2013 - H5573 Firearms Registration/Safety Device

Costa's speech was a little hard to hear, but Chippendale was clearer. There were a couple of other speakers, but they didn't speak very long. The important part is that on just 2-3 days notice they were able to fill the rotunda at the State House with people that opposed this bill and I hope the legislators took notice and will remember the bill sponsors the next election!
 
Got a response back from Rep. Finn, author of H5573:

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your interest in Bill H 5573. I am a mother who along with many Americans and Rhode Islanders is looking for solid steps to take to reduce gun deaths. I do respect the Second Amendment and the right to provides to responsible law abiding adults. But I have been hearing from many parents and concerned citizens in my district who want to effect change to make our state safer and to look for common ground with responsible gun owners to ensure that we are doing all we can to keep guns out of the hands of those who we all agree should not have access to them.

I expect this bill, along with others in the pipeline, will be subject to much public debate, and I appreciate knowing your concerns

Thank you again for making your views known to me,

Sincerely,

Linda D. Finn
State Representative
District 72
 
Got a response back from Rep. Finn, author of H5573:

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your interest in Bill H 5573. I am a mother who along with many Americans and Rhode Islanders is looking for solid steps to take to reduce gun deaths. I do respect the Second Amendment and the right to provides to responsible law abiding adults. But I have been hearing from many parents and concerned citizens in my district who want to effect change to make our state safer and to look for common ground with responsible gun owners to ensure that we are doing all we can to keep guns out of the hands of those who we all agree should not have access to them.

I expect this bill, along with others in the pipeline, will be subject to much public debate, and I appreciate knowing your concerns

Thank you again for making your views known to me,

Sincerely,

Linda D. Finn
State Representative
District 72

Can you politely say sit on it and rotate ?
dave
 
From:
Sent: Tue 2/26/2013 8:17 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Your thoughts


Hello Mrs Walsh,
Me and my family are law abiding, tax paying citizens, as well as owners of a small business that has operated here in Charlestown for over 80 years. I am also a member of a sportsman's club here in Charlestown and have recently been made aware of proposed bill 5573 that has been introduced. I find it very upsetting that while many steps are being taken to curb violence and crime, RI is introducing a step to impose another tax and potentially criminalize otherwise upstanding individuals of society with no violent or criminal background.

I would very much hope that you and your colleagues vote this unfair and unconstitutional bill down. Introducing more legislation will not help the problem of violence and immorality in our nation or our state. It will only affect the law abiding people and not the criminals that we hope to stop since criminals inherently do not abide by the law.

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the matter and am more than willing to answer any questions or concerns that you may have. I appreciate and thank you for your time as the rep for our district

Sincerely,
HER RESPONSE:


I do not support this bill . It will do nothing to curb gun violence. Thank you for contacting me .Rep. Donna Walsh



PLUS ONE FOR US!. she also sits on the judiciary committee for RI
 
To update the list for the members of the Judicary Committee that are voting NO, We only need 8 more NO votes to make it unanimous:

Donna Walsh, District 36 - NO
Donald J. Lally, Jr., District 33 - NO
Bob Craven, District 32 - NO
Doreen Marie Costa, District 31 - NO
Joe Shekarchi, District 23 - NO
 
Ajello is the cosponsor and Chair person of the House Judiciary and she will never oppose it. I think there is also another cosponsor of H5573 on the committee.
 
I got a response today from Linda Finn, author of 5573. It still amazes me she is so ignorant about rights vs. privileges.

Dear Mr. Vellucci,

I would like to follow up with you about your recent correspondence regarding Bill 2013-H 5573. I have received many responses from concerned citizens, both gun owning and not. I would like to clarify a couple of items and respond to some of the criticism of the bill.

Please remember that at this point, this bill is still only a proposal. In order for it to become law, a House committee must first hear it. That hearing before the House Judiciary Committee is open to all to testify about their opinions. No date has been set for a hearing at this time, but there will be sufficient public notice for you to attend if you wish. After the hearing, the committee can make changes to the bill and vote on whether it advances to the House floor for a vote there. If the bill goes to the floor and the House votes to pass it, it must also pass the Senate in the same process, and not be vetoed by the governor, before it can be enacted into law.

I want you to know that I am very open to discussion of this bill and to making changes so it works for Rhode Island. For example, many gun collectors and owners of antique guns think the $100 registration fee is too high, and after listening, I have come to agree with them. Massachusetts has had a gun registration process in place since 1994, and its fee is $15 per firearm. That seems reasonable to me to cover administrative costs. I also think that current owners of large collections of guns should not be penalized and that the fee on existing guns could be waived entirely or applied only on the first few guns registered. These are good suggestions and I welcome any others.

I grew up about 30 miles from Newtown, Connecticut, in the small town of Carmel, New York. I have a strong recollection of air raid drills we had in elementary school in the 1960s. There were yellow and black signs on the walls of the schools because they were designated as bomb shelters.

During the drills, we were instructed to sit cross-legged under our desks and hunch over with our arms crossed over our heads to protect us. Back then, we, as children, had only a vague idea of what would happen if a bomb struck. We did not have the myriad of violent images on TV (or if we did, my parents did not let us watch them), and we certainly did not have access to the web, which can stream so many images for our children to see.

I do not think any of us were particularly concerned or scared. We knew the adults in our life, the military, and the United Sates of America, as the biggest, strongest country in the world, had the power and authority to protect us. We knew the United
States always won the wars it waged against tyrannical governments and enemies.

Our children now have different drills in school. They are shepherded into closets by teachers and they are all too aware that one day this might be a necessity. They can sense the fear our teachers feel when conducting these drills. They see images of people being gunned down everywhere, in video games, movies and on TV. They know these things happen in our country. They know it could happen to them.

Our children need the adults in their lives to protect them, and to make them feel safe. Doing nothing is not the answer. I'm not saying that my legislation is by any means a panacea, nor do I even expect or want it to pass without discussion and revision, but we have to start somewhere. I think it's reasonable to start by considering introducing a system that would help law enforcement agencies get a handle on how many guns there are and where. I should note that under my bill, only law enforcement agencies that need the information for a legitimate law enforcement purpose would have access to specific registration information.

Just as if car registration does not do anything to prevent law-abiding citizens from driving, gun registration does not prevent law-abiding citizens from purchasing or owning guns. It is a tool for law enforcement officials to trace weapons that used in crimes, providing some deterrent for those who might use their guns improperly.

There are, no doubt, many paths we could take toward curbing gun violence besides or in addition to this one, and I am interested in exploring all of them. I am looking for solutions; I hope that you will join me in seeking them as well. Thanks for taking the time to write to me.

Sincerely,


Linda Finn
State Representative
District 72
 
I got the same form letter and I replied back to her and my email back to her was rejected due to Banned content.

he original message was received at Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:16:09 -0400
from [131.128.120.162]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<[email protected]>
(reason: 554 rejecting banned content)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to lds-cp.rilin.state.ri.us.:
>>> DATA
<<< 554 rejecting banned content
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable

This is what I sent her as a reply

Rep Finn, Your legislation in any form with or without revisions is flawed as it only applies to lawful firearms owners. It will do nothing to stop any action by any criminal because as by definition a criminal does not follow laws of society. You thought that we have to do something is more like we have to do something even if it is wrong. In all the shootings at the base of the problem is mental health. Until there is some sort of mental health treatment reform you will accomplish nothing. You spoke about the bomb drills and I remember those also back in Stadium school, A 1964 vintage memory. That is also a classic case of a feel good action as hiding under a desk would have had no effect on any bombing.

You spoke of our children seeing people gunned down on TV and video games. As somebody who has worked in the projects in Providence and Pawtucket I have seen actual people gunned down and none of them were gunned down by a legal gun owner but rival gangs and criminals. We have laws against stealing cars but cars are still stolen by criminals and used in other crimes. We have laws that say you have to register and insure your car but your insurance company has you buy uninsured motorist coverage because there are uninsured and unregistered cars. Cocaine and other drugs are against the law, Hows that working for society?

If you want to make a difference try to increase the penalties for gun crimes to the point where a criminal will not even think about using a gun. Make a gun crime a 20 year mandatory sentence with no parole, give the cops the 3 strike rule for life imprisonment. Require treatment and mandatory reporting for mental illness. These would be a positive step to do something for the community and the law abiding citizens of this state. Require the parent to purchase any violent video game instead of letting little Johnny run down to game stop with his allowance. Require consoling to make sure little Johnny understands what happens in the real world if he pulls a trigger. If the state can intrude into my life and hobby it should be able to intrude into any parents life and what they give to their child. Kids are not allowed pornography but most of the violent video game graphics border on pornography. Isn't this a form of child neglect or abuse that the state should be controlling or does free speech under the First Amendment scare the lawmakers in this state ?

Thanks for your time and I hope to have further chats with you
 
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