Gun bills are in the cross-hairs today. Man, when you look at the bills the House has sent over to the Senate, you can’t ignore the exceptions in them that make them thin gruel indeed.
HB 450 (Longhurst), which purports to ‘prohibit the manufacture, sale, offer to sell, transfer, purchase, receipt, possession, or transport of assault weapons in Delaware’, includes so many exceptions as to render it almost useless. As in the following:
One exception is that the Act does not prohibit the possession and transport of firearms that were lawfully possessed or purchased before the effective date of this Act; although for these firearms there are certain restrictions relating to their possession and transport after the effective date of this Act. There are also exceptions for law-enforcement and military personnel in the course of their official duties, and a limited exception for retired law-enforcement personnel. Finally, a person lawfully in possession of an assault weapon prior to the passage of this Act may lawfully transfer the weapon to a member of their family, through inheritance or otherwise.
HB 451 (Schwartzkopf) could well increase firearms offenses. Or, to be more precise, to legalize gun offenses. HA 8 is literally one of the worst amendments to any bill that I’ve ever seen. It guts the bill and creates in essence a backdoor ‘stand-your-ground’ bill in Delaware. For people under the age of 21 no less. If the Senate does not remove this from the bill via amendment, they will have proven derelict in their duty.
The House has SS1/SB 6 (Sokola) on the Agenda. Will they once again cut the legs out from under it as they did last year?
Here is yesterday’s Session Activity Report. First, let’s talk about a two-fer from Sen. Darius Brown. His special interest bill on behalf of at least one real estate agent passed unanimously. This often happens near the end of session when bills like this don’t get the scrutiny they deserve. He also introduced a bill giving tax-exempt status to the Riverfront Development Corporation. Specifically, the properties they own. You know, the entity that created a platform for Mayor Mike to become Mayor Mike and to hand tens of millions of dollars to Buccini/Pollin. House prime sponsor? Stephanie Bolden.
John Kowalko’s IG bill cleared the House Administration Committee. HB 220 (Wilson-Anton) is scheduled to be considered in another House Administration Committee meeting today. As is HB 366 (Morrison).
Here is today’s Senate Agenda. Gonna be a long session. In addition to six gun bills, including this monstrosity from Sen. Pettyjohn, we’ve got vote by mail. Sen. Bonini has threatened/promised to waste everybody’s time by speaking early and often today about this existential ‘threat to democracy as we know it.’ I predict he’s gonna cry. For those of you unfamiliar with Delaware legislative proceedings, once a certain number of legislators stand to call for an end to debate, a roll call to end debate will be taken. Meaning, from a practical sense, there is no true filibuster in Delaware. Doesn’t mean he won’t introduce a bleepload of amendments, though…
Today’s House Agenda is less notable, albeit lengthy. Allow me to point out that Lumpy Carson’s whitewash of possible public health dangers at a poultry plant has generously been placed on a Consent Agenda by Speaker Pete. Again, you’ve got to pay close attention to bills like this that invariably show up near the end of session when everybody’s suffering from bill fatigue.
Me? Not suffering from fatigue. Looking forward to tomorrow’s Political Weekly. Lotsa news/lotsa snark.