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State Sell-Out: Gunderson Still Pushing Brady Check Expansion Bill
July 25, 2009
State Rep. Gunderson didn't respond to WGO's past Candidate Surveys. Now, he's pushing a bill to expand the Brady background system. Where does his allegiance lie? With Sarah Brady, or the Constitution? |
Ignoring the wishes of grassroots gun owners, and doing the bidding of Sarah Brady, State Rep. Scott Gunderson is still pushing AB70, the bill to expand the National Instant Check System (NICS) in Wisconsin.
The silence by the institutional gun lobby on this dangerous anti-gun bill has been splitting ear drums. NRA-ILA e-mail alerts have not mentioned a peep about this bill, which is being dubbed by WGO the "Veterans Disarmament Act."
Assembly Bill 70 and Senate Bill 44 would dangerously expand state-level back ground checks to include far-reach medical data.
As mentioned in previous alerts, the federal version of this gun control scheme, HR2640, was passed into law by what most gun owners considered a betrayal of trust by congressional republicans and the NRA last year.
Gun Owners of America (GOA), the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) and Wisconsin Gun Owners, Inc. (WGO) (along with an army of rock-solid state-level gun rights organizations from across the country ) steadfastly opposed the mental health bills on the basis that it would subject gun owners and their rights to arbitrary “diagnosis” by psychiatrists.
It was passed into law and has since become a virtual nightmare for thousands of veterans. Nightmarish stories are already surfacing about gun owners who lost the right to keep and bear arms without due process.
All it takes is one anti-gun government mental health crony to declare you “adjudicated mentally defective” and you lose your guns.
And now state republicans are sneaking this same anti-scheme behind your back in Madison. Last week State Rep. Scott Gunderson — who has never returned WGO's Candidate Survey —introduced an amendment to the bill, breathing new life into the anti-gun scheme.
Gun owners are urged to contact NRA-ILA to ask why, "Why the silence?"
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, if a person seeks to purchase a handgun from a licensed handgun dealer, the dealer must ask the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a background check on the person. In conducting the background check, DOJ searches DOJ records to determine whether the person is ineligible to possess a firearm under state law, but state law does not explicitly require DOJ to determine whether federal law bars the person from possessing a firearm based on criteria not covered by state law.
This substitute amendment requires DOJ, when conducting a background check on a prospective handgun purchaser, to check whether a court has ordered the person not to possess a firearm due to a determination that the person’s mental health would render the person ineligible under federal law to possess a firearm.
This substitute amendment requires courts to determine whether a person would be ineligible under federal law to possess a firearm during proceedings for involuntary commitment for persons found by the court to be mentally ill, drug dependent, or developmentally disabled and to be dangerous, during proceedings for appointment of a guardian of the person for an individual found by the court to be incompetent, and, if not previously determined, during proceedings under which a court orders protective placement or protective services (mental health proceeding). If the court determines that federal law prohibits the person from possessing a firearm, the court must order the person not to possess a firearm, order the seizure of any firearm the person owns, and inform the person that he or she would be committing a felony if he or she possessed a firearm. The court must then convey the disqualified status to DOJ which may use that information only during background checks conducted when the person seeks to purchase a handgun or under rules that DOJ promulgates in order to provide information to the national instant criminal background check system.
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Specifically, to determine ineligibility under federal law at a mental health proceeding, a court must determine if the person has been “adjudicated as a mental defective” or “committed to a mental institution,” as defined in federal law. Under federal law, “adjudicated as a mental defective” means a determination by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that a person, as a result of a marked subnormal intelligence, or a mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease either is a danger to himself or herself or to others or lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his or her own affairs. This determination includes a finding of insanity by a court in a criminal case and persons found incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility pursuant to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Federal law defines “committed to a mental institution” as a formal commitment of a person to a mental institution by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority. The term includes a commitment to a mental institution involuntarily, commitment for mental defectiveness or mental illness, and commitments for other reasons such as for drug use. The term does not include a person in an institution for observation or a voluntary admission to a mental institution.
If, at a mental health proceeding, the court finds a person ineligible under federal law to possess a firearm, the person may petition a court to cancel the order. A court must grant the petition if the court determines that the person is not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the petition would not be contrary to public interest. The court must then convey the change in status to DOJ so that DOJ may update the information provided during background checks for handgun purchases and the information provided to the national instant criminal background check system.
This substitute amendment also eliminates obsolete references to “involuntary commitment history record search.” It also deletes determinations at mental health proceedings of ineligibility under state law to possess a firearm as the determinations would be redundant to those under federal law.
ACTION:
PRE-WRITTEN MESSAGE #1:
Contact Rep. Gunderson
By Phone: 608-266-3363
By E-mail: Rep.Gunderson@legis.wisconsin.gov
E-mail Rep. Gunderson’s Staff:
Mike Bruhn Mike.Bruhn@legis.wisconsin.gov
Emily Loe Emily.Loe@legis.wisconsin.gov
Rep. Scott Gunderson:
Gun owners OPPOSE AB70 and we are livid that someone who claims to be pro-gun would sneak through a bill expanding the unconstitutional National Instant Check System (NICS).
If you were a true friend of gun ownership, you would introduce legislation to REPEAL the NICS system, which has not only done nothing to thwart violent crime, but has been used as de facto gun owner registration.
AB70 will greatly expand the scope of NICS to include mental health data that can easily be used as a subjective analysis to disarm gun owners and veterans across Wisconsin without due process.
You are urged in the strongest terms to kill AB70 and apologize to gun owners.
Furthermore, I am appalled that the National Rifle Association (NRA) would fail to inform me of this insulting attack on liberty. The NRA is wrong to support this bill.
I am a supporter of Wisconsin Gun Owners, Inc. (WGO) and will be observing your behavior closely on this matter.
[Your Name]
PRE-WRITTEN MESSAGE #2:
Contact Albert Darling
By Phone: (608) 266-5830
By E-mail: Sen.darling@legis.wisconsin.gov
E-mail Darling’s Staff:
Jay Risch jay.risch@legis.wisconsin.gov
David Volz david.volz@legis.wisconsin.gov
Connie Schulze Connie.Schulze@legis.wisconsin.gov
Nicole Ruzinski Nicole.Ruzinski@legis.wisconsin.gov
Andrew Davis Andrew.Davis@legis.wisconsin.gov
Sen. Alberta Darling:
Gun owners OPPOSE AB70 and we are livid that someone who claims to be pro-gun would sneak through a bill expanding the unconstitutional National Instant Check System (NICS).
If you were a true friend of gun ownership, you would introduce legislation to REPEAL the NICS system, which has not only done nothing to thwart violent crime, but has been used as de facto gun owner registration.
SB44 will greatly expand the scope of NICS to include mental health data that can easily be used as a subjective analysis to disarm gun owners and veterans across Wisconsin without due process.
You are urged in the strongest terms to kill AB70 and apologize to gun owners.
Furthermore, I am appalled that the National Rifle Association (NRA) would fail to inform me of this insulting attack on liberty. The NRA is wrong to support this bill.
I am a supporter of Wisconsin Gun Owners, Inc. (WGO) and will be observing your behavior closely on this matter.
[Your Name]
Contact Your State Representative and State Senator. Find them by Clicking Here
Action Item #4
Contact NRA-ILA at 800-392-8683 and tell them to OPPOSE AB70 and SB44 and that you expect them to REPEAL the NICS system, not expand it so that anti-gun psychiatrists can scribble prescriptions for what gun owners keep — or lose — their guns.
As gun owners brace for federal gun control in the form of a permanent semi-auto ban and here at the state level from a statewide ban on the private sales of handguns and increases in the cost of firearm background checks, it is unnerving that state republicans would have the audacity to sneak through their own de facto gun registration bill — and that the group that claims to represent gun owners appears to be nodding in agreement for further gun control from a dark, shadowy corner in the room.
Bottom line: You are being sold out. And time is not on your side. You must act quickly to stop this bill.
Tell your state representative to oppose the Gunderson-Darling Gun Registration and Veteran Disarmament Act, AB70 and SB44. Before it’s too late.
Be sure to check WGO's Bill Watch page as these bills move through the legislative process. 
For analysis by WGO of why gun owners must OPPOSE expanding the NICS system, to stop this Big Brother system from reaching into all your private data while stomping due process, see the following references:
State Politicians Sneak NICS Expansion Bill March 6, 2009
Why NRA is Nuts to Expand Background Checks June 13, 2007
Democrats to Expand NICS February 20, 2007
Quotes Prove NRA'S Expansion of Instant Check is Gun Control September 18, 2007
The NRA-McCarthy NICS Expansion of Gun Control Bill HR2640 July 19, 2007
NRA Sneaks McCarthy Gun Control Bill Through US House June 13, 2007
President Bush signs HR2640 expanding Brady Registration Act January 17, 2008
Brady Campaign Celebrates NRA Sell Out of Gun Owners December 21, 2007
If you're tired of the broken system of compromise and access — a system which has netted gun owners only more gun control — we urge you to Join Wisconsin Gun Owners, Inc. today!
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