Found: One Troll

Just got this alert from AZCDL. It looks like things are going our way this season.

On Friday, March 5th at 10 AM, the Senate Appropriations Committee will debate and vote on SB 1108.  The sponsor of SB 1108, Committee Chairman Senator Russell Pearce, has proposed a “strike everything” amendment that replaces SB 1108, in its entirety, with the intended language from SB 1102 (Constitutional Carry).

SB 1102, which was headed for a Senate floor vote, was derailed last week after the attachment of the Cheuvront amendment during the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW), creating a Class 4 Felony for private sellers of firearms who fail to verify a buyer’s citizenship when the sale is conducted at a gun show: http://www.azcdl.org/html/news.html#CheuvrontAmendment .

Now that we have a second bite at the apple, it’s critical we remind the Senate Appropriations Committee members to support the amended SB 1108.  A letter has been prepared and is waiting for you at our Action Center:
http://capwiz.com/azcdl/issues/alert/?alertid=14750316 .

We have more good news.  Representative Frank Antenori (http://azcdl.capwiz.com/bio/id/51325), who sponsored the House version of Constitutional Carry (HB 2347), has been appointed to replace Senator Jonathon Paton who vacated his seat to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.  Senator Antenori is expected to be present when SB 1108 moves to the Senate floor for debate and vote.

Meanwhile, Senator Antenori’s House version of Constitutional Carry, HB 2347, passed out of the MAPS Committee on February 3, 2010 and is awaiting a review by the House Rules Committee before heading to a floor debate in the House COW.

In other news, we are expecting SB 1168, the Senate version of the firearms preemption bill, to be scheduled for a Senate COW debate, hopefully this week.  When the calendar is posted, we will let you know via an Alert.

Stay tuned!  When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts.

If you want to get legislative news as it happens, follow AzCDL on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AzCDL_Alerts .
AzCDL “tweets” from the Capitol with committee votes and breaking news as it happens.

You can also follow AzCDL on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDL .

AzCDL’s Political Action Committee (PAC) is also on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDLPAC .

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization.  Renew your membership today!  http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .

AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html .

Copyright © 2010 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

Occasionally this blog is about guns. This is one of those occasions. This quote is from the transcript of this morning’s Supreme Court hearings on the McDonald v. Chicago case, AKA the Chicago Gun Case. James A. Feldman, Esq. represented the City of Chicago.

JUSTICE KENNEDY: Without repeating that and just so I understand your position, how could some member of the Court write the — this opinion to say that this right is not fundamental, but that Heller was correct?

MR. FELDMAN: I — the Court would just say that what Heller held was if you look at the meanings that the words in the Second Amendment had, the common meaning — as the Court said in the Heller opinion -the common meanings that the word had in 1791, it imposed limitation on the State. It took a preexisting right that had not been — was not codified in the Constitution, and it said, this self-defense right we need in the Constitution in order — in order to protect the militia against being disarmed by the Federal Government.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: That sounds an awful lot to me like the argument we heard in Heller on the losing side.

RTWT.

. . . [N]o-one of any sense has ever bet against the scorn and resourcefulness of young men.

Jerry “Tycho” Holkins, A Cyclical Argument With A Literal Strawman

Holkins was writing about Ubisoft’s ridiculous new digital rights management scheme, but this principle is just as valid when applied to prohibition of any kind.

This happened at work this week:

Co-worker: Hey, Eseell, I hear you like guns.

Me: Definitely!

Co-worker: Do you have your CCL?

Me: Yep.

Co-worker: Oh. Some of us are getting a CCL class together. We have an instructor who’s willing to run it at Ben Avery for us.

Me: Well, I’ve got mine but [other co-workers] have expressed an interest in getting their CCW permits. You should go hit them up.

Co-worker: Thanks!

Via E-mail, I just learned that Owen “Buz” Mills, owner of the Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona, will be running for governor this year and has invested more than $2 million dollars of his own money in his campaign.^[1]

The Outdoor Wire writes:

Former ironworker, Marine, and cable mogul turned shooting school owner Owen “Buz” Mills has filed the necessary paperwork to run for governor. Sources tell us Mills has been making the rounds with Republican leaders for some time and decided it was “time to step forward and do something” about the mess Arizona is in.

I like this guy already. It’s too soon to say, “I’m voting for him,” but he certainly looks like a promising candidate.

1. Sorry about the login required there. It’s the only source I had. [↩]

It’s the end of the year, which means last night was the year-end recap for Gun Nuts Radio. I actually called in last night to gripe about Crappy Nappy, Arizona’s former governor and everyone’s favorite Secretary of Homeland Security. I can’t wait to see (or hear) what those Gun Nuts are doing next year.

I don’t think anyone can accuse Joe Huffman of a lack of thoroughness. RTWT, but the money quote for me is here:

Ultimately we want carry of all types completely legal and a non-issue in all jurisdictions. As long as it is done safely it should be a personal choice. I don’t know of any gun rights activists who disagrees with that goal. It’s simply a question of how or if we can get to that point.

We can attack the problem in a brute force manner or with a more sophisticated approach that arrives at the solution quicker and with less expenditure of resources. Let’s not be so stupid as to think the same solution is appropriate for every situation.

This is certainly true. I advocate open carry because I think it’s a good way to show folks that normal people carry guns. It can be a conversation starter. As Alan pointed out in Joe’s comments, it’s comfortable in the desert heat when covering clothes are not practical. If your state is at a point where it’s not even in the public mindset that normal people own guns, you might be skipping a step.

Kevin Baker wants to organize an Arizona blogshoot for next month in Casa Grande. It looks like Saturday the 12th may be the date. Whenever it is, I’ll be there. Spread the word, ‘Zonies.

Update: Blogshoot is on for the 12th.

By Matthew in comment’s at Tam’s place:

OC-ing with the goal of “raising awareness” or “asserting one’s rights” is evangelism and, worse, the kind of deliberately in your face evangelism that, in my religious experience, serves mostly to piss people off.

If you want to “normalize” OC where it is legal, then OC because it happens to be your preferred way to carry, or it’s more convenient that day, or with that outfit. Normalize OC honestly, by simply making it part of your normal life.

This is mostly what I’ve been trying to say; he said it better and in fewer words.

Spotted at Native New Yorker with mother and aunt. Initial reports indicate that the proximity of alcohol and firearms failed to produce the expected loss of self-control.

(Note: The Native New Yorker at 101 and Cave Creek is not currently posted with “No Guns” signs. I have received reports that other Native New Yorker restaurants in the state are posted.)