Encounter with Yuma Police
Officer, Outside Radio Studio

By Dean Weingarten. Apr 5, 2023

This correspondent normally appears on the Russ Clark Show, a local radio show with a national audience, once a week, in studio. One morning, after finishing the drive-time radio show, I walked out to my vehicle, ready to take on the rest of the day. As I approached the my vehicle, I saw a Yuma City Police vehicle approaching in the parking lot of the radio station.

I opened my vehicle door and reached inside, for a camera, as I thought pictures of such a police car might be useful for future articles. As I was half-in the vehicle, I notice the police car pull up in front of me, with the window rolled down. The officer said: Are you Mr. Weingarten? I said I was.

They said: I was listening to you on the radio. I could not call in because I am on duty. I would really like for you to bring up the Hughes Amendment on the radio show.

The Hughes Amendment was passed under dubious circumstances as part of the passage of the Firearms Owners Protection Act in 1986. Second Amendment supporters, particularly in the NRA, had been working for years to reform the more odious overreach of the 1968 Gun Control Act. The leadership in the Congress, controlled by Democrats, was opposed, even though a majority of the Congress was willing to vote in the reforms.

The NRA was able to invoke a seldom used rule, a discharge petition. If a majority of House members would sign a petition to bring the reform bill to a vote, the leadership could be overruled.

Police who know of the Hughes Amendment are deep into the gun culture. .....