A futile exercise?

On February 25, House Joint Resolution 17 was passed unanimously by the state House of Representatives. It urges the U.S. Congress to reject H.R. 45, a bill that would require anyone who has a gun with a clip to have a federal license to possess it. Representative Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, introduced the bill. Of course, federal gun licenses and the accompanying measures—making it a felony to transfer a gun to anyone who doesn’t have a license, for example—are anathema to gun-loving Alaskans.

HJR 17 stipulates that copies of the resolution be sent to Alaska’s congressional delegation, as well as Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid, Republican Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader John Boehner. The thing is, Alaska’s congressional delegation—Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Senator Mark Begich and Republican Representative Don Young—have all come out strongly against H.R. 45. So does it really do any good for our state government to send a letter to federal lawmakers from other states urging them to reject the bill?

“We can send the letter, but I think that stamp and a cup of coffee will be what it’s worth,” state Representative Jay Ramras (R-Fairbanks), a co-sponsor of HJR 17, tells Flashlight. “I think that resolutions that are sent to the governor can have some impact, but I think resolutions that are sent to Nancy Pelosi are probably less effective.”

“No one outside of your state pays attention,” says a senior congressional staffer from another state that Flashlight contacted (who agreed to tell the truth contingent on his identity being protected; it’s not the most politically correct thing to say.) “Staff may be aware, but that certainly doesn’t rise to the Member level unless it is your legislature. The only way another state’s resolution becomes an issue is if the national media pursues it with tenacity.”

Michelle Blackston, the Director of Media and Public Affairs for the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks states’ pending legislation, tells Flashlight that her organization couldn’t find any other states that have resolutions weighing in on H.R. 45.

There is some value to passing the resolution, though, Ramras says. “I think it’s okay to take everybody’s temperature and see which way the room is, especially when they’re unanimous, and you really learn where bedrock is for everyone. As that resolution went out, unanimous, that’s okay; it’s a valuable thing for us to learn. The exercise in our body is probably more valuable than the good it will do being mailed to congress. It does provide an important data point for the people of Alaska, where their elected officials are, and for legislators to kind of gauge where the room is, so there’s a worth to the exercise. But I think it kind of stops in Juneau. I don’t know that there’s worth in mailing the resolution to D.C., except that’s what the resolution calls for.”

bjk@anchoragepress.com