Gun bills advance in the legislature

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week the Arizona Board of Regents presented our Tea-Publican legislature with a cost estimate for its "guns on campus" bill. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported Universities: Guns-on-campus measure would have multimillion-dollar impact – Arizona Capitol Times:

Universities are offering one more reason to oppose a measure to allow guns on campuses — it would cost millions of dollars to implement.

A study by the state’s three universities shows that the legislation would cost the system $13.3 million in one-time capital expenditures, plus $3.1 million annually in operations.

That's a lot of money just to satisfy the irrational fears of those with "scared of their own shadow" phobias, or those with a superman complex ("only one man can save the world, me"), or those with a gun fetish (get a room if the two of you want to be alone together).

The fiscal analysis does not put a cost on a scenario in which the universities take a hands-off approach to the legislation and just let these kinds of people carry concealed weapons on campus.

Instead, the study estimates the costs of buying gun lockers, building gun-locker bays, purchasing and posting signs and paying for extra security – all of which are permissible under the bill to ensure universities have some level of control over firearms on campuses.

Of course the bill’s unhinged sponsor, Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, who is running for Congress in CD 4, rejected the universities’ estimates — and wandered off on a tangent ranting about unisex bathrooms on campus. Yeah, he tends to wander off like that.

"Mr. Cut Guvmint Regulations" sings a different tune when it comes to guns. Gould is all for unfunded "guvmint" mandates to let the NRA get its way.

“At a time when we’ve cut the university budget by millions and millions of dollars (and) students have had to pay increased tuition over the past few years because of the cuts that the state has made, then we put another unfunded mandate on top of them?” said Tucson Democrat Sen. Linda Lopez. “This is from a Legislature that doesn’t like unfunded mandates from the feds?”

The bill, SB1474, would prohibit colleges and universities from adopting or enforcing any rule that restricts or outlaws the carrying of guns by those who have a concealed-weapon permit.

It allows higher-education officials to restrict guns from buildings inside the campus — so long as a sign is posted at each entrance declaring the prohibition and gun lockers are provided.

The proposal is stuck in the Senate. Gould admitted last week that he didn’t have the support to pass it yet.

This was not the case with another NRA bill to allow concealed carry in all public buildings. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported Senate approves guns in public buildings bill - Arizona Capitol Times:

Republican Sen. Steve Smith of Maricopa sponsored the bill and says if there’s no armed protection in those spaces, citizens shouldn’t have to give up their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

That measure was approved by an 18-12 vote in the Senate last Thursday.

Earlier this week the House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow most Arizonans to carry a gun right up to a school’s property line. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reported House OKs measure to allow guns in school zones - Arizona Capitol Times:

Federal law prohibits weapons within 1,000 feet of a school, but a proposal that won approval in the House of Representatives today would allow most Arizonans to carry a gun right up to a school’s property line.

The federal law carves out an exemption for those who have concealed weapons permits, but Arizona several years ago allowed residents without criminal records to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

* * *

[Birther] Rep. Carl Seel, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of the bill, acknowledged that federal prosecutions under the law are virtually nonexistent, but said Arizona nonetheless needs to protect residents who carry firearms without a concealed weapons permit.

“The fact that the federal government has that (law) is, on its face, repugnant to the Second Amendment,” Seel said. ["It's a conspiracy!"]

* * *

“I think the best defense of liberty is a well-armed and educated populace,” he said.

Well, he's well-armed anyway.

Yuma Republican Russ Jones offered an amendment that would have allowed people to carry firearms in their vehicles within 1,000 feet of a school, even if they didn’t have a concealed weapons permit.

The amendment was voted down.

Seel said his primary reason for opposing the amendment was because the Arizona Citizens Defense League, a group that advocates for fewer restrictions on firearms and is in favor of HB2719, weighed in against Jones’ amendment and told lawmakers that supporting it would harm their standing in the group’s annual ranking.

Let me get this right — our Tea-Publican legislators acted out of fear over a legislative scorecard ranking from this Arizona Citizens Defense League? Maybe they should carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves against threats from these bullies. Freakin' cowards!