Wait A Minute or 77,760

It is worth mentioning that the Colorado GoP had a stand off with the dems here over increasing funding for the CBI's background check department.  Colorado Pols wasn't happy with them ( that's a very left leaning publication btw) and has a nice conspiracy theory take on things (i.e. the GoP wants the backlog to go past 90 days so people won't have to have background checks for CCW permits). The Gazzaette has a more head covering-sans-aluminum foil discussion:

"If we're going to add people and we're going to expand the program, it's more appropriate to do it during the budget, not a supplemental,' House Minority Leader Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, said. 'I think that is a department that the numbers may fluctuate."

Further, Sloan (the head of the CBI) has a problem with arithmetic. Back in 2013 before the gunonwer control laws were passed, the CBI had trouble keeping up with background checks. wait times were well over 9 days at one point. Finally CBI re-allocated some staff to reduce the backlog,  but it always seemed to me that the long waits had more to do with Sloan wanting to use them as an excuse to increase his budget than them merely being overwhelmed. His comprehension seems questionable as well, judging from his inability to answer a question about a law he supports and would oversee enforcement of.

Back to the Gazette article, with the appearance of deceptive practices by the CBI's head, I find this next quote to be plausible:

"DelGrosso said the denial of funds shows the agency was not convincing in the need for the mid-fiscal year budget increase."

So perhaps the budget committee used calculators when Sloan was speaking?

"Traditionally, when the House and Senate cannot agree on a final version of a bill a temporary committee is formed to hash out the issue and find a middle ground.
On this issue, however, Senate Republicans adhered to their original version and sent the bill back to the House to either be approved without the background check appropriation or the entire bill would die."

That's promising.

The Durango Herald also covers this story:

"The current wait time is about 54 days on background checks. The additional money aimed to lower that time to about 20 days. Wait times are expected to increase past 54 days without the funding. Colorado law requires permits to be issued without a background check if the wait time crawls past 90 days."

54 days? 54? To get permission to exercise a Right? And Sloan's request for more funds would only cut that wait to 20 days? I'd assume that's 20 business days, mind you. 54 days is 77,760 minutes to wait on something that should be instantaneous if it is to be tolerated at all.

"But Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, chairman of the JBC, said some of the blame should be placed on the CBI. He also suggested that Colorado should adopt a different concealed-carry background check law that models one used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which Lambert said would reduce wait times to one day.

'I believe the request at this time is superfluous and unnecessary,' Lambert said."

So it may not be that the GoP has a problem with the concept of background checks 9much to their discredit), it could be that they think that waiting 20 days, or 54 days, or more than one is ridiculous. 

It's nice to see the GoP here showing some backbone. Shame the same can't easily be said of the national Gop. But if the Colorado GoP was really interested in protecting the Rights of folks to own and carry weapons, then they should expand this new-found linkage of vertebra into a broader effort, similar to the one I proposed here.

Colorado Pro Gunowner Bill Updates Continued

 The previous update can be found here.

The hearing for SB15-175 (the magazine capacity ban repeal [.pdf]) will be on Monday, March 9th at 1:30 p.m. MDT in room 271 of the capital building in Denver, Co

Here's the senate's judiciary committee page where you'll find contact info. A note in the senate calender said that remote testimony was available for this committee session, so if you'd like to testify but cannot make a physical appearance at the capital then go to this page, fill out the form and select the location closest to you from the drop down menu. It seems they have several locations around the state for a person to testify from. It's not perfect, but it'd save you driving into Denver from way out of town.

I am not positive, but the Colorado Channel may stream audio and/or video of the committee hearing. Try them at 1:30 p.m. MDT.  

HB15-1152 (a permitless carry bill [.pdf]) will be heard by the house state, veterans and military affairs committee on Monday April 6th (time and location to be announced).

HB15-1168 (carry on school grounds by permit holders [.pdf]) will be heard by the house state, veterans and military affairs committee on Monday April 6th (time and location to be announced).

That's all the movement on these bills since the last update (linked to at the beginning of this post). 

The house state, veterans and military affairs committee is where the leadership sends bills that they do not wish to see on the house floor for a full vote. Last time they killed all the pro-gunowner bills that were before them. It's likely that they'd do the same this time around. I should note that noted "civil rights" lawyer Joe Salazar (you remember Joe don't ya? Mr. "A woman shouldn't carry a gun because she doesn't know if she's being raped"?) is the vice-chair of that committee. That he might ever forget that he uttered that sentiment would be cause for the very stones themselves to weep, so if you're in his district by all means, keep mentioning it to him and anyone that can listen.

As I said it's likely that the kill committee will live up to its name. Still, it's worth writing your reps and showing up if you can. The senate committee is much more favorable, but again it's a good idea to show up if you can, or contact your senator if you can't.

March Sixth Two Thousand Fifteen

I'm very tired and where I am it's almost the 7th and I'm just not up to attempting a clever title or explanation (I don't claim to actually come up with anything clever, I merely try) for this post. Here's Tony! Toni! Tone! doing an old fav of mine from 1993. Enjoy.

More On The Law And Open Carry

The video below was posted about by Say Uncle and (with a h/t to Mr. Vanderboegh) Bob Owens. I'll embed the video here as well, for y'alls convenience.

A lot of folks, gunowners even, seem to feel that this fellow's detention was justified and the cop did no wrong. Some downright nasty condemnation of the open carrier has been and likely will continue to go on (from gunowners no less). But there's another video I'd like you to watch before you start to load boulders into that onager (that sits atop the Maison de Verre in which you may reside) and fling them at someone who looks differently than you and enjoys his Rights in a different fashion than you may be accustomed:

In this instance, I think a lot of gunowners would benefit from learning More, n'est-ce pas?