PHOENIX โ Saying theyโre exempt, state representatives voted Tuesday to allow themselves to carry their guns onto the House floor.
On a party-line vote, the Republican majority beat back a proposal by Democrats to enact a new rule to forbid any person from entering the House building while armed. The only exception would be for peace officers โacting in their official capacities.โ
Rep. Randall Friese, D-Tucson, pointed out that Arizona law makes it a crime to bring a weapon into a public building if there is a โno gunsโ sign at the door. And he pointed out there are such signs at the public entrances.
โYour constituents do not have the right to bring a deadly weapon into this building,โ Friese told his colleagues. โWhat weโre asking ourselves today is should we move ourselves above the law.โ
But Rep. Noel Campbell, R-Prescott, said this isnโt about legislators saying they can ignore the law.
โWe have a special exemption,โ he said, with the Legislature as a separate branch of government entitled to write its own rules.
And Campbell said heโs quite comfortable with the fact that some legislators may be armed.
โWeโre a safer building with people not knowing if weโre armed or not armed,โ he said.
The debate arose after Democrats discovered that House Speaker David Gowan had quietly decided to allow legislators to have their guns.
House GOP publicist Stephanie Grisham insisted that did not make lawmakers into law breakers.
She pointed out that Gowan had removed the โno gunsโ sign at the back door of the building, the one not available to the public. Therefore, Grisham said, no one was flouting the law.
But Rep. Lisa Otondo, D-Yuma, had a different take.
Otondo said she has nothing against weapons, boasting of her 20-gauge shotgun.
โAnd I like a nice Sunday morning with a cup of coffee out at the range,โ she said.
โI believe in our right to own weapons,โ Otondo continued. โBut thatโs not what this is about.โ
Otondo said she believes the statute banning firearms in public buildings means what it says, without exception for lawmakers. But she said thereโs also the issue of what guns do to the demeanor at the House.
โSome of our members feel threatened because others are carrying guns,โ she said.
Rep. John Allen, R-Scotts- dale, a native New Yorker, told colleagues he has neither owned a gun nor shot one. But Allen said he understands the desire of some legislators to be armed.
โWe are increasingly a target of people with bad intentions,โ he said. Allen said that justifies lawmakers arming themselves.
โThis place is wide open,โ he said. โThis can be a scary place.โ
