2/1/2010 11:46:00 PM Editorial: Pearce's gun proposal sounds great to felons
Russell Pearce, the radical Arizona state legislator from Mesa, is at it again.
Pearce (R-18th Dist.) is sponsoring a bill camouflaged by the 2nd Amendment but shrouded in dangerous deregulation. His bill hopes to make Arizona the third state where it is legal to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
Now, we don't oppose concealed weapons laws. That's the beauty of the 2nd Amendment, which we support. But while many gun-rights advocates would quit reading there to start fanning the flames of their constitutional rights, a thinking citizen would read further, beyond the USA-Freedom-Rights headlines.
The lack of a permit would eliminate background checks and training classes for citizens seeking to carry hidden guns.
Concealed-carry training courses focus on basic essentials including firearm mechanics, legislation and limitations, liability issues, home defense and, of course, safety. Background checks verify felony convictions, mental instabilities and, of course, illegal immigrants.
Pearce and his supporters feel an issue important enough to deserve a place in the Bill of Rights isn't important enough for public safety in the contemporary application of our laws.
Again, for the record, no one is advocating the denial of citizens' rights to carry weapons, concealed or otherwise, as protected by the 2nd Amendment. Police departments, however, worry that making permits optional might encourage more people with nefarious motives to carry concealed weapons, said John Thomas, a lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police.
Also for the record, Arizona is already one of the more progressive states in the union regarding gun rights. Gov. Jan Brewer last year signed the bill allowing guns in bars. Brewer also approved a law allowing gun owners to display a firearm if they feel threatened, and another allowing them to keep guns in their locked vehicles while parked at businesses that ban weapons.
Now Pearce wants even more safety deregulation. Arizona citizens remember Pearce best for forwarding an e-mail from a White Separatist group to supporters in 2006, and also for his connections to Neo-Nazis like former GOP Precinct Committeeman J.T. Ready who boasted to an anti-immigration crowd in June of 2007 that "great people like Russell Pearce are statesmen."
Ordinarily, that's endorsement enough to scrutinize anything that comes from the office (or e-mail) of Pearce. In the case of his latest bill, he's wrong again.
Reader Comments
Posted: Saturday, February 06, 2010
Article comment by:
This should be good
Hey whoever is editing these....why don't you lighten up a bit. There was nothing at all innappropriate about the other sentence in my post...a bit of humor, maybe. Over your head?
Posted: Friday, February 05, 2010
Article comment by:
This should be good
Can't wait for the untrained concealed carriers to fill up the emergency rooms at the YRMC....
Posted: Friday, February 05, 2010
Article comment by:
Old Native
One of the two States that doesn't require a concealed carry permit is Vermont. They have the second lowest crime rate in the country.
The opinion is cloaked in self righteous, inconsistent, hypocrisy. This is the idea, that the Constitutional rights are not afforded to everyone, but only to those who I can trust to live and to think as I approve of. I'm sorry if I was picking a fight with no one. I guess you were making my point on purpose.
Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Article comment by:
GOP = Guns Over People
Dear GOP=Guns; You're pickin' a fight with No One. I'm in total agreement with everything you've said. Too many of America's Laws favor the Rich, the Privilege, the Well Connected.
Everyone has the Right to Lawfully Defend themselves! My Bone to pick with Mr. Get Real was his assertion that CCWs somehow prevent Felons from Carrying Concealed Weapons, in the face of FACTS that prove Motivated Criminals Violate the Law, ANY Laws that suit their agenda, that's all.
Of course you know that you are making the point for those of us that believe the concealed carry laws only effectively apply to the law abiding. Criminals will carry concealed weapons illegally. If they had regard for the law, then they of course would not be criminals... now would they? Why should it cost law abiding citizens $200.00 to carry a concealed weapon? Shouldn't poor people have the same rights to defend themselves, as everybody else? The felon that shot the police officer did not even have the right to carry a weapon, concealed or otherwise, yet he has no regard for the law. The law against concealed carry without a permit, is only effective against the law abiding citizens that do not need a permit. Recently I drove with my young daughter to Tucson, and my car broke down late at night on the I-10. At least 8 different DPS patrols drove right by me stopped along side the highway. None of them even stopped to inquire. We didn't end up being threatened in any way by any passers by but... I was armed... If it had come down to it... I would have been able to protect my daughter, and my own person. In my opinion self defense, and the right to arm one's self are the most basic fundemental rights.
Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Article comment by:
GOP = Guns Over People
HEY, Get Real! "For all of you making the claim that felons will carry them anyway, where is your supporting data"? Boy when you guys are WRONG, and look the Fool, you Really go all out, don't you?
How about the Gilbert Police Lieutenant recently Shot, Murdered by a Convicted Felon with an extensive Criminal History and an outstanding WARRANT? He wasn't detered by any CCW law, or the Laws governing Convicted Felons and Gun Possession, was he. Ring any bells with YOU?
YOUR "Supporting Data" is clearly written in BLOOD, for any Honest observer to see.
Rest assured, very few people share your paranoid delusions of people lurking in the bushes waiting to rob you of you right to carry a gun, or steal your second amendment rights.
For your consideration, I'm a CCW permitee since the program's inception and a Republican for 30 years, so what.
Posted: Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Article comment by:
get real...
I'm been a gun owner all of my life and demand that the 2nd amendment be upheld. I also respect that we are a nation of laws. We agree, as demonstrated through our laws, that we don't want felons possessing firearms. For all of you making the claim that felons will carry them anyway, where is your supporting data? How do you actually know that the law doesn't work? Most of the mass killings in this country are committed by nonfelons that the system didn't identify because the "2nd right" advocates have undermined every attempt to pass balanced measures. How do we know that half of you supporting the new proposed legislation are not felons? And if you are not a felon, what are you so afraid of? You all act tough, but you are not willing to admit that you carry a gun by getting a permit and taking a simple gun safety class? You can't have it both ways. Either you believe in a society of laws or you don't.
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
history on your side
Was it not a few short months ago that a member of the law enforcement community brazenly showed a gun in a threatening manner, all in public. And that person was supposedly under the influence. Lets see. That was not an outright gun slinging fest but it was a legal carrier under the influence using a weapon to threaten to get his way. So what say you? And this did happen in town. If law enforcement has it’s own problems with this responsibility why would Joe citizen believe that all these carriers need more freedoms and responsibilities? Editor keep it up. History is proving your point!
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
Hey, look everyone, "Shari" thinks that our efforts to stop mass illegal immigration from south of the border is the SAME as what the Nazis did to persecute THEIR OWN CITIZENS back in the 30's and 40's. That's the kind of blathering ignorance that is simply beyond belief. And I wonder if
"Shari" actually knows anything about what the Nazis did to those they felt should be eliminated. Probably not, otherwise she wouldn't suggest that firmer law enforcement procedures in the U.S. to combat illegal immigration would in any way resemble the epic cruelty implemented by the Nazis. She sounds like just another liberal that thinks NON-citizens deserve the same rights as REAL citizens. What a joke. Anyway, their side is losing by the day. It's becoming very, very unfashionable to support mass illegal immigration these days as there are simply too many Americans who've been negatively impacted by the innundation of illegal aliens.
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
BS Editorial
By federal law, felons are prohibited possessors. That means that convicted felons cannot legally possess firearms, of any sort, at any time, exposed or concealed. Nothing the State of Arizona does affects that circumstance. That means that any felon who is caught with a gun in his or her possession is in violation of federal law. Any gun sale by a licensed firearms dealer (FFL) will continue to require a background check. Anyone who has a felony record will not be sold a gun. The only difference is that those who have valid concealed weapons permits already have passed a background check and may be sold a weapon. That will not change, except that if Arizona does away with the concealed weapons permits, then everyone in the state will require a background check when buying guns. I believe that the writer of this editorial does not understand the laws which governs weapons in this country. A bit of research would be prudent before ignorantly sounding off.
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
The Sky is Not Falling
Does anybody else remember this time last year, when the editor warned of all the dangers we would face if the Arizona Legislature passed a law allowing concealed carry where any place that alcohol is served? There was going to be shoot outs at the bars, just like the old wild west movies. Alcohol and guns do not mix we were told. It's been one year and the Chicken Little crowd is strangly silent on the issue. My guess is that there are no bloody shoot outs to report that were brought about by allowing concealed carry where alcohol is served. Now we are receiving new dire warnings of the dangers of law abiding citizens carrying concealed weapons without permission from the state. I do not believe it. Moreover God Bless Russell Pearce... A true champion of the United States Constitution... not just a poser.
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Shari
And don't forget Pearce's latest immigration bill, SB 1070, which would give local cops the authority to merely arrest someone they suspect is here illegally, and the county attorney's office the authority to charge someone just driving or living with an illegal immigrant with a class 1 misdemeanor. Think married couples, people (one a citizen and one an illegal immigrant). The Nuremberg Laws of early Nazi Germany made it illegal for a German to marry a Jew. Now Pearce isn't just pushing through some crazy gun bill, but is also pushing through a bill that virtually mirrors one of the Nuremberg Laws! That, mixed with his ties to J.T. Ready and his "invasion" declaration in a 2008 NPR article worries me that an extremist like Pearce has way too much power in our State's laws. I hope to GOD Mesa sees this man for what he is, comes the next election!
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
No name provided
Thank God for Russell Pearce, the 2nd Amendment does not need to be clouded with laws that confuse what it is about. We as a State and a Country need to preserve the ability o f legal citizens to choose the right to have and carry firearms. LEGAL CITIZENS of Arizona and United States should not be considered criminals for having firearms PERIOD.
Thank God for Russell Pearce
Posted: Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Article comment by:
They'll have to pry it from my....
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
