Arizona Democrats Demand Citizens Either Register or Surrender 'Assault Weapons'
AZ Dem senators push new anti-Second Amendment legislation in the state
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Democrat senators in Arizona are pushing radical anti-Second Amendment laws that demand citizens must either register or surrender their "assault weapons."
The new legislation, SB 1625, also provides law-abiding gun-owners a third option of rendering their firearms inoperable.
Moreover, the text of the bill makes it clear that the legislation extends to the manufacture of “assault weapons,” and does not simply end with the ownership of said firearms.
The only exception for manufacturing is for companies who make guns for the police or military.
The statute to surrender said firearms also applies to “high capacity” magazines and certain semiautomatic pistols and shotguns.
The Democrat gun control push in Arizona follows similar high-profile attacks on gun ownership in Dem-controlled Virginia.
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Democrats in Virginia are pushing an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, the criminalization of private gun sales via universal background checks, a ban on suppressors, and myriad other gun controls.
The state also wants to introduce gun rationing legislation that mandates no more than one handgun can be purchased a month.
Like in Virginia, citizens in Arizona aren't taking the assault on their constitutional rights laying down, however.
According to local reports, two more rural Arizona counties have declared themselves to be “Second Amendment sanctuary counties,” taking stances in favor of gun rights.
The unanimous votes by the boards of supervisors of La Paz County on Monday and Yavapai County on Wednesday follow a similar declaration by Mohave County supervisors on Nov. 4.
The Yavapai County board approved its resolution after previously hearing hours of testimony in December and January.
About 120 people packed the meeting room and dozens more filled the lobby Wednesday as 25 people spoke in favor and three against, The Daily Courier reported.
Under the measures, the supervisors vowed to defend state and federal constitutional rights, including the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.
The measure also said the supervisors won't spend public money or use other government resources to enforce laws that unconstitutionally infringe on gun rights.
Many of those who addressed the Yavapai County board urged the supervisors to take a stand, arguing that laws in other states infringed on gun owners' rights.
“We see this type of total disregard for our Second Amendment rights under attack. This is about our rights, protecting our freedoms and liberty," Prescott resident Sherrie Hanna said.
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Prescott resident Ralph Hess, a retired Superior Court judge, questioned whether the resolution was needed and how county officials would decide what gun measure is unconstitutional.
“As you know, constitutionality of laws is determined by courts, not by boards of supervisors, not by county attorneys, not by county sheriffs and not by Second Amendment ‘sanctuary county’ advocates,” Hess said.
“Until a court determines a law to be unconstitutional, your oaths bind you to authorize or appropriate the use of county resources for the purpose of enforcing that law.”
Board Chairman Craig Brown agreed that the resolution was more about making a statement than it was about legal impacts.
“Practically, in a legal sense, not really, I don’t believe (the resolution would have an effect)," Brown said.
"According to our lawyer, the resolution is just that. It’s the board making a statement, and we will continue that statement."
An aide to U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican who represents much of western Arizona, told the La Paz County board in a letter read by a Gosar aide that adoption of Second Amendment sanctuaries is an example of the constitutional process at work.
Gosar also said violence is the result of societal breakdown and should not be blamed on legal gun owners, Today's News-Herald reported.
