Yesterday and today I spent some time getting my local congregation involved in some advocacy efforts at the state level.
Yesterday my big push was to invite the people who live in the northern end of Calvert County to contact their local delegate (Del. Vallario) about the legislation regarding asset forfeiture for those convicted of crimes of human trafficking (HB713). This bill passed the state senate with unanimous support, yet Del. Vallario will not let it out of the house judiciary committee (which he chairs). Those members of my congregation that live in his district (and even several who do not) were not impressed with his behavior and vowed to contact him and tell him just that!
Today's outreach effort did not go over quite as smoothly. Today's topic of focus is more controversial: gun control. I have been planning to attend the #Rally4GunSafetyMD on March 1 along with other United Methodists and ecumenical friends from around Maryland. I mentioned this rally to a few folks at church yesterday and got some interested comments. So today I visited the website to try to invite a few others (who were not part of the conversation yesterday). The plan may have backfired. One of the members I sent the invite to is a gun owner and not a fan of the proposed Firearm Safety legislation. He did ask me to respect his opinion and I told him that I would. I pray that I did not offend him.
As I mentioned before, this is such a difficult issue, and I am trying to walk a very fine line between gun ownership and reasonable regulation in order to help prevent gun violence. Yes criminals will still abuse the system and work to find other means of obtaining weapons. But I also know that decreasing their access to weapons will deter some criminals, and to me that's worth the inconvenience of fingerprinting or a background check. Of course, my state senator disagrees. He stated quite vocally on Friday that he is against fingerprinting by any government agency... a statement which makes him sound like a libertarian, not the progressive democrat he prides himself on being.
Yesterday my big push was to invite the people who live in the northern end of Calvert County to contact their local delegate (Del. Vallario) about the legislation regarding asset forfeiture for those convicted of crimes of human trafficking (HB713). This bill passed the state senate with unanimous support, yet Del. Vallario will not let it out of the house judiciary committee (which he chairs). Those members of my congregation that live in his district (and even several who do not) were not impressed with his behavior and vowed to contact him and tell him just that!
Today's outreach effort did not go over quite as smoothly. Today's topic of focus is more controversial: gun control. I have been planning to attend the #Rally4GunSafetyMD on March 1 along with other United Methodists and ecumenical friends from around Maryland. I mentioned this rally to a few folks at church yesterday and got some interested comments. So today I visited the website to try to invite a few others (who were not part of the conversation yesterday). The plan may have backfired. One of the members I sent the invite to is a gun owner and not a fan of the proposed Firearm Safety legislation. He did ask me to respect his opinion and I told him that I would. I pray that I did not offend him.
As I mentioned before, this is such a difficult issue, and I am trying to walk a very fine line between gun ownership and reasonable regulation in order to help prevent gun violence. Yes criminals will still abuse the system and work to find other means of obtaining weapons. But I also know that decreasing their access to weapons will deter some criminals, and to me that's worth the inconvenience of fingerprinting or a background check. Of course, my state senator disagrees. He stated quite vocally on Friday that he is against fingerprinting by any government agency... a statement which makes him sound like a libertarian, not the progressive democrat he prides himself on being.
Tomorrow I head to Annapolis to participate in a panel of witnesses before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee as they take testimony on the HOME Act (SB 487). I thought that would be a breeze, but since the Senate may be discussing Firearm Safety Legislation tomorrow as well as debating SB 276, the bill to repeal the death penalty. my trip may be more exciting than I first anticipated. Wish me luck. Prayers appreciated.
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