Federal - Senate Judiciary Committee: Hearings & Meetings

[JLawson]

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=8ddfce272f36de81e62e30d8153a7d3a

The U.S. Senate on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing of the full committee.


OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:
January 23, 2013

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing entitled “What Should America Do About Gun Violence?” for Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

By order of the Chairman.
 

Witness List

Hearing before the
Senate Committee on the Judiciary

On

“What Should America Do About Gun Violence?”

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Hart Senate Office Building, Room 216
10:00 a.m.

Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.)
Americans for Responsible Solutions
Tucson, AZ

Nicholas Johnson
Professor of Law
Fordham University School of Law
New York, NY

James Johnson
Chief of Police
Baltimore County Police Department
Chair, National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence
Towson, MD

Gayle Trotter
Attorney and Senior Fellow
Independent Women’s Forum
Washington, DC

Wayne LaPierre
Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer
National Rifle Association
Fairfax, VA


The page linked above provides a 'webcast' feature.  You can view the proceedings if your schedule permits.

[PegLeg45]

“What Should America Do About Gun Violence?”

Shoot back.

[JLawson]

Who is witness Nicholas Johnson?


http://vimeo.com/58188244


Who is witness Gayle Trotter?

http://www.iwf.org/news/2790328/Gun-Control-Regulations-Disarm-Women


Of the five witnesses listed, I count 3 pro-gun and 2 anti-gun.

[JLawson]

Witness testimony and member statements, in PDF format, are available at the link given above.

[kmitch200]

Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.)

He testified today that "he's been shot at and it's extremely chaotic."
Wasn't he in a freaking fighter jet? I'm not in the military but don't they leave the gun fights on the ground to people OTHER than jet jockeys?

Thank you for your service Cpt. Kelly, now go tend to your pretty wifes needs, STFU and mind your own business.

[Sponsor]

[cookie62]

It was also anounced that they will have another hearing because Sen. Frankenstein wasn't happy with the 3 pro-gun witnesses that where at this one. They will keep having them until she hears what she wants.

[jnevis]

It was also anounced that they will have another hearing because Sen. Frankenstein wasn't happy with the 3 pro-gun witnesses that where at this one. They will keep having them until she hears what she wants.

That's good.  The longer she drags out the hearings the less chance of the bill passing before they end the session.  That may be the cop-out they are looking for though, "We tried to pass the legislation but the session ran out, we'll try again later when the time is right"  The NRA is happy, the Dems look like they "tried" and status quo is maintained.

[JLawson]

Well, I just finished watching the whole darn thing... it was almost as long as 'Gone with the Wind'.  Even though everyone's initial focus was on Feinstein's S.150, after listening to the Q&A you definitely get the impression that an equal or greater focus will be on what they call 'universal background checks.'  Time and time again the dialogue centered around ways to strengthen, expand, or improve NICS.  While a few of these "improvements" have some merit (e.g. increasing state-level participation and record sharing) others ideas are overreaching (e.g. including all private firearm transfers and ammunition).

The exchange between LaPierre and Durbin got a little prickly when LaPierre tried to explain that criminals would find a way to circumvent any background check no matter how expansive its scope may be.  The Durbins, Feinsteins, and Schumers of the world seem completely incapable of understanding that criminals just don't give a crap what laws are passed.  There were some good questions from several of the Senators and in particular Mr. Cruz from Texas.

I am proud to say I voted for Mr. Cruz and I am proud that he and Mr. Cornyn represent the citizens of Texas.  Both men are strong supporters of the 2A and spoke very articulately against the infringements currently being proposed.  I also note that while most of the committee members left the hearing after their turn at Q&A, Mr. Cruz stayed during the entire hearing.  This allowed him to direct an extra question to Chief Johnson that turned out to be a devastating blow to the whole notion that more gun control will help.  Basically, Mr. Cruz asked the Chief to explain why Chicago and Washington D.C. are the murder capitols of the Nation despite having some of the strictest laws.  Mr. Johnson, of course, was unable to answer that question - he actually didn't even try.  The Chief danced around gasping for air and then finally mumbled something about high-capacity magazine restrictions being really important.  I can understand why Feinstein might want a do-over... this hearing was a decisive victory for every freedom-loving, self-reliant, pro-Constitution American.

If you missed the live presentation, you can view the archived video at http://www.senate.gov/isvp/?comm=judiciary&type=live&filename=judiciary013013.  Here are a few time markers of interest:

(a) the hearing actually starts at 0:26,
(b) Kelly's testimony begins at 0:48,
(c) Kopel starts at 0:55,
(d) Johnson begins at 1:01,
(e) Trotter first speaks at 1:08,
(f) LaPierre joins in at 1:13,
(g) panel Q&A commences at 1:19,
(h) Cruz makes me proud at 3:03 and again at 3:55, and
(i) the hearing adjourns at 4:09 .

Even if you don't watch the whole thing, you owe it to yourself to watch Mr. Cruz... I think he did an outstanding job.

[PegLeg45]

JL, you are a better man than me to sit through all of that.... I couldn't take much of Franken.     

I did hit the marks you listed and can say that I like Mr. Cruz and what he had to say.

Thanks for the posting.

[JLawson]

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=eed1f8b2e83fd7365bee9cb8432af898

“Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence: Protecting Our Communities While Respecting the Second Amendment”

Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights

DATE: February 12, 2013
TIME: 10:00 AM
ROOM: Dirksen 224
OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:
February 1, 2013


NOTICE OF SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights entitled “Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence: Protecting Our Communities While Respecting the Second Amendment” for Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 10:00 a.m., in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Chairman Durbin to preside.

By order of the Chairman.

This is from an 'Action Alert' sent by the Texas State Rifle Association:

The Senate committee listed above will take up the subject of "Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence: Protecting Our Communities While Respecting the Second Amendment" next Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. Senator Cruz is the Ranking Member of this subcommittee.

Senator Cruz is asking for your help.

Please be willing to submit your thoughts on a relevant topic for Sen. Cruz and the committee to consider in the form of a formal letter to the committee which makes either a pro 2nd Amendment argument or a tells a short, compelling, personal story about how you exercised your 2nd Amendment rights in a positive way, such as in defense of yourself, your family, your business, or how you scared off a robber.

Please submit your stories and statements in MS Word, well-written and clear.  Then send as an attachment to the email address of Senator Cruz's staff below.

Jon_McClellan@cruz.senate.gov

Statements must be received by Monday in order to be helpful.  Your statement could be submitted into the Congressional Record.

Senator Dick Durbin is the Chairman of the subcommittee and prides himself on carrying in a large stack of statements from the other side to showcase and submit into the record.

Texas Senator Cruz would like to be ready to respond in kind.

This call to action is NOT only for Texans.  Let's show Senator Durbin what a "large stack of statements" really looks like.  Please send in your statement even if you don't have Microsoft Word as suggested - his office staff can import your plain text file into a Word document.

Again... this request from the TSRA is a challenge for anyone - no matter where you live - to have a voice in this debate.  Who knows, your statement might become part of the permanent CR !!

Thank you.