{"id":1257,"date":"2020-05-06T12:37:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T12:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/index.php\/2020\/05\/06\/re-open-the-legislature-to-the-public-open-letter-to-phil-berger-tim-moore\/"},"modified":"2020-05-06T12:37:38","modified_gmt":"2020-05-06T12:37:38","slug":"re-open-the-legislature-to-the-public-open-letter-to-phil-berger-tim-moore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/2020\/05\/re-open-the-legislature-to-the-public-open-letter-to-phil-berger-tim-moore\/","title":{"rendered":"Re-open the Legislature to the Public Open letter to Phil Berger & Tim Moore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Grass Roots North Carolina \/ Forum For Firearms Education
Post Office Box 10665, Raleigh, NC 27605
877.282.0939 (Phone) 919.573.0354 (Fax) www.GRNC.org<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/strong>
<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Release date:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 MAY 05<\/span>, 2020<\/strong>
Press release link: https:\/\/www.grnc.org\/defend-your-rights\/press-releases<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Re-open the Legislature to the P<\/span>ublic<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

May 5, 2020<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The Honorable Phil Berger, North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore<\/span><\/div>\n
16 West Jones Street, Room 2007<\/span><\/div>\n
Raleigh, NC 27601<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dear Senator Berger:<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Traditionally, North Carolinians have enjoyed a laudably open system of government in which any citizen can go to Raleigh and walk into the office of his or her state House or Senate representative for the \u201credress of grievances\u201d guaranteed by the First Amendment.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Bearing in mind the \u201cMoral Monday\u201d extremists who carried out repeated assaults on legislators, we didn\u2019t enjoy the security checkpoints, metal detectors and Capitol Police recently deployed throughout the General Assembly, but we at least understood why you would feel them necessary. Consequently, gun rights supporters have endured the resulting inconvenience without complaint.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
However, the actions of legislative leadership in barring the public from the General Assembly, when you convened the 2020 session on April 28, create a new and potentially dangerous precedent in which citizens are closed out of a legislative process which controls virtually every facet of their lives.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Yes, I understand the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, I understand that legislators are working when others have the somewhat dubious luxury of staying safely at home, and that access to the legislature by large numbers of people could present a health hazard to legislators and staff. Although other public services require similar exposure, Grass Roots North Carolina is not, at this time, formally objecting to your decision to bar the public from direct access to the legislative process.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Having spent twenty-six years as an advocate for legislation supporting the Second Amendment at the legislature, I am sure you will agree that livestreaming of floor sessions and even committee meetings, while long overdue, does not substitute for direct citizen access to the legislative process.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Accordingly, I urge you to re-open the legislature to the public, using appropriate mitigation measures, immediately upon implementation of Phase One of the governor\u2019s re-opening plan, potentially as early as May 8, 2020, both for the remainder of this session and for future sessions.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I look forward to our continued cooperation in defending the civil liberties of North Carolinians.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Armatissimi e liberissimi,<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\u00a0\"\" <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
F. Paul Valone<\/span><\/div>\n
President, Grass Roots North Carolina<\/span><\/div>\n
Executive Director, Rights Watch International<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
__________________________________________________________<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
May 5, 2020<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The Honorable Tim Moore, Speaker, North Carolina House of Representatives<\/span><\/div>\n
16 West Jones Street, Room 2304<\/span><\/div>\n
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dear Speaker Moore:<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Traditionally, North Carolinians have enjoyed a laudably open system of government in which any citizen can go to Raleigh and walk into the office of his or her state House or Senate representative for the \u201credress of grievances\u201d guaranteed by the First Amendment.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Bearing in mind the \u201cMoral Monday\u201d extremists who carried out repeated assaults on legislators, we didn\u2019t enjoy the security checkpoints, metal detectors and Capitol Police recently deployed throughout the General Assembly, but we at least understood why you would feel them necessary. Consequently, gun rights supporters have endured the resulting inconvenience without complaint.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
However, the actions of legislative leadership in barring the public from the General Assembly, when you convened the 2020 session on April 28, create a new and potentially dangerous precedent in which citizens are closed out of a legislative process which controls virtually every facet of their lives.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Yes, I understand the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, I understand that legislators are working when others have the somewhat dubious luxury of staying safely at home, and that access to the legislature by large numbers of people could present a health hazard to legislators and staff. Although other public services require similar exposure, Grass Roots North Carolina is not, at this time, formally objecting to your decision to bar the public from direct access to the legislative process.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Having spent twenty-six years as an advocate for legislation supporting the Second Amendment at the legislature, I am sure you will agree that livestreaming of floor sessions and even committee meetings, while long overdue, does not substitute for direct citizen access to the legislative process.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Accordingly, I urge you to re-open the legislature to the public, using appropriate mitigation measures, immediately upon implementation of Phase One of the governor\u2019s re-opening plan, potentially as early as May 8, 2020, both for the remainder of this session and for future sessions.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I look forward to our continued cooperation in defending the civil liberties of North Carolinians.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Armatissimi e liberissimi,<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
F. Paul Valone<\/span><\/div>\n
President, Grass Roots North Carolina<\/span><\/div>\n
Executive Director, Rights Watch International<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grass Roots North Carolina \/ Forum For Firearms Education Post Office Box 10665, Raleigh, NC 27605 877.282.0939 (Phone) 919.573.0354 (Fax) www.GRNC.org \u00a0 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grnc-press-releases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grnc.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}