[Paul]

This is intended to be a how to guide on how to educate yourself on the proposed gun laws before the Utah Legislature and then how to voice your opinion BEFORE they become law. The future of our gun rights really depends on the laws that are enacted. Lets team together and voice our opinions to our representatives in the Utah House and Senate.

1st. You have to be able to find out the laws that are being considered. Here is a link for all Utah laws being considered currently. I don't know if this link will always work, so if it doesn't lets edit this link so that it does.
http://www.le.state.ut.us/asp/billsintr ... box4=03071
The above link if for any laws that are currently being considered that have anything to do with "Weapons."

If you want to view other laws, simply click on this link and select the laws by subject and go from there.
http://www.le.state.ut.us/asp/billsintr ... ear=2008GS

So now you have the list of laws being considered. You can view the laws from this point by simply clicking on the links and reading them in full. You can see the Bill Status and what is going on with the bills. READ THE BILLS so that you fully understand them. The "BILL TEXT" link will allow you to read the bills in full. The "BILL STATUS" link will allow you to see what is happening with the bill. These links appear to be updated regularly. You can also subscribe to certain updates so you can recieve emails about specific bills when anything changes.

2nd. Contact your representatives and voice your opinion. The best spot to figure out who your reps are if you don't know is:
http://www.utah.gov/government/legislative.html
Click on the "Find Your Senator" or "Find Your Representative" links and you pull up a roster with email addresses, etc.

Here are the current rosters:
SENATE:
http://se15.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/distmapal.pl
http://www.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/roster2007.pl

HOUSE:
http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/Distric ... /State.htm
http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/members ... le1add.asp

I would suggest you keep a lists of your senator and representative with their email address so you can quickly email them. You should be able to simply save their email addresses in a group so you only need to send out 1 email to all of them. I hope this helps.

 

[Shaolin]

This definitely needs to be a sticky. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Jeff Johnson]

Great post. Sticky it is. Thanks!

 

[oldhippy]

First day on the forum and my prayers are already being answered. Thanks for the link, it will be followed. I have it in my favorites.

 

[Cinhil]

Great idea to put this as a sticky and inform other board members of this information. If I had thought of it I could have done the same as I have had this info for years--sorry all! Now that my apology is out, this is a great place to go to get updates, information and to view what is currently happening with proposed laws, and with changes to existing laws.

Now, if I could ever get my legislator or senator to respond to my emails or calls I would be happy, unfortunately both seem to be of the opinion that we, the people they represent, do not need to be involved in their decisions. And people in my area keep electing these same two Democrats! Anyhow, hopefully there will be minimal attempts at legislating our freedoms this year, though defining specific necessary portions of existing law would be good as long as they don't get put in front of the liberal committees some were sent to last year.

Always keep on your toes as our liberties are always in jeopardy when the legislature is in session! Sometimes when it isn't too.

 

[ajoss]

This is a great thread. I've noticed that the websites for our congressmen in Washington don't have email addresses that we can save in a contact group. Rather, you have to go to their website and click on the contact button to email them. Here is a list of sites to get to the contact pages of Senators Hatch and Bennett and Representatives Bishop, Matheson, and Chaffetz.

District 1 Representative Bob Bishop: http://robbishop.house.gov/Contact/

District 2 Representative Jim Matheson: https://forms.house.gov/matheson/contact.shtml

District 3 Representative Jason Chaffetz: http://chaffetz.house.gov/contact/index.shtml

Senator Bob Bennett: http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/contact.html

Senator Orrin Hatch: http://hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cf ... fices.Home

 

[robin314]

I would strongly suggest calling them or hand writing a letter. Don't be a single issue person.

Email is I think the most ineffective way to convince. Use those above links to call them etc......

 

[Car Knocker]

Just a reminder that snail mail doesn't go directly to the Congresscritter's office. It goes to a distribution center where it is manually and mechanically inspected for contaminants prior to being bundled for delivery. This inspection process adds a considerable amount of time to the delivery process. A snail mail letter may not be the most effective means of reaching your representative before a critical vote takes place. There is nothing wrond with using multiple paths to make your desires known. Also, it is almost a certainty that your communication(s) will only be seen/heard by a staffer and be reduced to a check-mark in a tally column.

 

[Lanzones]

It never hurts to send emails to house and senate members who do not represent your district. That obviously takes more time than emailing two people, but still often worth the effort. Leadership should always be emailed, regardless of the issue or your residence. It's also often a good idea to email those in the bill's appropriate committee.

Email will also get you a fair number of replies. Some are from aides, but usually they are from the legislators themselves.

 

[Daniel]

Here is another how-to guide... More like a how-it-really-works guide:

http://www.accountabilityutah.org/Issue ... 041804.htm