Ky’s proposed gun bills are bad enough. The process to pass them is even worse. | Opinion

On Tuesday, I arrived at the capitol for a 9:00 a.m. meeting of the House Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection in which House Bill 542, titled “AN ACT relating to workforce development” was scheduled to be heard.

Only it turns out HB 542 was not about “workforce development.” It was a hastily rewritten “shell” or “mule” bill sponsored by Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, aiming to make Kentucky’s college campuses guns-encouraged zones where anyone age 21+ could carry a gun (any kind of gun) with no permit, no training, no experience with firearms, and no rules about safe storage.

Imagine thousands of kids carrying unsecured, loaded guns in their backpacks. Imagine the TikTok and Instagram videos of students performing with guns. Imagine a girl being attacked by a rapist on campus, at gunpoint, or her rapist shooting her with her own gun. Imagine kids walking around campus with AR-15 style firearms strapped across their backs or showing their guns off in class or on the lawn because it’s cool.

I scrambled to get to Frankfort for this meeting, having only heard that HB 542 would be on the agenda at 11:00 p.m. the night before. I had no time to prepare remarks, but thankfully I live only 30 minutes from the capitol and arrived early to make sure I was one of the first people to sign in to speak against this bill.

This was not the only bill scheduled to be heard. Five bills were squeezed into about a 45-minute hearing. The committee chairman opted to present them out of order, saying “I’m going to juggle around our agenda a little bit,” and hold the bill with the most guest speakers — which was HB 542 — to the end. This left about 15 minutes for those opposing the bill.

Travis Powell, Vice President and General Counsel at Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, spoke first, saying, “current legislation allows campuses to restrict the carrying of deadly weapons, and given that option all campuses have chosen to do so and want to maintain that flexibility. All campus chiefs of police are united in their opposition to this bill … because it decreases their ability to keep their campuses safe.”

The chairman then called those of us signed up as citizens who wanted to speak against this bill. He hemmed and hawed, shuffling papers and making much ado about how to arrange speakers like deck chairs (as if he had never done this before) while the clock ticked.

What you realize when you spend time in Frankfort this session with the GOP supermajority is that time is squeezed for one reason. “Shell” and “mule” bills are filed for one reason. Bills are crowded into hearings together and filed at the last minute for one reason. Experienced Republican committee chairmen scramble around as if they have suddenly forgotten how to properly organize a hearing for one reason.

The one reason is the same reason: The people this GOP supermajority does not want to hear from are the citizens they are pretending to work for.

They are, as evidenced by Rep. Maddox’s HB 542, wasting time performing for the cameras and going through the motions to make laws that most Kentuckians do not want or support. Why? To get the attention of their voting base. Why? Because there is a hotly contested Republican primary just two months away and a popular Democratic governor running for re-election in November.

Whether you are Republican, Democrat, or Independent, you are not paying for thoughtful legislative debates with your your tax dollars. You are paying for our GOP supermajority to use your money, without your consent, to campaign for governor.

HB 542 is but one of many examples. Consider that not a single college in the state of Kentucky — nor their police departments — supports legislation to allow 21+ year-olds to carry guns on campus. And yet this absurd and dangerous bill passed easily and with little discussion out of committee.

I returned to the Capitol early Thursday morning to testify against HB 153 which intends to make Kentucky a Second Amendment Sanctuary State. Like Tuesday’s hearing, there were five bills for consideration and they held this one — the controversial one — to the end with minutes to spare.

I testified that, just this week, a federal judge ruled that Missouri’s nullification law — the so-called Second Amendment Preservation Act — is unconstitutional.

I told them that if you simply Google the Missouri nullification law and law enforcement, you will find story after story where law enforcement officers are seeking clarification from courts and explaining how it makes it difficult for them to do their jobs.

A November 2021 report by the Kansas City Star reads, “Concerned local police chiefs have also reacted to the law by withdrawing from partnerships largely unrelated to guns. These include drug task forces covering multiple jurisdictions that receive federal funding but are run by the state.”

None of the Republicans on the committee commented or asked a single question.

Remember all of this the next time your Republican representative tells you how concerned they are with the safety of your children and how much they support law enforcement.

Teri Carter is a writer in Anderson County. She can be reached at kentuckyteri@gmail.com.