A bill that hopes to again prohibit handguns in the CNMI is headed to the Senate after the House of Representatives passed it during Friday\u2019s session on Capital Hill.<\/p>\n
HB 20-34, introduced by Rep. Vinson F. Sablan (Ind-Saipan), is among the six legislative measures that would be reviewed by the Senate. If passed without amendments, it would go straight to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres for enactment.<\/p>\n
Friday was a busy day for the House, which passed HB 20-3 (e-citation implementation), 20-37 (to prohibit taking and selling certain sizes of fish species), 20-44 (marriage license fees), 20-45 (to establish two new public highways on Saipan), and 20-48 (to prohibit under-18 persons to serve alcoholic beverages). That\u2019s on top of four resolutions being adopted.<\/p>\n
HB 20-34 aims to repeal Section 3 of Public Law 19-42 and revive former 6 CMC 2222 (e), which states that no person is allowed to import, sell, transfer, give away, purchase, possess, or use handguns or automatic weapons.<\/p>\n
Sablan said HB 20-34 is a safety net bill since it has always been his position that handguns have no place in the CNMI. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a small island community and we can\u2019t compare ourselves with other jurisdictions. The safety of the public is our main concern here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said his bill ensures the safety of the community. He believes CNMI laws did not deprive any citizen of their right to own firearms. Rifles, shotguns, and caliber .22 or .223 are allowed.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Joseph Horey, who represented the Tanapag Middle School Parents-Teachers-Students Association, spoke in support of HB 20-34, saying that public safety is their main concern, that\u2019s why they are lobbying for the prohibition on handguns.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a school\u2019s perspective, we\u2019re concerned of school shootings. We think it was better before and parents are concerned so we\u2019ve decided to get involved in the case. Handguns can be easily carried,\u201d said Horey.<\/p>\n
He added that right now there\u2019s a pending appeal on the Radich case and, once the law passes, the CNMI would go back to banning handguns.<\/p>\n
Horey said he respects Radich\u2019s rights but people have different perspectives. \u201cIt is a balance that you have to do and to consider. \u2026Is it better for public safety for people may have access to [handguns] or not? Our position in the PTSA is overall safety of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added the bill\u2019s purpose revives the prohibition on the importation, sale, and possession of handguns, \u201cwhich we used to have here under CNMI.\u201d <\/p>\n
HB 20-34 states that a handgun prohibition has protected public safety and better accorded with the wishes of the people of the CNMI.
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bill that hopes to again prohibit handguns in the CNMI is headed to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,1860,65,67],"class_list":["post-251889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-hb","tag-house","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}