The Arizona Legislature has a long history of disregarding the state’s responsibility to ensure responsible gun ownership and to promote gun safety. In fact, during my four years in the State House the trend has been in the opposite direction. We have seen bills advance through the process that allow concealed guns and open carry in all public places (including public universities), prohibit firearm tracking with electronic devices, and prohibit cities, towns and counties from destroying a firearm.
Gun violence is a public health crisis. But bills to ensure responsible gun ownership have been ignored, and an increasingly concerned public has not been allowed to participate in the policy-making process because, in Arizona, these bills never get a hearing.
After the most recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida, and the ensuing March for Our Lives movement organized by students and young people across the nation, hope arose for change in Arizona. Florida set an example by enacting meaningful legislation — raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21, requiring a three-day waiting period and banning bump stock accessories. Additionally, in Arizona after the Parkland shooting, a few bad gun bills stopped moving through the lawmaking process. Particularly, a bill that would have prohibited the Department of Child Safety from regulating safe gun storage in homes with foster children appears to be derailed.
Until recently, I remained hopeful that Arizona would enact meaningful gun safety legislation. I was hopeful because, shortly after the Florida shooting, Gov. Doug Ducey indicated he intended to propose policies geared toward making Arizona schools and communities safer from gun violence. That hope was short-lived. It only lasted until his proposal went public.
Ducey’s proposal includes a well-intended but overly cumbersome attempt to remove guns from the hands of dangerous people called a Severe Threat Order of Protection (STOP). But don’t let the copious length of his plan fool you; it includes no meaningful change. Specifically, it does not close the gun show loophole and mandate background checks for firearm purchases.
Gov. Ducey proposes that his STOP orders remove firearms from dangerous individuals. But he refuses to recognize that those same dangerous individuals can immediately re-arm at a gun show without a background check. Ducey’s plan fails to protect the public.
I should note that most of my disappointment stems from Gov. Ducey seeking approval from the gun lobby for his plan rather than creating a plan that addresses the concerns of most Arizonans and the pleas of Arizona’s students who are asking for meaningful change. To be frank, any gun safety plan approved by the gun lobby is no gun safety plan.
A recent poll shows that 97 percent of Americans support comprehensive background checks for firearm purchases. That is as universal as support can get in our country. I don’t know what Gov. Ducey is afraid of. He is choosing politics over people and choosing the gun lobby over every-day Arizonans. Background checks save lives. States with comprehensive background checks have fewer police officer shooting deaths and domestic violence victim shooting deaths.
Arizona deserves leaders with the courage and political will to address gun safety — leaders who listen to the concerns of their constituents instead of kowtowing to the whims of the gun lobby. Lives are at stake. Our students’ lives. Our children’s lives.
If gun safety and responsible gun ownership are important to you and your family, become a single-issue voter. Before you vote in November, know where your candidate stands on gun safety legislation. Support candidates who will protect you and your family from senseless gun violence.
