Crime Chronics

The Second Link is the bill link that will take you to the Official State Website to read the bill.

Keep in mind that The Bill Link may not be the Final Version of the Bill, it may be an introduced version, or an amended version of the original bill.

Arkansas – Senate Bill 309 – Addresses issues related to the licensing of youthful drivers, to amend the law regarding restricted driver’s licenses, learner’s licenses, and intermediate licenses. A driver with a learner’s license shall not use a cellular telephone device or other interactive wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle.

Arkansas – Senate Bill 28 – Prohibits a driver under eighteen years of age from operating a motor vehicle while using a cellular telephone device.

Arkansas – House Bill 1013 – Establishes Paul’s Law, prohibits the drivers of motor vehicles from using hand held cellular telephones to engage in text messaging.

Colorado – House Bill 1094 – Effective 12/1/2009 – Wireless telephone use while driving – under 18 complete prohibition – over 18 prohibit texting – exceptions. Prohibits persons who are under 18 years of age from using a wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle. Prohibits persons who are 18 years of age and older from using a wireless telephone to send text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Makes exceptions for contacting a public safety entity or during an emergency. Makes violations a class A traffic infraction. Identifies wireless telephone use in a motor vehicle as a matter of statewide concern.

Connecticut – House Bill 6410 – Mobile Telephones in the Military – Concerns the use of hand-held mobile telephones by members of the armed forces while operating a motor vehicle, allows a member of the armed forces to use a hand-held mobile telephone or mobile electronic device while operating a motor vehicle in performance of official duties or while operating a military vehicle.

Illinois – House Bill 71 – A person may not operate a motor vehicle on a roadway while using an electronic communication device to compose, send, or read an electronic message. There are exceptions and a Hands-Free Device may be used.

Illinois – Illinois House Bill 72 – Prohibits the use a wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle on a roadway in a school speed zone or on a highway in a construction or maintenance speed zone.

Maryland – House Bill 72 – Prohibiting a person from using a text messaging device to write or send a text message while operating a motor vehicle in motion or in the travel portion of the roadway; specifying exceptions for use of a global positioning system, or text messaging to contact a 9-1-1 system; etc.

Maryland – Senate Bill 98 – Prohibits a person from using a text messaging device to write or send a text message while operating a motor vehicle, provides an exception the use of a global positioning system and for the use of a text messaging device to contact a 9-1-1 system.

Maine – Senate Bill 15 – Makes failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle a traffic infraction, defines operation of a motor vehicle while distracted.

New Hampshire – House Bill 34

Prohibits writing a text message and using 2 hands to type on or operate an electronic or telecommunications device while driving except under circumstances specified in the bill.

North Carolina – Senate Bill 96 – Texting while Driving – effective December 1, 2009 – Makes it unlawful to use a mobile telephone for e-mail or text messaging while operating a vehicle on a public street, highway or public vehicular area, provides exceptions for law enforcement, ambulance drivers and members of a fire department.

Oregon – House Bill 2377 – Ready to be signed into law by the Governor (July 2009), Once signed – Prohibits person of any age from operating motor vehicle while using mobile communication device except under certain circumstances. Does allow for Hands-Free operation.

Rhode Island – Senate Bill 204 – Makes text messaging while driving a motor vehicle offense, provides fines and penalties.

Tennessee – Senate Bill 393 – Relates to motor vehicles, prohibits sending or reading text messages while operating a motor vehicle.

Texas – House Bill 55 – Provides that an operator may not use a wireless communication device while operating a motor vehicle within a school crossing zone unless the wireless communication device is used with a hands-free device.

Texas – House Bill 2730 – Drivers under the age of 18 and Wireless Communication Devices

Texas – House Bill 390

A driver education course for a student who is under 18 years of age must require the student to complete 34 hours of behind-the-wheel instruction, including at least 10 hours of instruction that takes place at night. A person under 18 years of age may not operate a motor vehicle during the 12-month period following issuance of an original Class A, B, or C driver’s license to the person: after 10 p.m. and before 5 a.m. unless the operation of the vehicle is necessary for the operator to attend or participate in employment or a school-related activity or because of a medical emergency.

Utah – House Bill 290 – Prohibits a person from using a wireless communication device for text messaging or electronic mail communication while operating a motor vehicle, provides exceptions to the wireless communication device prohibition, provides that it is an infraction for violating the wireless communication device prohibition, provides that a violation of this section is not a reportable violation and points may not be assessed against a person for the violation.

Virginia – Senate Bill 136 – (2008) Wireless Telecommunications Devices – Prohibits the use of wireless telecommunications devices by persons operating school buses, handheld or otherwise, except in emergencies, when the vehicle is lawfully parked or for purposes of dispatching.

Virginia – House Bill 1876 – Text Messaging and Emailing While Driving – Prohibits operation of a motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth while using any handheld personal communications device to manually enter multiple letters or text or to read a text message, provides exemptions for using global positioning systems (GPS), reading caller identification information, and using a wireless telecommunications device to report an emergency, exempts operators of emergency vehicles.

Washington – Senate Bill 6345 – Wireless Communication While Driving.
Addresses the use of wireless communications devices while driving. Makes text messaging and cell phone use without a hands free device a primary offense.

Wisconsin – Assembly Bill 496 – Text Messaging While Driving

Relates to prohibiting electronic text messaging while driving and providing a penalty. See our Wisconsin driving laws page.

Washington
via drivinglaws.org/

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Throughout American History, high-profile gun violence has focused the national spotlight on gun control. The tragedy at Columbine High School and other mass shootings—like the one in Santee, Calif. last March—are always followed by a public debate of gun safety and gun owners’ rights in America. But despite these debates there has been little response from Congress in the form of new federal gun control legislation. The last significant federal gun law was 1994′s Assault Weapons Ban, passed five years before Columbine.

A bill last year that would have subjected handguns to the same restrictions as machine guns died before the Congress adjourned. And the only debate on the horizon for the 107th Congress this year will be about closing the so-called “gun-show loophole.”

New legislation introduced in the Senate looks to close a “loophole” in federal gun laws that allows unlicensed gun sellers at flea markets and swap meets to sell guns without requiring them to do the same background checks that are required of licensed sellers.

It is unlikely that any federal restrictions on guns or gun dealers will find support from President George W. Bush. The Bush administration is a firm defender of gun rights, which means that if there are any noteworthy gun laws passed in 2001 it will likely be done at the state level.

Should Congress make a move this year, this table should help to add some context to its actions. The following is a timeline of important federal legislation and national organizations tied to the Second Amendment and the issue of gun control.

1791 Second Amendment Ratified
It states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” See U.S. Constitution.
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1871 National Rifle Association Founded
Union soldiers Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate found the NRA to “promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis.” Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who was also the former governor of Rhode Island and a U.S. Senator, serves as the organization’s first president.

1934 National Firearms Act
Brought about by the lawlessness and rise of gangster culture during prohibition, President Franklin D. Roosevelt hoped this act would eliminate automatic-fire weapons like machine guns from America’s streets. Other firearms such as short-barreled shotguns and rifles, parts of guns like silencers, as well as other “gadget-type” firearms hidden in canes and such were also targeted. All gun sales and gun manufacturers were slapped with a $200 tax (no small amount for Americans mired in the Great Depression; that would be like a tax of $2,525 today) on each firearm, and all buyers were required to fill out paperwork subject to Treasury Dept. approval.

1938 Federal Firearms Act
Congress aimed this law at those involved in selling and shipping firearms through interstate or foreign commerce channels. Anyone involved in the selling of firearms was required to obtain a Federal Firearms License from the Secretary of Commerce ($1 annual fee). They were also required to record the names and addresses of everyone they sold guns to and were prohibited from selling to those people who were convicted of certain crimes or lacked a permit.

1968 Gun Control Act
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, who was killed by a mail-order gun that belonged to Lee Harvey Oswald, inspired this major revision to federal gun laws. The subsequent assasinations of Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy fueled its quick passage. License requirements were expanded to include more dealers, and more detailed record keeping was expected of them; handgun sales over state lines were restricted; the list of persons dealers could not sell to grew to include those convicted of felonies (with some exceptions), those found mentally incompetent, drug users and more. The act also defined persons who were banned from possessing firearms.

The key element of this bill outlawed mail order sales of rifles and shotguns; Up until this law, mail order consumers only had to sign a statement that they were over 21 years of age for a handgun (18 for rifle or shotgun); it also detailed more persons who were banned from possessing certain guns, including drug users, and further restricted shotgun and rifles sales.

1972 Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms created
Enforcement of the Gun Control Act was given to the Dept. of the Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The organization replaced “tax” with “firearms,” nearly doubled in size, and became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).

1986 Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act
Made it illegal for anyone to manufacture or import armor piercing ammunition, or “cop-killer bullets,” which are capable of penetrating bulletproof clothing.
Firearms Owners’ Protection Act
Eased restrictions on gun sellers and the sale of some guns. Imposed additional penalties for persons using a firearm during certain crimes and persons with robbery or burglary convictions who are illegally shipping guns.

1990 Crime Control Act
Directed the attorney general to develop a strategy for establishing “drug-free school zones,” including criminal penalties for possessing or discharging a firearm in a school zone. Outlawed the assembly of illegal semiautomatic rifles or shotguns from legally imported parts.

1994 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
Imposed, on an interim basis, a five-day waiting period and background check before a licensed gun importer, manufacturer or dealer can sell or deliver a handgun to an unlicensed individual.

Required a new National Instant Criminal Background Check System, run by the FBI, be ready to replace the waiting period by Nov. 30, 1998. The new background check system will apply to all firearms and will allow checks to be done over the phone or electronically with results returned immediately in most cases.
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act
Commonly referred to as the “Assault Weapons Ban,” this bill banned the manufacture, possession, and importation of new semiautomatic assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices (or magazines) for civilian use.

Criteria for semiautomatic assault weapons that fall under the ban are provided as well as a list of 19 specific firearms.

Prohibits juveniles from possessing or selling handguns and directs the attorney general to evaluate proposed and existing state juvenile gun laws.

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