Another "Testimony for Tomorrow" Thread

[SigMatt]

I've been waffling on what to say tomorrow. I do best with passion and energy. Here is what I am looking at saying tomorrow:
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Good afternoon. My name is Matt Pickering. I am a resident of Edgewater, MD. I have taken the day off from my job as a software development manager to speak to you today.

I would like to state my strong opposition to the measure being discussed today. Maryland is my home as is the place I have chosen to make my home in my adopted country having come here as a legal immigrant. I value my rights as I have not had the good fortune to be born here and in turn had to earn them. I am angry and dismayed that this bill will do nothing for public safety and turn me and tens of thousands like me into criminals.

And all for the actions of a criminal monster in another state.

I find it fascinating that firearms are the only product, save for some drugs, where their criminal misuse winds up targeting and restricting those who did nothing wrong in the idiotic hope that curtailing the freedoms of others would lead to less crime.

It is like living a neighborhood where you and your neighbor have children. Your children all go out and buy candy bars. Later, the police arrive at your neighbor's home because their child stole their candy bar from the shopkeeper. As a result, you ground your child in their room and bar them from ever having a candy bar again to teach them a lesson against stealing.

Is this reasonable? Is this common sense?

As a parent, you would find this action utterly ludicrous. And rightfully so. But not here. Not today. Today, you sit here and propose to treat us like children, rather than adults, and ground us, punish us, all for the actions of a demented child who acted for reasons we will never know.

You call these proposed laws reasonable first steps and made of common sense. They are nothing the sort and I resent being punished for the actions of others in another state over whom I have no control.

This bill will make me a felon. This bill will destroy competitive shooting in Maryland and deny me the ability to compete in other states. While this bill permits me the so-called "privilege" of retaining property I have legally purchased and followed all the laws the state has said are necessary to reduce gun violence, apparently, that was not enough. I will not be allowed to enjoy the fruits of my labor since I cannot remove the firearms from this state for any reason save repair or disposal. And the bill is vague on even that.

I am not even sure of which firearms I own are impacted. A mistake that, if discovered, will cost me my freedom, my livelihood, my property and possibly my very presence in this country itself. All for a crime with no victims, no harm done save for me not filling out the right form. And I am a high-earning taxpayer in this state. What if this was your son or daughter or their spouse? Would you support their personal and fiscal destruction for making a paperwork error under this bill?

This bill will force me to pay the state to exercise my rights guaranteed under the Constitution. A document I am required to understand and swear an oath to uphold as part of my becoming a citizen of this country. With that in mind, would you object to a speech tax to limit hate speech? How about a license to have a child or an abortion? Perhaps a waiting period for both to make sure we cool off before saying or doing something we'll regret later? If it is good enough for one enumerated right under the Constitution, it is good enough for the others.

I believe the onus is on you to demonstrate why you must infringe my rights and liberty and do so convincing and in a manner that will actually serve public safety. This bill will not do that in any form. It is not my duty to beg you to not take my rights and property from me tomorrow that is legal today. Why do you believe the gun I own today is too dangerous to own tomorrow? Nothing changes tomorrow when the sun comes up.

In closing, if there is one thing I have learned on my 15 years in this country in what makes America unique, it is this: You are our servants. We are NOT yours. Should this bill become law, I will work, as I suspect the hundreds/thousands who have spoken here today, to make sure that the future title those that support this bill to violate our rights shall wear is that of "Ex-Politician". Through our time, our financial support and our tireless desire to see our rights defended and upheld, even if you disagree with them, and not trampled for political opportunism.

I restate my opposition to this bill and I thank you for your time.
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Matt

 

[JohnnyE]

Matt, you speak clearly, directly, and from the heart. Well done, sir. Go get 'em on Wednesday!

 

[Bolts Rock]

February 6, 2013

Testimony of Ronald W. Smith

My name is Ronald W. Smith, I reside in Howard County. 54 years ago I was born approximately 2 miles east of here at the USNA Naval Hospital and I have been a citizen of Maryland for most of that 54 years. I went to Edgewater Elementary for one year then was bussed in 1966 to desegregate Parole Elementary, now known as Mills Elementary. I attended Montgomery College and the University of Maryland. I work as a technician and lab manager at the world's largest concentration of researchers, scientists, engineers and technicians in Greenbelt, MD, that being NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center. I mention this to let you know that appearances aside I am not some dumb hick redneck. Under the Hatch Act I must inform you I speak here today on my own behalf and not that of my employer or agency.

Maryland is called the Free State, it is more like a nanny state and if you pass these ridiculous bills Maryland will be the least free state in the union.


I OPPOSE the following bills:

SB 266 as it is redundant with existing Federal requirements under BATFE

SB 420

SB 281 which I shall now address.

You propose to require current owners of certain arms submit to background checks, fingerprinting, photos and licensing fees to retain their arms. This violates ex post facto which goes so far back in Common Law it predates the Magna Carta. It violates the spirit of the 24th Amendment and poll taxes in that a Right may not be taxed. It is counter to SCOTUS' decision in Mourdock vs. Pennsylvania which found that a licensing fee may not be required to exercise a Right protected by the US Constituion.

The introductory clause "A well regulated militia" meant at the time well adjusted like a clock, kept in fine tune and running. Who are the militia? George Mason, one of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, said, "Who are the Militia? They consist now of the whole people, except for a few public officers." This has been reinfirced under Title 10 of the US Code, the Dick Act and several SCOTUS cases.

The explanatory clause "Being necessary to the security of a free state" This does not mean state as in the United States nor even the state of Maryland as a political unit but the community of We The People. The Founders were quite clear in their writings that the purpose of the Second Amendment was not for target shooting or deer hunting but rather to give The People military parity to resist a tyrannical government.

The operative part the sentence is restrictive in nature to the government and is an imperative declaratory statement, "The Right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Arms at the time of writing meant any individual arms and included for the welathy light field pieces, meaning cannon. Both McDonald and Heller affirm this as an individual Right and mention arms in common use. Miller vs. US found that only arms applicable to military use are protected by the Second Amendment. We will come back in a minute to militarily applicable arms and arms in common use. Shall not be infringed is quite clear in its intent and literal meaning.

The AK series of rifle and the AR (Armalite Rifle) rifle platform are militarily applicable. They are in common use. Addressing specifically the AR series, be it the AR-15 or AR-10 platform, they are the semi-automatic version of the military M-16 series and M-110 series of rifles. From 1984 through 2011 over 4.5 million AR-15's have been manufactured for the civilian market, it has been produced for that market since 1961. It is the most popular rifle in America followed by the Remington 700 bolt action of which just over 5 million have been produced since 1952. They are commonly used in predator and varmint hunting, some configurations are quite capable of taking deer or other large game depending upon caliber. The platforms are extremely adaptable and easily changed for differing uses. For the past decade the AR platform have dominated the competition firing lines in many disciplines. They can be made very light with short butt stocks for women and juniors or configured into 20 pound rifles for extreme steadiness of hold for precision shooting. For the past decade new national records have been set almost annually at the National Matches with AR platform rifles.

We will fight you in the courts if you pass these and other gun control bills. We will pour money into SAF, NRA, NAGR and MSI to fight you all the way to SCOTUS if we nee to. I will gladly forgo buying any new arms and cut my ammunition buying in half to donate money to defeat you.

We The People will not go quiet into that good night. We have used the ballot box, we are now at the soap box and will not hesitate to force the jury box.

I pray to that I hold holy that you do not force us to the fourth box. This was to be my last line but I deleted it.

 

[hogarth]

Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Committee members. I would like to thank you for your time today. My name is Robert Galassi. I live in Baltimore County and am a life-long registered Democrat. I have a Bachelor’s Degree from Gettysburg College and a Master’s Degree from The Johns Hopkins University. I am employed as a special education teacher in Baltimore City. I am currently 40 years old and a father of twins who are 2 ½ years old.
I appear before you today to speak against Senate bill 281. I will not try to wow you with facts and figures. I am sure you are familiar with many more statistics on this issue than I. Instead, I thought I would try a metaphor.
As already noted, I am a teacher. Let us pretend for a moment that I hand out pencils and paper to my students and ask them each to draw a picture of their homes. Let us now say that one student, who we will call Billy, decides to use the pencils to color on the classroom wall. I would not solve this problem by taking away the pencils from ALL the children, nor by threatening to never allow them to use pencils again. I would not ask each student to pay me a quarter each time they used a pencil, nor would I limit them to only a few pencils apiece. Even my students, with a variety of special needs, would recognize the lack of fairness in such actions. They would instead expect Billy to be given some sort of less-preferred activity to complete, while they go on using their pencils appropriately.
Senate bill 281 exemplifies this same lack of fairness. According to the Maryland State Police website, there were 3,930 murders in Maryland between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2011. Of those, 30 were committed using rifles of all types, which would include semi-automatic rifles, bolt, lever, and pump-action rifles, and single-shot rifles. If my math is correct, .76% of all murders in the state during those 8 years were committed with rifles. And yet, if this bill passes, an enormous number of rifles will be banned from purchase, and those already lawfully owned will have to be registered—repeatedly, and for a fee, of course—which sounds a lot like the class being punished because of Billy’s behavior.
I am a teacher. People like you trust people like me every day with the education, care, and, as recent events have illustrated, safety and protection of your children, our most precious resource. Yet if this bill passes as-is, I will become a criminal merely because I choose to protect myself and my family with technology that has been around for over 100 years. Please do not let that happen.
Please note that I am not against all laws and regulations governing the ownership of firearms. For example, I support universal background checks on the purchase of all firearms. I believe, however, that this bill is a solution in search of a problem. I would like to thank the Chairman and the Committee for the chance to speak today.

 

[mopar92]

Hola. Yeah I'm starting with Hola. It's my speech so suck it. My parents can from Mexico to provide better future etc etc. Mexican gun control has failed, gangs run major cities, defending oneself against an AK with a machete etc etc. explain that if I have kids they will not be legally able to receive my lawful property. Will not comply with unconstitutional law. Short bow(no applause just throw cash)

 

[gungate]

All great! I will be there but doubt I will have time to speak.

Leaving in 1/2 hour!