By Kelly Kazek
Members of the Limestone County chapter of the Alabama Tea Party will join other groups from across the state to rally Tuesday in Montgomery.
The 2010 Legislative session opens today and group members want to get attention of legislators in hopes of passing three bills, said the local groups’ organizer Deborah King.
“At some of the rallies, we’ve been frustrated — waving signs and singing petitions,” she said. “We’re calling this our working rally.”
King said members from patriot groups throughout the state will gather on the Alabama Statehouse steps and lawn from noon to 1 p.m. for what they are calling a Welcome Back Rally. Members of the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives went back into session Jan. 12.
“We’ve sent out invitations to legislators to come to a special meeting at 11 a.m. to discuss legislation,” she said.
The groups are supporting these bills and resolutions:
• A state sovereignty resolution introduced in the House by Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville, and in the Senate by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale.
“The state sovereignty resolution is Alabama’s way of telling Washington that we are now looking to our Constitutional 10th amendment right. The 10th amendment reads, ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,’” King said. “We are not promoting secession; we love our country. However, the folks in Washington just aren’t getting it. We must act through our state to make them understand that the people of Alabama have had enough. This is our way of putting them on notice of that fact.”
• Heath care amendments introduced by Rep. Robert Bentley, R-Tuscaloosa, Gipson and Beason.
“These amendments, should they be enacted, will help protect our individual rights,” King said. “This legislation will help insure our right to choose what kind of health care coverage we want to obtain, or none at all. We do not feel that choice should be made by anyone except the individual. If passed, it will go before a vote of the good people of Alabama, as it should.”
• A firearms and ammunition bill introduced by Gipson and Beason.
“This bill will allow certain firearms and ammunition made inside of Alabama to be exempt from the commerce law,” King said. “Our second amendment rights are under attack due to the CIFTA Treaty and H.R. 45. Either of these will make it illegal to make your own ammunition. If this is put into place, Alabama citizens can be protected from that legislation that is a clear violation of our second amendment rights.”
For more information, visit www.welcomebackrally.ning.com.
