It was a brave move by Rep. Christy Zito.
Her attempt to force a vote on Stand-Your-Ground in the House State Affairs Committee was a long shot, but she did it for you!
What happened yesterday and how can you help fight back? More on that in just a moment.
What transpired yesterday left no doubt in our minds that gun grabbers, establishment politicians, and even some gun groups fear H.B. 444, the real Stand-Your-Ground bill.
You see, while Senate Bill 1313 was having its own hearing in the Senate yesterday, another effort was made in the House to bring H.B. 444 out in the open for debate.
Rep. Christy Zito, the sponsor for H.B. 444, stood tall for gun owners.
She made a bold attempt to pull H.B. 444 out of Chairman Loertscher’s desk drawer, and give the bill a full public hearing that you guys have been calling and emailing about for months.
She plead with the committee to hear your voices.
She demanded that the 7,000 petitions be recognized.
She stood up to Chairman Loertscher as he tried to weasel his way out of the criticism.
That’s when the vote came.
The motion was simple, “Does the committee agree to give H.B. 444 a public hearing?”
When all was said and done, Rep. Christy Zito’s motion failed on a 3-11 vote.
Only three legislators stood up to the Chairman and said, “Yes, this bill deserves to be heard!”
Who are they?
Representative Christy Zito
Representative Priscilla Giddings
Representative Heather Scott
It’s one thing to say you are a leader, and will stand on your principles.
These three women actually put their votes where their mouths were.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up to your leaders when they are silencing the voice of the people, and that’s exactly what the three of them did.
We have included their emails here for you. Please be sure to tell them “Thank you for voting for H.B. 444 yesterday!” You can simply copy and paste them into your own email to send the thank you note.
Now, you may be wondering who voted against bringing H.B. 444 up for a public hearing?
You see, the people who voted against Stand-Your-Ground yesterday are going to tell you that we must, “Respect the process,” which is nothing more than an excuse to justify their anti-gun vote.
But Rep. Zito did follow the process.
Her motion was within the rules.
What they are really trying to tell you is that, “I don’t have the spine to stand up to my Chairman that is blocking the bill, so I have to vote no.”
At the end of the day, the people who voted against giving H.B. 444 a hearing yesterday are more afraid of Republican leaders than they are of their constituents.
It’s treachery of the worst kind.
So, who voted against giving H.B. 444 (Stand-Your-Ground) a public hearing?
Representatives: Loertscher, Monks, Crane, Armstrong, Smith, Luker, Manwaring, Harris, Palmer, Barbieri, and Holtzclaw
Now, you might wonder, “Why force a vote on bringing the bill out if the vote was doomed to fail?”
That’s a great question.
You see, the only way to hold politicians accountable is by forcing votes on bills.
The only way constituents can know whether or not their Representative, or Senator, will do the right thing is to force tough votes.
And yesterday’s vote showed that only three Representatives in the House State Affairs Committee are willing to do the right thing, even when the right thing is the tough vote.
So, how are we going to use their votes?
We are going to be making a series of videos to let voters in some of these Districts know exactly what happened yesterday.
But we need your help!
In order for us to reach more voters, we need to be able to “boost” these videos into the Districts of these Representatives.
We are asking gun owners to step up big time right now and help with this video campaign!
That may be too much for you to do right now, and that’s okay. A smaller donation of $25 or $10 today will still go a long way in helping us get these videos made and boosted into Districts across Idaho.
After you have donated, make sure to watch ISAA President Greg Pruett’s video analysis of yesterday’s vote.
We are still deeply entrenched in a major fight for real Stand-Your-Ground in Idaho, so this is no time to rest.
Chairman Loertscher claims he is going to give the bill a hearing “someday.”
We intend to hold him to that promise.
Thank you, and stay vigilant as the session is rapidly coming to a close.
For Freedom,
Seth Rosquist
Chairman of the Board
Idaho Second Amendment Alliance
P.S. Rep. Christy Zito made a brave motion yesterday to rip H.B. 444 out of Chairman Loertscher’s desk drawer and give it the public hearing it deserves.
You can see ISAA President Greg Pruett’s analysis of the vote in a link here.
Her motion failed on a 3-11 vote.
Those voting against the motion must be held accountable. You can find details of the vote in the main body of the email above.
We are putting together a series of videos to let voters in some of these Districts know exactly what happened.
If that is simply too much right now, then a smaller donation of $25 or $10 will still be extremely helpful for our cause.
Thank you!