Gov. Doug Ducey promised Monday to make another attempt to let police and courts take guns away from potentially dangerous people if voters return him to office in November.
In formally launching his re-election bid, the governor touted what he said is the turnaround of the stateโs financial fortune, including a balanced budget, new jobs in the private sector and more money for education. Ducey said he also recognizes more needs to be done, particularly in that last category.
โSo this campaign is going to be about whatโs next,โ he told Capitol Media Services.
Ducey acknowledged that his 2014 campaign promise to push state income taxes to โas close to zero as possibleโ has not been accomplished.
Tax rates remain the same. Instead, there have been a series of discrete changes in tax law, like indexing tax brackets for inflation.
The governor said, though, that voters need patience.
โTo lower our income tax and for major tax reform, weโre going to need a term or two,โ Ducey said.
โWeโre going to need a growing economy,โ he continued. โAnd we have a plan.โ
But it is the issue of school safety โ and particularly the question of letting judges take away guns โ that could end up being the key dividing issue in the Republican primary between Ducey and former Secretary of State Ken Bennett.
Bennett has staked out the position that it is possible to deal with school violence without the severe threat orders of protection that Ducey wants but was unable to get lawmakers to approve earlier this year.
The orders would allow both police and individuals like family members, roommates and school officials to seek a court order to have someoneโs guns seized, at least temporarily, if a judge determines the person is a potential threat to self or others.
Lawmakers did approve some proposals aimed at school safety, like more money for mental-health counselors.
But Ducey told Capitol Media Services he remains convinced that STOP orders are necessary.
โWhen I look what happened in Florida, Kentucky, Texas and other instances, I want our law enforcement leaders and our mental-health professionals to have a tool where they can be proactive in a dangerous situation,โ he said. And that, he said, means some version of a STOP order.
โYou donโt sit on the sidelines and say, โThereโs nothing we can do,โโ Ducey said. The governor said what happened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, proves his point.
โNikolas Cruz gave every indication, with 39 visits from law enforcement and social services, being identified by name to the FBI, and posting on YouTube that he wanted to be known as a school shooter, I think good policy is that you can stop someone like that,โ the governor said.
That, however, is not Bennettโs idea of a school safety plan.
โInstead of removing guns from law-abiding Americans, it will focus on getting guns where they can help protect our children,โ he told Capitol Media Services. โThe best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have one or more good guys with a gun.โ
What that means, Bennett said, is a plan similar to Ohioโs to train โwilling, competent and capableโ school staffers in armed response, including carrying firearms in schools for those who want to do so. He said there should be tax credits available for those willing to carry guns.
The plan also would train staffers in crisis management and emergency medical aid, he said.
As far as dealing with people who may pose a threat, Bennett said there are existing laws that allow a judge to have someone locked up for evaluation if they pose a danger to self or others, meaning they will not have access to firearms.
He brushed aside claims by some mental-health professionals that such a procedure does not work in cases where the threat is only potential.
Duceyโs announcement to run for re-election is hardly a surprise. His campaign committee actually has been in operation โ and gathering donations โ since September 2016 and he already has collected more than $3 million.
Bennett, however, is choosing to run with public dollars. If he gets the required 4,000 $5 donations, he will get $839,704 for the GOP primary.
All that presumes, however, that he gets on the ballot. Ducey supporters have filed suit challenging many of the signatures on his nominating petitions.
A court hearing on that challenge is set for Thursday.
