On Feb. 14, 17 people were killed and many more were injured in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida. The weapon of destruction was an assault weapon known as the AR-15.
On Friday, Feb. 23, Delaware governor John Carney called for a ban on assault weapon sales in Delaware:
“Military-style weapons can be used to carry out catastrophic acts of violence,” he said in a release issued Friday morning. “It’s past time to take serious action to confront this threat.”
On Tuesday, March 6 (today), the General Assembly reconvenes.
On Saturday, March 24, there will be a March For Our Lives rally in Washington, DC, and other marches all over the country.
You see where I’m going here, right? John Carney has said the right thing. The momentum to accomplish this assault weapons ban will likely never be greater. Failure to push this legislation through the General Assembly during these marches would define the term ‘political malpractice’. Only one problem. As of now, there is no bill. Yes, there are other gun control measures to be considered. But this is the Big Enchilada. John: Don’t get bogged down in the details that opponents will insist upon. Their goal is to slow-walk this initiative and to water it down and to kill it. We’ve seen it in Delaware and throughout the country over and over again. Now is the time for decisive leadership. Introduce the bill, use your staff to coordinate with all of the student leaders who would rally in Dover on its behalf, and insist that legislators look these students in the eyes before voting. It’s easy. That is, if you’re really determined to accomplish this. This is legacy legislation, something for which you’ll be remembered. This is the moment. Don’t hesitate. Advocate and legislate.
As chronicled in the Delaware State News, bills banning bump stocks, keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally-ill, and raising the age for those who can buy guns from 18 to 21 are already in the legislative mill. The bump stocks bill is already out of committee and could be considered in the House this week. Memo to Rep. Longhurst: Do not negotiate with the NRA or the Delaware Sportsman’s Association. You did that before and ended up with emasculated legislation. If you’re not up to the task, have someone with guts run the bill. These organizations are not honest brokers and should not be treated as such. Their scorched earth tactics should not be rewarded by ‘reaching across the aisle’. There are two bills addressing the issue of guns and the mentally-ill. I linked to the good one. Andria Bennett and NRA lackey Sen. Delcollo are sponsoring the other one. No surprise there.
As to legalized pot, looks like that possibility is going up in smoke. Kids, we’ve addressed this issue before. If you’re gonna put a task force together, make sure that you’ve got enough of your supporters on the task force to achieve your desired result. The composition of this task force ensured that the result would be no consensus whatsoever. Hey, the Chamber knows how to do it. They go to the governor and their pals in the General Assembly, arrange for a task force, negotiate the membership, and voila, they get rid of the Estate Tax and they arrange giveaways to business that don’t see the light of day. Helene Keeley was simply the wrong person to lead this effort. With (to steal a term from Mark Brainard) a ‘giant enema’ coming to the General Assembly this November, look for 2019 to be more, um, productive than 2018 on this, and other, issues. 2018 could well be ‘The Laxative Election’.
Today’s House Agenda is highlighted by a piece of ‘transparency’ legislation. HB 92 (K. Williams):
…provides that every member of the General Assembly or person elected to state office shall disclose as part of their financial disclosure if they have received more than $10,000 in the last 10 years due to the sale of land, development rights, an agricultural conservation easement, a forest preservation easement or any other type of easement to the State of Delaware, any county, any municipality, any public instrumentality, or any government agency or organization.
Hard to imagine any no votes on this one, but we’ll see. Hope the bill is retroactive in terms of requiring disclosure.
Don’t see much of interest on today’s Senate Agenda. Looks like we’ll finally get a vote on a minimum wage increase on Thursday. If it passes, perhaps Bryon Short, unencumbered of the need to bank a lot of Chamber money, will see his way clear to vote the bill out of his House Lapdog Committee. Or, more likely, Andria Bennett may be looking over her shoulder at a primary challenger from a real Democrat, meaning she just might vote on behalf of her constituents.
I’ll be back tomorrow with previews of committee meetings, including two key gun bills in the House Administration Committee.