At last week’s monthly meeting of the Morgan County Republican Party, the body passed a resolution calling on the state legislature “to Repeal SB116, Amend the Second Amendment Preservation Act, Censure Infringers, Pass Meaningful Law.”

By: Apryl Marie Fogel

Morgan County Republican Executive Committee member Christopher E. Greenstein sponsored the resolution, which passed unanimously by voice vote.

Greenstein described some of the flaws with the SB116, the Glock Switch bill, telling 1819 News, "The wording of SB116 is such that possession of ‘any’ combination of parts can make one a felon if they could be used to make a firearm fire more than one round with the pull of a trigger. To one not familiar with firearms (and perhaps our politicians are not), that might sound reasonable, but to one who is- that could with a tiny bit of know-how, according to the ATF at various points in history, include a bit of metal or even a shoelace. Do you have shoelaces? Are you really now a felon? Well… Again, intent does not factor into this. Nor does use in a crime. Mere possession alone. No new penalties accompanied this law. No new disincentive. Just new infringements that echo an already bad federal law. When you make a law, you are making a rule that you want it enforced with the threat of lethal force backing it up. That is what it boils down to, and we have seen examples of that in the ATF’s bloody history- over ergonomic features, not just “scary” automatics. Do we really want to give an inch to invite more potential for tragedies against otherwise law-abiding citizens when the readily available alternative of increasing the penalty for violent criminals has been sitting there all this time?"

According to Greenstein, the executive committee heard from Pamela Casey, a candidate for Attorney General, “that a mandatory 10 year sentence means about 15 months with good behavior.”

“That is in line with what I’ve read.,” the emailed statement continued. “To a violent criminal chasing notoriety, it almost seems to incentivize heinous crime if they know they get off with essentially a slap on the wrist no matter what. They know it. The politicians writing these laws know it.”

He added, “I saw those who took an oath to support and defend the Constitution rush through a poorly worded anti-gun bill that once again failed to actually go after violent criminals in any meaningful way, and only served to make felons of law-abiding citizens. We have a supermajority. Our motto is ‘We dare defend our rights.’ One would think it would not be that hard to get pro-2A legislation passed, but we fought for years to get it accomplished, with the last effort for SAPA resulting in a watered-down joke compared to what was introduced and compared to the versions passed by other conservative states.”

Greenstein is calling on other county Republican groups around the state to follow his lead and encourage them to pass their own versions of his resolution.

Apryl Marie Fogel is a Birmingham resident who frequently appears on and guest hosts radio programs around the state. She can be reached at aprylmarie.fogel@1819news.com or on X at @aprylmarie.