don cha just love it when they call promising to see to it that an elected
oficial is NOT re-elected a threat……

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The following story appeared on deseretnews.com on January 21, 2000, 12:00
AM
MST

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Headline: Lawmakers target guns

Subhead: Beattie hopes to get weapons out of schools

Author: By Lucinda Dillon and Bob Bernick Jr.

Deseret News staff writers

Senate President Lane Beattie says he will do this legislative session what
he
has intended for three years — address the controversial, but politically
popular, idea of getting guns out of schools and churches.

In an interview Thursday, Beattie said lawmakers are in the throes of
discussions about many gun-related issues. A bill by Sen. Terry Spencer,
R-Layton, on violent misdemeanors has run into hurdles and “may not go,” the
West Bountiful Republican said.

“But by Monday or Tuesday, we should have things ready to go — and we will
address guns in the truest sense of the word.”

Guns in schools?

“Yes. It’s the one I’ve been working on for three years.”

Confirmation that Beattie will run a gun bill and sponsor it himself sets up
an
interesting political drama on Utah’s Capitol Hill, where 104 lawmakers are
in
the first week of a 45-day session.

House Republicans, under political pressure to address the gun subject in
some
way, have posed a multi-part crime package that tackles some gun-related
issues
– violent misdemeanors, regulations for obtaining a concealed weapons
permit,
training, uniform sentencing for gun-related crimes and school safety — but
not
the spotlight issue about whether Utahns with properly registered concealed
weapons should be allowed to take them into schools, churches and private
homes.

House Minority Leader Dave Jones, D-Salt Lake has a guns-in-school bill too,
and
Democrats have repeatedly urged their Republican colleagues to come to the
table
on the topic. A coalition of churches, educators, parents and community
activists had given up hope the Legislature would take on the issue and
recently
launched a petition drive to take the issues to voters themselves.

Action by Beattie, considered a respected and powerful force on the Hill and
in
the state, adds considerable weight to the issue. But Beattie could find
himself
at odds with those more conservative in the House and Senate. And
conversations
early today indicate local political wranglings may overshadow the
guns-in-schools discussion.

House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, said the GOP caucus hasn’t talked
about guns in schools because it didn’t know if Beattie was running a bill.
Jones’ bill is not part of the GOP House package.

“I have no idea whether our caucus will accept the president’s bill. I
haven’t
seen it yet,” Stephens said. “We are approaching this with one basic
principle,
and that is we will support any gun regulation that protects citizens’
Second
Amendment right to bear arms and makes society safer.”

Meanwhile this morning, legislative Democrats held a press conference to
seek
support for five specific gun-violence/school safety bills, including Jones’
measure. They were supported by leaders of the Utah Education Association
and
the PTA.

The goals of the five bills are to:

Keep guns, especially concealed weapons, out of churches and public and
private
schools and provide for the “rare” exceptions when a concealed weapons
permit
holder will be allowed to take a gun into those facilities.

Ensure background checks for all sales of guns at gun shows.

Ensure guns are kept out of the hands of convicted criminals.

Ensure responsible gun storage to stop accidental shootings and killings.

Take away access to guns for people with violent histories, including those
who
a court finds mentally ill.

Rep. Dennis Iverson, R-Washington, said Beattie’s bill shouldn’t be part of
the
House crime package. “I think it should run alone.”

But others support Beattie’s move.

“Yes, I’m glad he’s doing it,” said Rep. Afton Bradshaw, R-Salt Lake City. “
It’s
a gutsy thing to do.”

The subject of guns is in flux among House Republicans. They were supposed
to
discuss it in a closed noontime meeting Thursday but put it off. Guns
dominated
talk among groups of lawmakers who huddled during floor action to lobby
leaders
for a place in the crime package. Stephens said the topic will come up in
the
caucus again Tuesday.

Gun lobbies have hit lawmakers hard this session with the basic message to
stay
away from this subject.

House Majority Leader Kevin Garn has received lots of calls and
correspondence
about all the gun-related bills, mostly, he said, from people saying, “We
don’t
want any more laws on guns. Leave us alone.” He did receive one letter from
the
other side, which basically said, “We support your crime package, do more.”

One gun-rights advocate lashed out today at Beattie for his decision.

“I’m extremely upset at this. For President Lane Beattie to submit children
to
having no protection. . . . Now we know, Lane Beattie is anti-family,” said
Janalee Tobias, a South Jordan mother who founded Women Against Gun Control.
“I
have one question for him: ‘President Beattie, are you going to protect my
children if a madman comes in and starts shooting?”

Schools will be left defenseless, she said. “They are sitting ducks.”

She went on to threaten Beattie.

“He’s in for a huge liability lawsuit. He will be targeted. We will make
sure he
is not re-elected. We will elect a Republican with true Republican values,”
she
said. “Gov. Leavitt is behind this. He’s getting his lapdogs to do his dirty
work.”

But Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, said Republicans with this view should
not
be punished. “No, absolutely not. We Republicans need a big tent.”

A Deseret News poll completed just before the session started shows healthy
support for banning all guns, even those carried by law-abiding citizens
with
concealed weapons permits, from schools. Pollster Dan Jones & Associates
found
that 63 percent of Utahns favor such a ban.

Beattie told the Deseret News several days ago that he wants reasonable
restrictions on all guns brought into schools. But he has been murky about
whether he would introduce a gun bill this year at all.

Jones’ bill would require a concealed weapons permit holder to get
permission
from some top district official, but Beattie has said he wants to make
exemptions quicker and easier.

House Rules Committee Chairwoman Susan Koehn, R-Woods Cross, said Thursday
that
should Beattie come forward with his guns-in-schools bill, “it will
certainly be
considered. The president of the Senate carries a lot of weight around
here.”

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