Wednesday, January 28, 2009

AZ: Constitutional Carry SB 1270

SB 1270 is an Arizona constitutional carry bill that has been introduced in the Senate. It essentially would remove the current requirement to have a CCW permit when carrying a concealed weapon unless you're a prohibited possessor or are in the process of committing a serious criminal offense as defined in 13-706 or a violent crime as defined in 13-901.03. It would also remove the current problem of people being cited for concealed carry without a permit when open carrying in their car. Open Carry would of course remain as is, no requirement for any permit either.

It would still allow people to get a CCW permit if they choose to in order to gain certain additional benefits such as reciprocity granted by other States that don't yet have constitutional carry laws, or to carry in current restricted areas under specific conditions, such as to carry onto school grounds while dropping off or picking up a child. It would of course be optimal to remove all existing restrictions on bearing arms anyplace we are legally allowed to be, but that would likely be too large of a first step in our legislature as it would face strong opposition.

Alaska & Vermont already respect constitutional carry. Hopefully more & more states will continue with this trend of removing infringements on our right to keep & bear arms.

An easy way to contact your representatives to let them know you support this bill is through this NRA sponsored gateway.

Below is an update from AZCDL about the bill:

SB 1270, an AzCDL-requested bill that removes the penalty for law-abiding citizens carrying concealed weapons without a permit, was filed late afternoon on Tuesday, January 27, 2009. You can read the text of SB 1270 at http://tinyurl.com/dko6oy .

Dave Kopp and John Wentling, AzCDL's president and vice-president, and full-time volunteer lobbyists, worked hard lobbying for SB 1270 and encouraging legislators to sign on as co-sponsors. The following twenty-two (22) legislators are the co-sponsors of SB 1270:

Senator Sylvia Allen, District 5, sallen@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5219
Senator Ron Gould, District 3, rgould@azleg.gov, (602) 926-4138
Senator Chuck Gray, District 19, cgray@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5288 (Senate Majority Leader)
Senator Linda Gray, District 10, lgray@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3376
Senator John Nelson, District 12, jnelson@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5872
Senator Russell Pearce, District 18, rpearce@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5760
Senator Thayer Verschoor, District 22, tverschoor@azleg.gov, (602) 926-4136 (Senate President Pro Tempore)
Representative Frank Antenori, District 30, fantenori@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5683
Representative Cecil B. Ash, District 18, cash@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3160
Representative Ray Barnes, District 7, rbarnes@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3107
Representative Andy Biggs, District 22, rbiggs@azleg.gov, (602) 926-4371
Representative Judy M. Burges, District 4, jburges@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5861
Representative Sam Crump, District 6, scrump@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3014
Representative David Gowan, District 30, dgowan@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3312
Representative John Kavanagh, District 8, jkavanagh@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5170
Representative Barbara McGuire, District 23, bmcguire@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3012
Representative Nancy McLain, District 3, nmclain@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5051
Representative Steve B. Montenegro, District 12, smontenegro@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5955
Representative Rick Murphy, District 9, rmurphy@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3255
Representative Warde V. Nichols, District 21, wnichols@azleg.gov, (602) 926-5168
Representative Doug Quelland, District 10, dquelland@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3024
Representative Carl Seel, District 6, cseel@azleg.gov, (602) 926-3018

If your Senator or Representative is one of the co-sponsors, please take the time to send them an email or call them and thank them for co-sponsoring SB 1270. It's critical that they know you are aware of, and appreciate, their support of SB 1270. You can find your legislators at: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp .

If your Senator or Representative is NOT a co-sponsor, please call them or send them an email asking them why they did not co-sponsor SB 1270. Politely mention that you expect them to support SB 1270 in the future. You can find your legislators at: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp .

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today!

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

Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.
Update 1: Unfortunately this bill didn't make it through the full legislative process this year before the session was over due to the lack of time after the budget was finally passed, although several other important bills did manage to make it. This bill will be a top priority in 2010.

Update 2: SB 1102 & HB 2347 have been introduced for 2010. Contact your representatives!

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Dustin re-read the very last section of the bill. It actually does make it legal to carry anywhere with a CCW permit except of course in jails and other secure locations .

Dustin said...

With the exception of schools which are nothing more than a wide open "gun free zone" where only the criminals, police, and after this bill is adopted, parents with ccw permits dropping off or picking up their children. It is a huge leap in the right direction, but still not where we'd eventually like to wind up. Perhaps next year we'll get rid of gun free school zones.

Anonymous said...

Shawn Here. There are 10 more supporters of this bill than the photoradar one. And if it does get passed we won't have napalitano to veto it. Like everything else pro-gun.

I don't carry. The only reason being when I'm out I'm 100% of the time within the vicinity of a school. I don't know how the "gun free zone" works as in just OC'ing in the 1000 feet is an automatic 5 year prison sentence. And like I have said my entire family are a bunch of anti's who have bought into "give them what they wan't". So even if I cn carry they get all worked up if I bring it and keep bugging me until I put it away.

Dustin said...

Hey Shawn. The federal 1000 foot law was thrown out by the Supreme court as unconstitutional so it no longer applies. If you live in Utah you can carry at schools no problem. We just need to get rid of the local school gun free zone law and we'll be set.

Sorry to hear about your family. Once you're out of the school zones or we get rid of that ban you can carry concealed & they'll never know the difference. They can remain blissfully unaware of the dangers in the world while you become ruler over your own destiny. :)

Anonymous said...

Shawn again. Actually Dustin it was repealed but brought back in 1996 so it still stands. But police don't seem to give a shit since it's not a state law. As long as your not on the school property it looks as if your OK.

Anonymous said...

Can someone please explain to me what the last part of the bill means, under "Permit holders; carrying firearms; definitions"? It seems to me that it just gives CCW holders a little more leeway in where they can carry than non-CCW holders. Is this correct?

Anonymous said...

I've been waiting for this for two years. Let's hope our new governor isn't as squeamish about guns as our last one.

My question is: do the "public establishment(s)" mentioned in the bill include community colleges or universities? Since they are buildings owned/operated by the states/counties, then concealed carry should be good to go there as well.

- Mike

Dustin said...

Shawn: Thanks for the clarification Shawn. That is a stupid law. If we ever get a conservative congress again we'll want to try to get rid of it, or perhaps it will be challenged again. In the meanwhile the only thing saving people is the lack of federal enforcement & the CCW exemption for CCW permit holders.

Anonymous: Yes that is correct for certain currently restricted areas like school zones

Mike: Our new Governor is MUCH better for us than the former Governor was. I have it from multiple reliable sources who are in the know that Governor Jan Brewer holds our Freedoms & the Bill of Rights in high regard, including the 2nd Amendment.

Dustin said...

Mike: I forgot to answer your question. Actually in Arizona it's currently against the law to have a loaded weapon at kindergartens, middle schools, and High Schools. If SB 1270 becomes law there would be an exception added allowing CCW permit holders to go onto those school grounds to drop off or pick up a child.

However there is no law against concealed carry at Colleges & Universities. Unfortunately, most if not all such institutions in Arizona have a school policy prohibiting weapons on campus, so if they asked you to leave & you refused you could be prosecuted for trespassing. They could also expel you for violating their policy if you're a student.

There will likely be a bill this year requested by SCCC that would force public owned Universities & Colleges in Arizona to get rid of that policy, allowing 21 & older adults with CCW permits to carry on campus without fear of persecution by the Schools.

Anonymous said...

I've only just turned 20, so the SCCC bill wouldn't help me any. I'd still be just as defenseless in class as I am now.

Either lower the CCW age to 18 (like in Indiana) or eliminate it outright and let everyone carry on campus.

Dustin said...

Mike: I agree 100%. If we send young men & women out on the battle field at age 18 to defend our entire Country why can't we trust them to be armed for their own self defense? We trust them to vote, so why do we ban them from defending their own lives?

Getting rid of the CCW requirement for all ages & lowering CCW minimum age to 18 is definitely a high priority in my book.

Matt said...

That's it, I'm moving back home.

Anonymous said...

Those who do see or read History of events, will him/herself repeat the same mistake.
with Time, some of these states of free gun carry, will one day regret this day.
GUN is not TOY and all people are not the same, that is the most reason why some Nations are busy fighting one war to another. because people like you are arming them to fight and kill.

Dustin said...

Anonymous (8/19/09): Wow, that is quite a thought process you have there. So let me summarize - you believe the terrorists in the middle east threatening peaceful Countries are armed with fully automatic rifles (continuously fire with a single trigger pull), homemade bombs, and grenade launchers because I write a blog supporting the right of free Americans to maintain their ability to defend their home & family here in the USA with semi-automatic (only fire one round per trigger pull) handguns, shotguns, and rifles?

That is rich. I'd love to hear more on how you reached that unfounded conclusion, but you're most likely one of those hit & run types who have no facts to back up his or her arguments so you make a baseless comment as an anonymous person & never come back to have a discussion.

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