Bill History - H. 3876

A chronological history of GrassRoots activities concerning H. 3876

H. 3876: A gun control bill making it a felony for a person under 21 years of age to possess any firearm, not just a handgun. H. 3876 expands the existing ban on gun ownership by violent felons to include all felons, even nonviolent felons. Hunting with a firearm by any person under age 21 years of age would be illegal, unless under the “immediate supervision” of an adult. H. 3876 allows a 5 years to 25 years additional prison sentence – an “enhancement” penalty – to be added to one’s sentence for being in possession of a firearm while committing a crime – even if the firearm is never used, seen, or made known to exist to anyone during the commission of the crime. H. 3876 removes the legal requirement that one must first be charged with the crime or found guilty of the crime by a jury before the “enhancement” penalty can be imposed.
Principles Involved: The right to keep and bear arms is a God given natural right of free people and a constitutionally guaranteed right. If an adult is legally mature enough to tell other people how to live their lives through the power of the vote, then that adult should be legally mature enough to possess a firearm. We should not permit the right to keep and bear arms to be “infringed” by denying the right to one minority after another until the right is practically non existent. Our constitutional right to due process requires that a person be charged and convicted of a crime before being sentenced for committing that crime. “All men are created equal” means no second class citizenship should be tolerated in the United States of America.
GrassRoots Position: GrassRoots strongly opposes this bill because it violates every principle mentioned above.
Current Status: In House Judiciary committee.
Primary Sponsor: Stavrinakis
Full Text: http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/3876.htm

Apr. 12, 2007 House Introduced and read first time.
Apr. 12, 2007 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary.
May 5, 2007 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Merrill
May 30, 2007 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Harrell
Jan. 1, 2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Harrison

November 15th, 2007:

GrassRoots leaders met with Rep. Leon Stavrinakis to discuss improvements to his bill H. 3876. GrassRoots explained to Rep. Stavrinakis that there were so many problems with his bill that a better idea would be to to kill it entirely and expend his energies on a clean pro-gun bill if his intent was to be a pro-gun legislator. Rep. Stavrinakis did not appear interested in championing a pro-gun agenda, but merely doing what ever it took to keep his bill alive - no matter how bad it would turn out to be for gun owners.