Concerns from the House of Representatives minority bloc obstructed a move into an emergency session to deliberate on gun control legislation the Office of the Attorney General had drafted, despite the AG office airing a need for immediate action on the legislation yesterday.<\/p>\n
Senators, hearing the trajectory of conversation in the House over the PA, instead called for an emergency hearing for 6pm last night, a little over half an hour after the House session ended with a 12 yes to eight no vote to effectively end the chances of the legislation being acted by the House for a couple of days. The House needed a two-thirds majority vote to enter into an emergency session, and the House would have been only able to introduce but not act on the bill in their regular session today.<\/p>\n
The Senate met and passed the bill.\t<\/p>\n
Senate President Frank Borja (Ind-Tinian) and Senate vice president Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan) and Sens. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan), Justo Quitugua (Ind-Saipan), Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), and Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian) were present for the emergency session last night and voted unanimously.<\/p>\n
Palacios said the Senate passed the bill including an amendment to ban guns within 500 feet of a building or vicinity owned or controlled by a non-governmental organization such as organizations that advocate against sexual, domestic, and stalking violence.<\/p>\n
The amendment further adds to provisions the AG drafted in the bill that creates \u201cgun free zones\u201d in or around government buildings, schools, courts, and places of worship, among others.<\/p>\n
Palacios said he fully understands the concerns of the community but there seem to be a misunderstanding that the lawmakers lifted the ban on handguns when it was the federal court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a step in the right direction. The attorney general said he would be coming back for more legislation to further regulate firearms and ammunition in the Commonwealth\u201d but that these are also \u201cpending on outstanding cases\u201d regarding gun control in other U.S. courts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first step in protecting the public in light of the district\u2019s court position,\u201d Palacios told Saipan Tribune over the phone last night.<\/p>\n
The House deliberated on the need for an \u201cemergency\u201d session for a couple of hours before actually calling themselves into session at around 4:30pm.<\/p>\n
This, and the effective no-vote to enter session and allow for public comment angered some in the crowd who had waited in the House gallery for hours to comment.<\/p>\n
A loud bang of the House chamber door turned lawmakers\u2019 head when audience stormed out of the chamber after House Speaker Ralph Demapan (R-Saipan) apologized there would be no public comment.<\/p>\n
House minority bloc members raised concern with, among others, a need to appeal the U.S. District Court for the NMI\u2019s ruling that found the gun ban unconstitutional, a need for provisions to make guns virtually inaccessible with taxes on gun imports or on stores seeking to open firearm businesses; more time to consult with other attorneys, their counsel, and other friends on concerns with the bill, and typographical errors regarding the formatting of the bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone in this chamber could possess a handgun\u201d or carry it into public spaces, like schools, Attorney General Edward Manibusan stressed yesterday. \u201cAnd there is nothing that my office or I, or law enforcement can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
On questions on appealing the case ruling, Manibusan cited the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a ban on handguns, saying the CNMI\u2019s \u201csuccess on merits is probably nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur success of appeal is almost\u2026nothing at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
House vice speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero, who eventually voted for an emergency session, asked the AG\u2019s office why they should go into emergency session and act \u201cimmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we face here is an emergency,\u201d chief solicitor James Zarones responded. Firearms, he said, now can be possessed anywhere in the CNMI under any condition and the police was \u201cpowerless to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil a new law is passed that will be true in the Commonwealth and that is true right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe clock is already running,\u201d he said for the Department of Public Safety as it could now or will be \u201cflooded with applications\u201d for gun permits.<\/p>\n
DPS can approve a permit within 15 days after background checks and can take up to 60 days but is not authorized by law to defer applications after this time, according to Zarones.<\/p>\n
Zarones emphasized the lifting of the ban was not just for handguns, but for rifles and shotguns.<\/p>\n
People, he said, can possess a rifle and a semiautomatic and can take it to a school \u201ctoday, if they feel that is necessary for self-defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court specifically stated any law in the Commonwealth interpreted\u201d against firearms \u201ccan no longer be enforced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Manibusan, explaining some of the background to the case, said the case was filed in 2014 and since the case\u2019s beginning his office started putting together draft legislation.<\/p>\n
Noting that he attended case hearings in recent months, Manibusan said, \u201cI felt at the time the court was going to rule in favor of the plaintiff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zarones said that Section 2206 of the CNMI\u2019S Weapon Controls Act has been struck down to extent that it can be intended to regulate the possession for firearms for self-defense.<\/p>\n
The court specifically stated that any law to the contrary cannot be enforced, he said.<\/p>\n
Still, a House counsel later argued that federal judge Manglona\u2019s ruling was \u201cambiguous\u201d as 2206 was not specifically cited, though, Zarones had told lawmakers that 2206 was at the heart of the lawsuit the plaintiff had won on Monday.<\/p>\n
Zarones said the NMI now has to replace laws to allow for possession of firearms for self-defense \u201cbut limits the location for self defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do believe they would survive any kind of challenge. Absolutely,\u201d Zarones said, when asked.<\/p>\n
Zarones, citing the Heller case, said traditional restriction on firearms were constitutional.<\/p>\n
The Second Amendment rights are \u201cnot unlimited,\u201d Manibusan also said, citing the Heller case.<\/p>\n
This ruling could be sued in the NMI\u2019s favor, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court clearly says it is not an unlimited right,\u201d Manibusan said. People, he added, have a right to regulate the \u201ctime, place, and manner\u201d of the use of firearms \u201cso long as it is reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Roman Benavente (Ind-Saipan) said he just glanced at the legislation Tuesday night, and said even then \u201ca lot of flaws\u201d and inconsistencies appeared. The lawmaker asked if there was a \u201clight at the end of the tunnel\u201d to appeal the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put our heart out. We put out every bit of argument to make,\u201d Manibusan said. The AG team argued on grounds of culture, the NMI Covenant, all facets of traditions of life, he added. <\/p>\n
Manibusan also said: \u201cThe Supreme Court, the highest court in the U.S., already spoke in Heller. I don\u2019t see any light at the end of the tunnel for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district court also found the NMI\u2019s argument had no merit.<\/p>\n
Any government official who enforced handgun prohibition \u201cwill be subject to personal liability and government will be open to contempt,\u201d Zarones also said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Joseph Leepan Guerrero (R-Saipan) urged his colleagues for action, saying that gun control legislation was introduced in the prior, 18th Legislature but \u201cnobody cared.\u201d \u201cAre we going to allow the next Dick and Harry to bring firearms to a store, theater, bowling alley, Shirley\u2019s? McDonald\u2019s?\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we fail to act on this bill\u2026are we going to see an unfortunate activity out there? We need to start somewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao (Ind-Saipan) broached the subject of raising taxes on import of guns or on business opening gun store, noting that liability insurance for firing ranges was some $1 million.<\/p>\n
Manibusan assured lawmakers this was not the only bill they had on the way to the Legislature. \u201cThis is a first of a series of bills\u2026We are working on that right now.\u201d <\/p>\n
They could charge $1,000 for possession of firearm but that \u201cwe could get sued right away\u201d as this could be argued to infringe on the right to possession, Manibusan said.<\/p>\n
Manibusan, at one point, pointed to outside the chamber entrance, saying that someone could walk out with .38 revolver on the street, or \u201cwalk in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can regulate that. That\u2019s why [passing the bill is] urgent,\u201d he added.\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather do something to improve the framework because this is a matter of life and death, most especially for our children,\u201d said Rep. Angel Demapan (R-Saipan). \u201cWe need to clear on how hand guns can move in community right now, right here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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