Northeast Assembly Thread

[Marokai Backbeat]

He or she shall ensure that the Legislative Assembly has the ability to propose legislation that they are able to be debated on, and voted on during appropriate periods.

Not to be crude, but what the hell does this mean?

I had the same thought so don't feel bad. It seems like it's basically some sort of supervisory position than one that actually exercises any powers.

[Marokai Backbeat]

He or she shall ensure that the Legislative Assembly has the ability to propose legislation that they are able to be debated on, and voted on during appropriate periods.

Not to be crude, but what the hell does this mean?

I had the same thought so don't feel bad. It seems like it's basically some sort of supervisory position than one that actually exercises any powers.

When did you move here? And I think I'm illegally the current Lt. Governor.

About a month ago or so.

[Marokai Backbeat]

We arbitrarily punish people more just because they use a gun in their crime? What exactly is the justification of that? Is that how things really work in relation to gun crime?

Homelycooking also has a great point regarding the judiciary. I don't think it's really our place to just randomly add a one-size-fits-all punishment on top of the usual punishment just because there was a fun involved.

Heaven knows I'm not a gun nut or anything but I'm really not comfortable with Section 2 at all. Someone please convince me. Otherwise I'm fine with this. (And considering, after checking the statute, that sort of thing is actual law, I'm tempted to introduce a repeal of that altogether.)

[Marokai Backbeat]

*whistles to myself*

Our supposedly very efficient worker for the NE hasn't posted in 2+ days and said this debate on this issue should've been over like five days ago. Shouldn't we be voting, or, you know, anything? I keep checking back here for something and it's been a little too quiet. "Not responsible for activity" indeed.


As for myself, I will personally vote against this amendment to the gun laws, as I don't believe that we should start arbitrarily setting up extra punishments essentially "just because" a certain weapon is involved in a crime. How about we add 2 extra years for knives? Or an extra six months if it's a "blunt instrument"? (Also, as Cinn points out, "instrument in a crime" is incredibly vague, since it doesn't technically mean just the murder weapon. It could literally just mean hitting someone with a gun, or maybe even just having a gun on you at the time.)

The punishment for the crime and the assessment of the severity of the crime is left up to the courts and I think we should leave it that way. Voting against this particular set of changes won't be what puts an end to that, but hopefully my repeal that I introduced days ago will. So.. whenever.. you know, we get moving again..

[Marokai Backbeat]

Oh! Sorry. Well, let's proceed to a vote, then.

Okay, I thought you were offering changes. We still wont have a vote until later tonight because I intend on making this passable. If anyone else wants to offer something constructive rather than cheap attacks, I'd welcome that. The status quo isn't the answer if you don't like the bill as it stands; I prefer accomplishing what needs to be done even if I don't like the sponsor of the law.

People have been making perfectly reasonable complaints about this law. You may not like having your proposals criticized, but not everything negative said about something you like is a "cheap attack."

I'm willing to vote for this proposal if the additional punishment for a gun being part of a crime is removed from law.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Nay

[Marokai Backbeat]

I think something like this is essential for all legislatures. The most important person in any legislative body in Atlasia is the person running that legislative body. We place in them our trust that the legislature will continue moving forward seamlessly, and with as much activity as possible. Responsibilities like this for the Speaker of the Northeast Assembly is a no brainer, to me, and I hope that it passes easily, as it should.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I disagree with the basis for this law. The Speaker is not meant to be Babysitter.

It's a title of work that has responsibilities, not a title of prestige that's meant to be flaunted. Being a Speaker, or any other legislative equivalent (such as PPT for the federal Senate) is, by any fair assessment, the caretaker of the legislature. I suppose we could amend the resolution to include a more lenient time frame, though, but I hardly think it's unfair to encourage members, which the Speaker presides over, to vote.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Was an honor being here for as long as I was, then.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Obviously we don't have time to vote on this, so the debate will have to carry over into the next session once a speaker Speaker homelycooking is elected.

^^^ This.

As Governor of the Region, I wish to strongly urge the Assembly to elect Homelycooking as Speaker of the Assembly. He is a hard and diligent worker and wants only the best for the Region. Now get to work you guys, we have a Region to fix

As a simple citizen I urge the same.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I thank you for the invitation to speak about this bill.

Though I realize I can no longer vote in this Assembly, I still believe this is something that should be passed and swiftly. This bill would repeal the Clause of the "Amendments to the Northeast Gun Safety Act" that pertains to additional penalties just for the criminal having a gun as an "instrument" in a crime.

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I don't believe it is this Assembly's place, or any legislature's place for that matter, to dictate additional penalties for crimes based on the smaller details of that crime. Should we add an extra punishment for the use of a blunt weapon? Or what about adding an extra year for the use of a knife in a crime? Making this special exception just for guns, I believe, is silly, and wrong.

Another problem is the fact that, aside from us stepping on the judiciary's toes here when we shouldn't be, the clause itself is incredibly vague. "Whenever a gun is used as an instrument in a crime" could mean literally anything. It could count simply threatening someone with a gun, or hitting someone with the side of a gun, etc. This essentially means that whenever there's a gun connected to any crime whatsoever, the person in question immediately gets five years slapped onto his sentence.

What if it was something as comparatively small as shoplifting? Instead of spending a few days or months in jail or paying a hefty fine, if you were carrying or threatened someone with a gun, you're suddenly in jail for years just because you carried a gun when you tried to steal a CD.

I believe that this clause should either be much more narrowly written, or stricken down entirely. Preferably, the latter. I am very supportive of sensible gun control and gun safety measures, but this is absolutely the wrong approach and could have a ton of unintended consequences.

[Marokai Backbeat]

The clause should be removed.  I for once agree with Marokai.

See? We can find common ground.

[Marokai Backbeat]

I offer my name for recommendation for the position of Lt. Governor.

Uh, and give up being Senator?

[Marokai Backbeat]

I offer my name for recommendation for the position of Lt. Governor.

Uh, and give up being Senator?

I don't think we have any rule forbidding it so it's a legitimate recommendation.

The Constitution does forbid dual office holding. There was a past court case against a member that tried to be Lt. Governor and Assemblyman at the same time, and he was forced to step down from one of those positions. I imagine the same conclusion would be reached with trying to be Lt. Governor and Senator at the same time.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Fair enough, fair enough. Just felt like pointing that out before you guys moved forward or anything.