The third suggested amendment had to do with subtracting any “shipping time” from the 72-Hour Waiting Period when a firearm was ordered out-of-state.
Regarding the amendment of “No Guns in Bars,” a question arose internally as to whether the amendment would be “germane” to the rest of the bill. In response, Senator Baruth convened the Senate Rules Committee in an Emergency Meeting so that the Rules of the Senate could be bypassed to allow a new bill to be created, with that bill being S.329.
As introduced into Senate Judiciary, S.329 contained the 4 sections that were in H.606, but with the addition of Senator Baruth’s “No Guns in Bars” section. In the discussions that ensued, Senate Judiciary agreed to:
- Remove section 1 (making it a felony to steal a firearm)
- Make minor changes to what was section 3 (now section 2 - pertaining to Persons Prohibited from Possessing a gun)
- Add an amendment as section 3 (which modifies the 72-hour waiting period to reduce that wait time by the “shipping time” if a firearm was ordered out-of-state)
- Kept section 4 (regarding a ban on machine guns)
- Kept section 5 (“No Guns in Bars”), and
- Add section 6 (which requires NCIS to be informed when a court finds a person is in need of treatment or needs further treatment.)
The current version of S.329 can be seen here. This was voted out of Senate Judiciary on a 3-2 vote last week; it will be moved through the Senate on Friday 5/8 and will then head to House Judiciary.
WE STRONGLY OPPOSE S.329, primarily due to the “No Guns in Bars” section as this is far more expansive than just banning guns in bars. It would ban guns in all sorts of public places in addition to "bars" such as restaurants, special events, hotels and the parking lots of all of these premises. Further than that, the simple act of putting up a sign does not guarantee the safety of anyone, with the cost of insuring that guns cannot be brought into bars (or restaurants or hotels or parking lots) being prohibitively expensive (x-ray machines, magnetometers and people trained to run that equipment and check bags.)
Meanwhile, H.606 was amended to strike everything that had originally been in that bill, inserting instead the Firearm Relinquishment language, which has 3 sections. The current version of H.606 can be seen here and is expected to be voted out of Senate Judiciary tomorrow, 5/7.
Regarding H.606: At present we have several issues with the Relinquishment language, due mostly to the appearance that the bill does not properly support 3rd parties from being able to take custody of relinquished firearms (in addition to FFLs and Law Enforcement.) Ideally, the State must create a storage facility for relinquished firearms with staff that would handle them appropriately, but until then: 3rd Parties offer the best alternative regarding caring for relinquished firearms, in addition to being the most cost-effective solution for the accused in this complex situation.
We expect H.606 to move quickly. The fate of S.329 however is up in the air, but we should not underestimate Senator Baruth’s desire to have “No Guns in Bars” be his swan song in his last term as a Senator. We therefore expect him to pull out all stops to get this passed and as Senate Pro Tem, he has the power to try.
Stay tuned for Taking Action….
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