One of the “shocking pictures” taken at the Kentucky Capitol in 2020 and published with an article in Rolling Stone. Gun rights activists hoist semi-automatic firearms on the Capitol’s third floor where the legislature meets. (Photo by Bryan Woolston/Getty Images)
One year ago, on Dec. 15, Kentuckians concerned about the epidemic of gun violence packed a committee room and overflow spaces at the Kentucky Capitol to witness the last Interim Judiciary Committee meeting of the year. The main item on the agenda: public presentation and discussion of the CARR (Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention) bill addressing mental illness and access to firearms. A bill that Republican state Sen. Whitney Westerfield had been working on for months.
Days before the bill was introduced, Rep. Savannah Maddox made statements on WHAS TV similar to those she would repeat at length in the Dec. 15 committee meeting, saying she thinks “it’s unconscionable that with a supermajority of 111 (Republicans) out of 138 (state legislators) that we’re even having a discussion about gun control legislation.”
Maddox appeared to make the argument that if your party is in the supermajority, there is no reason to talk to fellow legislators, that there is no work to be done.
But isn’t that why we send our representatives to Frankfort in the first place, to meet in person, to have hard discussions?
If discussion itself is “unconscionable,” as Maddox insists, why do we pay our lawmakers to spend three months every year in Frankfort?
Looking back, what I remember most about the hours leading up to the CARR hearing are the anxious phone calls and text messages exchanged by people planning to attend the meeting, concerned that citizens against the bill would be carrying firearms to make a point? To be intimidating? Both?
Yes, it is true that here in Kentucky we have the right to carry loaded guns inside our Capitol and the Annex. This is the law. You can pass your guns right around the metal detectors and walk on in.
When I mention to non-Kentuckians, like my dad, that I’ve been at some meeting in our Capitol, I am often reminded of the shocking pictures taken there in January 2020 with a story published by Rolling Stone magazine. “Walking into the state capitol completely blew my mind,” the gun-toting protester said. “Being able to walk in completely armed, with guns — I mean, I’m completely armed. And they trust us. I’m not a Kentucky resident. I’m from Virginia. A complete stranger. I walked in, (and security acted like), ‘Cool, come on in. Enjoy the capitol.’”
It is a sad statement that Kentuckians suffering from gun violence trauma considered not coming to Frankfort last December, anxious about being packed inside a room, doors closed, with potentially-armed strangers.
This week there was a school shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin. The shooter was a 15 year-old girl. A second grader — A SECOND GRADER — called 911.
Days earlier, Dec. 14 marked the tragic anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shooting where 20 students, ages 6 and 7, and six adults were killed. Twelve years have passed. Those kids should be, would be, graduating from high school.
Just three months ago, in September, there was an extended manhunt for the Kentucky freeway shooter. Schools and businesses shut down for days. Kids were kept home in fear. Law enforcement and first responder resources were stretched to their limits.
What did our lawmakers offer?
State Sen. Brandon Storm, who has been named our new Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman — arguably the most powerful committee in Frankfort — issued a spine-free, action-free, meaning-free statement that closed with, “We will come together, stand strong, and extend our love and support to all those who need it. Let us all lift every person affected up in prayer.”
Thoughts and prayers.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
On Dec. 17, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence released its Annual Gun Law Scorecard. “Kentucky has some of the weakest laws in the country when it comes to gun violence, which is why we gave it an F this year. Gun violence is now the number one killer of children in the United States. … It’s time for elected leaders in Kentucky to focus more on saving the lives of their constituents than taking money from the gun lobby.”
According to Giffords, an average of 841 Kentuckians die every year by firearm.
We often hear lawmakers say that what we need to address is mental illness. And yet CARR, a bill narrowly focused on keeping guns out of the hands of those suffering a mental health crisis, was buried in oblivion last session by GOP leadership.
Can anyone explain that?
Remember this every time your legislators refuse to discuss simple gun violence prevention legislation while filing last-minute, pet-bills with canned statements about how they have been working on said bill “for months,” “behind the scenes” to justify passing their bills before the public has time to understand what’s happening. A corrupted process studied and reported on most recently by the League of Women Voters.
Citizens have the right to be informed about potential legislation in time to review the bills.
Citizens have the right to feel safe in school.
Citizens have the right to demand that our lawmakers take 841 firearm deaths per year seriously enough to hold public hearings, during the regular session, on potentially lifesaving legislation.
Citizens, lawmakers and state government staff have the right to feel safe attending committee hearings inside the Kentucky Capitol.
Citizens have rights.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.