HB-95 Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act and how the gun-grabbers used it. 

(Don’t miss the police union/gun grabbers wish-list below)

Update:See who’s on the WASCOP supporter list click here

During the 2010 legislative session, Byron Oedekoven Director of the “Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chief of Police” (WASCOP) lobbied heavily against our pro-gun legislation. This article is a look at how good legislation is used by the gun grabbers for their own gain.

In more than one instance Byron Oedekoven pushed for the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act to be legislation about gun control by suggesting amendments that are unnecessary because of existing law. HB-95 was introduced to challenge “certain” federal regulations, so Wyoming can put the responsibility right here where it belongs within our own borders and government.

An example of Oedekoven’s push, the language “convicted felons and mental patients” certainly isn’t needed on legislation that by design was to challenge the federal government. IT’S ALREADY AGAINST THE LAW for these individuals to purchase firearms, this situation was used by Byron Oedekoven to work-in his agenda and poison pro-gun legislation. The fact is that other states passed Firearms Freedom Acts and didn’t feel they needed to jump the gun with state restrictions, but Oedokoven couldn’t miss the opportunity.

Specifically the language mentioned above was un-opposed by WyGO, but it certainly exposes the agenda of the Police Union. On a national basis amendments like these are examples of how the Anti-Gun Police Unions operate, they even receive training from organizations like the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) on how to hi-jack a bill.

When HB-95 made it over to the Senate Committee we were faced with more rhetoric coming from the Police Union, Oedekoven said in open committee that “he was concerned with the language because someone could put a gun range right next to a park“. WyGO’s position was -“that is ridiculous, there is nothing in this bill about that“. These are just some of the tactics deployed by the gun-grabbers in an attempt to use our pro-gun legislation as a spring board for gun control.

Of course Byron Oedekoven also opposed penalties to state and local law enforcement officers that enforce federal law, HB-95 was stripped of the original language in a Senate committee headed by Sen. Bruce Burns (R-Sheridan). To view the enacted version of the bill click here

Why the Police Union? –
The Brady Campaign and other gun grabbing organizations like the Joyce Foundation can’t just march in the front door at the Wyoming Capitol and demand more gun control. That may work in Chicago but in Wyoming they must be a little more elusive, they work with police unions because it isn’t so obvious.

Incase you don’t know who the Joyce Foundation is…[Obama once sat on the board of the] Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions. The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.” … To read the entire article on Politico click here

With organizations like WASCOP and IACP all you have to do is follow the money trail…
References:
WASCOP – Police Union click here
IACP – Police Union click here

The connections–
Byron Oedekoven a former Sheriff of Campbell county is the Executive Director of WASCOP and a lifetime member of (IACP) International Association of Chiefs of Police. Source: The Police Chief Magazine click here

Byron Odekoven say he supports the Second Amendment, but actions are stronger than words and as a Lifetime Member of ICAP…Well you get the picture. “You can certainly tell a lot about someone by their associations”.

To see the “Executive Members” of  the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs (WASCOP) click here

The police union/gun-grabbers wish-list–
(IACP) International Association of Chiefs of Police is on record in partnership with Brady, The Joyce Foundation and other gun-grabbing organizations as a unified force against your gun rights. IACP was founded in Chicago in 1893 and since then has fought against the gun rights of the citizens on a global basis. Through association with WASCOP members this venomous agenda has worked its way into Wyoming.

Here is a list of some of the Police Union demands:

• Stop all private sales (including gun shows)
• Mandatory firearm transfer registration
• Background check on all transfers
• Reinstate the Clinton Gun Ban
• Limit firearm sales (one gun a month legislation)
• Register all guns
• Comprehensive firearms tracing (just another registration scheme)
• Mandate firearm lockup and trigger locks
• .50 caliber gun and ammo ban
• Full government control over ammunition
• Ballistic registration of every gun in the U.S.
• Destroy all guns that come into police possession
• Mandate voluntary gun surrender programs.
• Penalize citizens unless they report a gun missing within 24 hours (more gun registration)
• Use of intelligence including GPS to track gun owners
• Mandate more funding to ATF
• Use suicide statistics to implement more gun control
• Mandate state level firearms bureau (the ATF isn’t enough)

Source: IACP Summit Taking a Stand in Great Lakes Michigan (with support from the Joyce Foundation)

Funding for (WASCOP) Wyoming Association of Sheriffs–
Besides funding from other Police Associations and various groups, organizations like WASCOP get funding from State and Federal grants. We speculate they have an operating budget in the excess of $500,000 yearly, which may be used to fight against the rights of law abiding citizens here in Wyoming.

Other tax payers monies are spent furthering the efforts of these anti-gun lobby groups —for example Sheriff Danny Glick (R-Laramie) As the 2nd Vice President of WASCOP attended many Sheriff Association conferences used taxpayers money.
As reported in The Wyoming Tribune Eagle Flights, have cost taxpayers upwards of about $2,500 to attend. Parking at Denver International Airport $228 in the 2008-09 fiscal year and he spent more than $1,200 for flights. In all, Glick spent more than $6,100 on hotel rooms that year and more than $8,400 on travel expenses total. In the 2008-09 fiscal year…he also spent $325.43 on meals, according to receipts from the county finance department.
No surprise, Sheriff Danny Glick (R-Laramie) DOES NOT support our Constitutional Carry Legislation. Of course he regularly says he supports the Second Amendment. Hmm…

 

Keywords: Police Unions, Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chief of Police, Gun Grabbers, Brady, The Joyce Foundation, Byron Oedekoven, Wyoming Sheriffs, Wyoming Chief of Police, Sheriff Danny Glick, Police Chief Rich Adriaens