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SACMO
PO Box 52
O'Fallon, MO
63366
SECOND
AMENDMENT
COALITION
OF MISSOURI
May 5, 2003
Dear SACMO Supporter,
The License to Carry bill, SS HS HCS HB349, was finally and completely voted on and approved by the Missouri House of Representatives by a final vote of 105 yes to 40 no with 1 present late this afternoon, May 5th, 2003. The only difference over the original bill that went to the Senate is a change of minimum age from 21 to 23.
It now goes directly to Gov. Bob Holden. He has been blustering, he has been threatening and he has been warning everyone that would listen that he will veto it. O K, Bob! Now it’s your turn to stand up and be counted. Our people in the House and Senate have. No more bully pulpit. No more “BS”. All right, now let’s calm down and look at what this means.
Gov. Holden could sign it. If he does, his liberal friends won’t like it. But what are the consequences? Who are they going to vote for if not
Bob? The conservative? But he may loose some momentum or excitement among his party movers and shakers and that means the
loss of real money and votes.
He could let it pass into law without his signature by just ignoring it for 45 days. That is process of law. The liberals will not like it but he could legitimately say that he did not approve of or sign the bill into law. Does he loose many liberal votes? Probably not. Does it take the “steam” out of the potential opposition? Probably.
He could veto it. People like you and I would go bananas! There would be a virtual army of “gun culture” people and their money
lining up to be campaign workers for “anybody but Bob” in the next election. It would be a ready-made campaign theme. The Democratic Party around the state would probably be tarred with this issue as well and could be a big looser. Bob would hopefully loose and the next Gov. had better honor his campaign promise and sign any license to carry bill that hits his desk. Now there is real precedence for this scenario. Governor of Texas Ann Richards, years ago, vetoed a popular LTC bill. The next year she ran against George w. Bush who promised to sign a LTC bill if he won. Everyone got behind George; he won and honored his pledge. What ever happened to Ann? Whatever happened to George? “And that’s the rest of the story” as they say.
It would appear that it would be in Gov. Bob’s best interest to take what is behind “door number 2”.
Now the question keeps coming up, “Can a veto by Bob be overridden?” Folks, I don’t wish to appear negative but even though this issue cuts across party lines, going against your party’s own Governor is a big deal. I’m afraid that a lot of good conservative democrats will bail out of the LTC issue and not support a veto override. I hope that I am wrong. I
really hope that it will not get that far, but we will see.
Probably our best chance is for all of us to write a nice polite letter asking the Governor to “please” let us join the rest of the nation and don’t veto HB349, License to Carry concealed weapons. I would suggest that we use paper and pen to write the letter and U.S. Mail it. It just seems to have more impact. Besides, it has to be dealt with physically and
won't be gone with just a push of a button. Of course any kind of pro LTC communication is better than nothing; e-mail, fax or phone. It all helps.
Well, the fight is not yet over but we have come a long way baby! I will congratulate everyone that worked on this project later, after the bill becomes law. I just hope that I can do it about 45 days or so.
Here is Governor Holden´s
contact information:
Missouri Capitol Building, Room 216
PO Box 720
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0720
Telephone: (573) 751-3222
FAX: (573) 751-1495
Email: mogov@mail.state.mo.us
Dale A. Schmid, President,
The Second Amendment Coalition of Missouri, Inc.
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