Only one Arizona legislator had the courage to stand up against gun violence: Rep. Randy Friese, a Democrat from Tucson. Watch the 4-minute YouTube video or read the transcript below as he calls for his colleagues to act, just days after the Parkland, FL, mass murders.
Friese had introduced HB2023 to ban bump stocks, but he could not get it heard in the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee where it was assigned. He used procedural motion to bring the measure directly to the House floor for a vote. But Rep. John Allen, a Republican from Scottdale, used a second motion to stop it from being debated.
Every Republican member of the Arizona House voted against gun safety, refusing even to hear the bill against bump stocks.
The GOP legislators are intentionally out of touch with the electorate:
- 72% of registered voters support a ban on bump stocks.
- 88% of Americans support universal background checks.
- 81% think that a person should be at least 21 to buy a gun.
- 70% endorse a ban on high-capacity magazines.
- 68% support a ban on assault weapons.
Rep. Friese’s speech on the Arizona House floor is truly a profile in courage.
We are facing an epidemic of gun violence. And this violence is everywhere, unfortunately, it’s in our schools. It’s touching the lives of children. We must act. The country is waiting for us to act. The time is now. We have an obligation to take action, we have a mandate to take action, we have the authority to take action. If we don’t recognize our authority to take action, we are failing. We are failing our country, we are failing our children, we are failing our students.
There are students in Florida today, since the last mass killings in schools, that have shown more leadership and courage than legislators across the country, than people who represent us in DC. I congratulate those young people. I ask us to be responsible to them and what they are asking us to do.
