PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey does not support enacting the same new restrictions on guns to control school violence that fellow Republican and Florida Gov. Rick Scott just signed into law.
But some of the things he will propose when unveiling his plan Monday, March 19, are already being questioned — including a claim by the spokesman for the Citizens Defense League that “if the governor would bother to learn the laws he’s already sworn to uphold” he would know it’s not necessary to have a new statute to let judges seize firearms from those who are dangerous.
Ducey told Capitol Media Services several things in the new Florida law are off the table here, including:
- A three-day waiting period before someone can leave a gun dealer with a firearm;
- Raising the age to purchase any sort of firearm to 21;
- And banning “bump stocks,” which can effectively convert a legal semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun.
The common thread of what he will propose and what he will not, Ducey said, is separating who should and should not have guns.
“We are looking to keep all of the guns out of the hands of people who should not have them,” the governor said. “I’m not looking to take some of the guns out of law-abiding Americans’ hands.”
Ducey said it makes no sense for Arizona to enact laws like banning bump stocks.
“The thing that I want to do is everything we can at the state level,” he said. “The federal government’s going to have a role in this as well.”
That goes to whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will decide if it can — and should — declare bump stocks illegal because they create machine guns. While machine guns are not illegal, they can be possessed only by those who have undergone a far more extensive and lengthy background check than what is now required when a gun is sold by a federally licensed firearm dealer.
“If something’s legal in one state and illegal in another, it doesn’t do us much good in some of these settings,” the governor said. And that same logic applies to other things in the new Florida law, like the age restriction and the waiting period.
“We’re going to address what Arizona can address,” Ducey said.
One thing the governor said will be in his plan is additional funds for school counselors “so that students can get the help they need before a tragedy occurs.”
And Ducey wants more dollars for “school resource officers,” a program run through the state Department of Education that puts police officers who are specially trained onto campuses. The governor sees them as a first line of defense in active-shooter situations.
“Cops protect people,” he said. “So when we can have good guys that can protect people in dangerous situations, we’re going to do that.”
Sen. Lupe Contreras, D-Avondale, said there’s nothing wrong with the concept. But Contreras said he wants to be sure the final decision on whether to put a police officer in schools is left to districts and not mandated by the state.
Rep. Isela Blanc, D-Tempe, said students are asking for more school counselors and social workers who can work with youths in crisis. “The students do not want to see more guns on school campuses,” she said, even in the hands of police officers.
Rep. Reginald Bolding, D-Laveen, said schools in his district would prefer to simply get the dollars and decide how best to use them.
One need, he said, is infrastructure to make schools more secure, particularly when there’s someone with a gun already roaming the halls.
Ducey also wants to allow judges to remove guns from the homes of people who are considered to be a danger to themselves or others.
But Charles Heller, spokesman for the Citizens Defense League, said state law already allows prosecutors to commit anyone who falls into that category. He said once people have been locked up for mental health reasons they are permanently banned under federal law from ever owning a gun.
“They’re a prohibited possessor,” Heller said. “If the governor would learn the laws he is sworn to uphold, he would already know this.”
He acknowledged, though, the county attorney actually has to ask federal prosecutors for a warrant to have ATF actually seize the gun.
