SB3 and SB6: Chipping Away at the Right to Self Defense

The LPD State Board approved and released the following resolution in opposition to SB3 and SB6 in the Delaware General Assembly, the "Permit to Purchase" and "Large Capacity Magazine Ban" bills:

The General Assembly is at it again. On Thursday, two bills were introduced creating new felonies for possession of firearm magazines capable of holding more than 17 rounds and for transferring a firearm to an individual who has not secured an expensive permit from the State beforehand. These bills are not targeted to address the gun violence that actually affects Delaware, but to promote a radical agenda intended to restrict and deter peaceful individuals from protecting themselves when confronted by actual criminals. Less than one week later, these bills are scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing together in an event that has been reported to allow less than two hours for public comments. If the recent hearing regarding HB125 is any indication, opponents of this legislation will outnumber the special interest lobbyists brought in to support the bill and restricting public comments on a virtual committee conference call will serve to obscure this opposition.

Report from the Health & Human Development Committee Hearing on HB 150 - Delaware Cannabis Legalization

I am Will McVay, Kent County Chair of the LPD, member of the LPD State Board, and our webmaster.  As the only representative of the LPD present at the hearing, I decided to submit this post as my report on the Health & Human Development Committee hearing on HB 150, the bill to legalize cannabis in Delaware.  The State Board of the LPD passed this resolution in support of the legislation.

Resolution Regarding HB 150: Cannabis Legalization in Delaware

What follows is the text of a resolution passed by the LPD State Board.  A hearing is scheduled before the House Health & Human Development Committee on 3/24 @ 11a.  Barring technical difficulties, the Zoom meeting for this hearing will be broadcast on the State Discord Server.

2021 Q2 AoA Committee Report (3/17/2021)

The State AoA Committee does not meet on a regular schedule, but instead responds to suggestions from the membership. In the lead up to the 2021 State Convention, a number of proposals have come through and are presented here as "notification" under the requirements of the AoA for moving amendment proposals through either the State Board or the convention. Several of the proposals below are recommended to the State Board for action, either at their 2021 Q2 meeting or ad hoc between the end of the notification period and just after the convention, while three in particular were considered for the convention so the whole party may weigh in on their merits but have been tabled for now so that the AoA Committee can reevaluate some aspects of them. Please contact any member of the AoA Committee with any questions about the following proposals.

Discord and Email

The LPD is going through some changes.  We've had an influx of new members with some great ideas and lots of enthusiasm.  Two of those ideas are to create a Discord server to conduct the majority of state party business, both for the purposes of convenience and transparency, and to mimic the LNC's policy of conducting votes on a public email group, also for transparency but this practice will also help our hard working Secretary, Mr. Dayl Thomas, to keep track of votes without needing to count them up across a scattered chat thread.  While both of these changes will require amendments to the AoA to make them permanent, mandatory practices, the State Chair, Sean Goward, has ruled that for the time being, only votes and motions emailed to the public group will be considered valid, and State Board discussions will soon be migrating to Discord.

So please, join our Discord server and bookmark our Google email group to keep up with our activities.

March 2021 Newsletter

News & Events

• State Board Update - Rank the Vote, Spike Cohen, Developing Efforts
• Interview with a Delaware Libertarian - Featuring Bethel Town Councilperson Vern Proctor
• March 2021 Legislative Roundup
• Delaware Libertarians and Education - Advice from Steve Newton regarding possible policies for Libertarian advocacy on education in Delaware
• School Board Filing Deadline - March 5th @ 4.30p

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Membership Report

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Treasurer's Report

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Meetings

New Castle County

March 1st @ 7p, Crabby Dicks, Delaware City & Zoom
Contact ncclp1776@gmail.com for Zoom details.

Sussex County

March 8th @ 7p, Grotto's, Seaford

Kent County

March 15th @ 7p, Pizza Delight, Dover & Zoom

Please join us at your local monthly meeting and on the Statewide Facebook Page and Group.  We're also on Discord.

Interview with a Delaware Libertarian - Vern Proctor

Vern Proctor is a member of the Sussex County Libertarian Party of Delaware.  He is currently a town council person in the town of Bethel.  He agreed to be featured in our first "Interview with a Delaware Libertarian" article which will hopefully become a regular feature of our monthly newsletter.  Questions below are written in bold with Vern's answers in italics.

February Legislative Roundup

The primary purpose of the Legislative Roundup is to inform party members and readers of pending legislation before the Delaware General Assembly, educate them about the legislative process in Delaware, and provide general information about Libertarian stances and beliefs based on the national platform and prior actions of the Libertarian Party of Delaware State Board.  Unless explicitly stated, the Libertarian Party of Delaware and its State Board takes no position on any pending legislation described below.

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HB94

This bill would tie the minimum wage for tipped workers to the regular minimum wage, fixing it at 65% of the regular minimum wage.  The Libertarian Party opposes government interference in the voluntary transactions of individuals, including those between an employer and an employee freely agreeing to whatever wage they determine themselves to be mutually beneficial.  This bill is currently in the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee, sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Williams.

HB88

This bill would remove provisions allowing a "training and youth minimum wage" $0.50 below the regular minimum wage to be paid to employees under 18 and during the first 90 days of employment for adults.  The Libertarian Party opposes government interference in the voluntary transactions of individuals, including those between an employer and an employee freely agreeing to whatever wage they determine themselves to be mutually beneficial.  This bill is also currently in the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee, sponsored by Rep. Kimberly Williams.

HB105

This bill is the FY2022 Delaware Appropriations Act.  It is currently assigned to the House Appropriations Committee sponsored by House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf and Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokala.

SB50

This bill is the FY2022 Bond and Capital Improvements Bill.  It is currently assigned to the Senate Capital Improvement Committee sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore David Sokala and House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf

HB81

This bill would allow microbreweries to share brewing equipment so long as they maintain separate premises to sell their products to consumers and wholesalers.  The Libertarian Party opposes State micromanagement of private businesses.  Current statutes appear to prohibit any sharing of microbrewing equipment so despite the continued micromanagement under this legislation, it is an improvement over the status quo.  It is currently assigned to the House Economic Development/Banking/Insurance & Commerce Committee, sponsored by Rep. Paul Baumbach.

HB75

This bill is the second leg of an amendment to the Delaware Constitution removing language regarding the circumstances when it is permissible to vote in elections by absentee ballot, leaving it to the General Assembly to determine by statute.  The Delaware Constitution requires two successive General Assemblies to pass a bill in order to amend it.  The first leg of this amendment was passed as HB73 under the 150th General Assembly.  This bill was passed out of the House Administration Committee on January 21st, 2021 and is awaiting a vote by the full House before moving to the Senate.  Bills to amend the Delaware Constitution must pass by a 2/3 vote.  HB75 is sponsored by Rep. David Bentz.

HB64

HB64 would create new tax brackets increasing taxes in Delaware on income over $125,000/yr to 7.1% up to $250,000/yr; income over $250,000/yr to 7.85% up to $500,000/yr; and income over $500,000/yr to 8.6%.  The Libertarian Party opposes taxation in general and views progressive income taxation in particular as a penalty for productivity.  This bill is currently assigned to the House Revenue & Finance Committee sponsored by Rep. John Kowalko.  Legislation to increase taxes requires a 3/5 vote in both chambers of the General Assembly.

SB17

This legislation, known as "The Woman's Ultrasound Right to Know Act", would compel a physician to offer a patient ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services prior to terminating a pregnancy and create a Class A Misdemeanor as well as civil causes of action for medical malpractice and wrongful death should the fail to do so.  The Libertarian Party opposes government interference in doctor/patient relationships, and while recognizing that good faith views can be held on all sides of the abortion debate ultimately believes that government should be kept out of the matter.  This bill is currently assigned to the Senate Legislative Oversight & Sunset Committee sponsored by Senator Bryant Richardson.

HB40

This legislation is identical to SB17, but is assigned to the House Health & Human Development Committee sponsored by Rep. Richard Collins.

HB30

This legislation would move the state primaries for local offices currently held in September back to April, aligning it with the date of the presidential primaries.  It would also move back the deadline for "minor parties" to hold their conventions and complete their nomination papers from the current date in July to the date of the primary.  The Libertarian Party objects to interference by politicians in the incumbent so-called "major" parties interfering with the operations of so-called "minor" parties like the LP.  This legislation is not without its opportunities for the Libertarian Party of Delaware to take advantage, but it is also the case that "insurgent" candidates in major party primaries receive an advantage from the longer primary season including the summer months that they would lose under this bill, tipping the balance further in favor of the incumbents currently occupying the General Assembly.  This bill is currently assigned to the House Administration Committee sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Bolden.

HB15

This legislation is functionally equivalent to HB75, removing language from the Delaware Constitution regarding absentee voting and empowering the General Assembly to set the conditions for doing so by statute.  It is assigned to the House Administration Committee sponsored by Rep. David Bentz.

HB49

HB49 was endorsed by the Libertarian Party of Delaware and would require the General Assembly to approve any State of Emergency lasting longer than 30 days, invalidates States of Emergency declared for similar but non-weather related reasons within six months of a prior emergency, and requires the precise delineation of facilities and businesses required to be closed under any non-weather related emergency order.  This bill is assigned to the House Administration Committee sponsored by Rep. Richard Collins.

SB58

SB58 would exempt the current COVID-19 related emergency from provisions in the Delaware Code allowing executive agencies to impose quarantine and isolation procedures as well as enforcing vaccinations.  The Libertarian Party believes in medical freedom and due process all the time, even during a State of Emergency.  Not just this one.  This bill is currently assigned to the Senate Executive Committee sponsored by Senator Dave Lawson.

SCR8

SCR8, while only a "concurrent resolution" originating in the Delaware Senate, purports to declare gun violence in Delaware as a "public health crisis".  The Libertarian Party of Delaware's State Board released a statement in opposition to SCR8, as has the Delaware Chapter of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus.  This resolution is in the House having been passed by the Senate, and is sponsored by Senator Marie Pinkney.

SCR 8 - Gun Violence as a "Public Health Crisis"

A Google Search of the Delaware Code turns up zero results for the phrase “public health crisis”.  A text search of Title 16 related to Health and Safety and of Title 20, Chapter 31 of which is related to Emergency Management, likewise returns zero results for the phrase “public health crisis”.  Nevertheless, the Delaware Senate’s concurrent resolution SCR 8 declares gun violence in Delaware to be a “public health crisis”.

This resolution is toothless campaign literature proposing no solutions and only masquerading as government action, pandering to national gun control organizations with the by now explicit goal of restricting, obstructing, and deterring lawful gun ownership by peaceful individuals exercising their right to provide for their own defense.

Though it will have no legal impact on anything by itself, it lays a foundation in the minds of legislators, executive officials, and the public to accept gun violence as “public health crisis” as if it were a virulent new strain of the Coronavirus rather than the predictable result of failed bipartisan policies like:

• the War on Drugs,

• a woefully inadequate Criminal Justice system, and

• endemic problems constraining the economic opportunity of Delaware residents.

The explicit conflation contained in the declaration of this alleged public health crisis with the ongoing State of Emergency suggests that perhaps the Senate is trying to justify in advance the same type of COVID inspired unilateral government intrusions and restrictions of individual liberty, contrary to the principles of checks and balances and due process that all Americans hold dear.

Using statistics from the PRO gun control Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence:

• 93 gun deaths are reported in Delaware for 2019, only half of them homicides.

• New Castle County, along the I-95 Corridor, carries the highest rate of gun related deaths.

• Sussex County, hours away from the major drug trade routes, carries the lowest rate of gun related deaths.

• These numbers in proportion to our population are largely unchanged over the last decade and are actually going down in recent years.

By way of comparison DHSS identified 381 deaths in 2017 that were the result of drug overdoses, with 2018 and 2019 reported by the News Journal to run even higher.  Child poverty, unemployment, lack of health insurance, inaccessible dental care, cancer, obesity, and myriad other crises actually relating to public health plague our state in addition to the Coronavirus pandemic and most have been allowed to fester for years with no effective tangible action by the General Assembly.  Singling out gun violence as a “public health crisis” in light of these true crises of public health is hypocritical hand waving meant to distract from the failure to properly address them and pander to a national constituency of special interest donors.

SCR 8 itself declares additional statistics copied uncritically from one such constituency that are misleading, disconnected, and largely non-specific to Delaware, using cherry picked percentages to obfuscate the real numbers, and ignoring the disproportionate impact that the CDC attributes to the 17 square mile area comprising the City of Wilmington. Wilmington is likewise plagued by myriad endemic problems ignored both by the City government and the General Assembly for years, and has a distorting effect inflating the statewide gun death numbers that are otherwise among the lowest in the country.

Every homicide, gun related or not, is a tragedy.  Every homicide that could have been prevented even more so.  However this is no acute and escalating gun crisis, public health related or otherwise.  It is a simmering side effect of longstanding failed government policies.  What is needed to address gun violence in Delaware is:

• to end the destructive War on Drugs directly encouraging violence in our streets to enforce the territory and terms of black market drug distributors,

• a streamlined and strict enforcement of laws against violent crime that are too often traded for plea bargains and probation in order to more quickly cycle court dockets and prison populations crowded with non-violent offenders committing victimless crimes, and

• real reform affecting the City of Wilmington whether rooted in municipal government or in state restrictions on its charter, funding, and allocation of existing state resources.

Targeting guns as the inanimate culprits of violence instead of the criminals who wield them, while perpetuating the circumstances that incentivize those criminals to remain outside the law and deny them opportunities to better themselves within it, will not only fail to solve the problem of violence, but will leave the innocent victims of that violence with no way to protect themselves when law enforcement fails to do so.

The Libertarian Party of Delaware calls on the Delaware House of Representatives to reject SCR 8 for the empty and misguided gesture that it is and for the foundation of unilateral executive diktats that it might be.

Instead the General Assembly should introduce and pass real legislation amending the state code:

• to dismantle the War on Drugs;

• to gut the economic incentives for drug related violence that so often leads to gun related homicides;

• to free up law enforcement personnel, court dockets, and correctional resources to enable the efficient and effective enforcement of laws against violence and theft instead of clogging them up persecuting and harassing perpetrators of victimless crimes; and

• to focus reform efforts on the moribund governance of the City of Wilmington both at the municipal and state levels to enable those communities to access opportunities that will lift them out of the cycle of poverty, hopelessness, and violence that truly lie at the root of the gun death statistics in the State of Delaware.