Arizona proposed gun legislation

[old lady new shooter]

Here is the Arizona Citizens Defense League's legislative update email from yesterday, listing all prospective AZ firearms legislation. While there are many anti-gun proposals, note that HB 2111 and SB 1328, which are essentially identical, would effectively make Arizona a 2A sanctuary state. In the last paragraph AZCDL provides instruction as to how to contact your legislators.

Legislative Update

We’re now two weeks into the 2021 Arizona legislation session. Over 1,000 bills have been filed. Key bills, and their status, that AzCDL is monitoring can be found on our Bill Tracking page. The final day for Senators to file bills is Monday, February 1. For the House, the final deadline is Monday February 8.

Of the 16 firearms related bills that have been filed so far, 13 have been filed by Democrats attacking your right to keep and bear arms. We guess they forgot that oath they took to defend the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions.

HB 2449, and the proposed identical ballot measure HCR 2021, would make the private transfer of your firearm a felony unless it was conducted through an FFL. “Transfer” is loosely defined and could include handing your firearm to a friend. HB 2651 would take this even further by labeling anyone who doesn’t use an FFL to transfer their firearm an illegal “firearms trafficker.” Among the long litany of additional onerous state regulations in HB 2651 are limiting your firearms purchases to one per month, requiring the visual and audio recording of sales and maintaining a database of the guns you buy.

Among the other attacks on your constitutionally guaranteed rights are:

HB 2248 & SB 1285 which would require a 3-day waiting period on the purchase of a firearm.

HB 2451, a proposed "Red Flag" law that uses civil proceedings to forcibly confiscate your firearms based on claims from family members or school officials, with virtually no recourse or appeals.

HB 2452 which would outlaw the mere possession of a bump stock or "any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle." That could include that aftermarket trigger you bought to smooth out your trigger press, since it can function to accelerate the rate of fire.

HB 2562 which would create a $1,000 civil penalty (a substantially reduced standard of evidence) if you don't have your firearm or ammunition locked away at home.

In contrast to the volley of anti-rights bills filed by the Democrats, the Republicans have managed to come up with 3 bills that actually protect your rights.

HB 2111 and SB 1328 are nearly identical. Both propose that any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates the Second Amendment would be unenforceable in Arizona. Additionally, state and local government resources could not be used to enforce any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates the Second Amendment. SB 1328 adds any law, etc. that violates Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution (your Arizona right to bear arms).

HB 2551 would, with certain exceptions, exempt CCW permit holders from the prohibition on entering state and local government-controlled property while armed.

We’ll see more bills, good and bad, filed in the coming weeks. Following the deadline for filing new legislation, all bills must be heard by committees in their originating chambers (House or Senate) by February 19. As key bills we are monitoring are scheduled for committee hearings, we will call upon you to contact committee members using the Legislature’s Request to Speak (RTS) system. If have an existing RTS account, please log in to make sure your account is still active. If you are a current AzCDL member and do not have an existing RTS account, please reply to this message with your name and email address and we’ll assist you in setting up an RTS account.

Stay tuned!
These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom.

 

[MutinousDoug]

Thanks for the update!

 

[old lady new shooter]

Update as of today, additional bills have been proposed.

Legislative Update

We are now three weeks into the 2021 Arizona legislation session. The number of bills filed has climbed to over 1,400. Key bills that AzCDL is monitoring, and their status, can be found on our Bill Tracking page. It is updated daily. The final day for Senators to file bills is Monday, February 1. For the House, the deadline is Monday, February 8.

Of the 20 firearms related bills that we are monitoring, 15 have been filed by Democrats attacking your right to keep and bear arms. Newly added this week are a couple of Senate bills:

SB 1535 - Would make you a felon if a minor can access your firearm.

SB 1585 - You would be guilty of a Class 1 Misdemeanor for "storing" your firearms without using a trigger lock or placing them in a locked container. There is no explanation of "storing" in the proposed statute or when or where it's supposed to occur. It could mean you need to add a trigger lock before placing your gun in your holster.

On the plus side, the Republicans have filed two more bills supporting your rights:

SB 1361 – Would waive the CCW permit fees for active-duty military, veterans, and current and retired peace officers.

SB 1382 – Would classify ammunition and firearms related businesses as "essential" during a state of emergency.

Following the deadline for filing new legislation, all bills must be heard by committees in their originating chambers (House or Senate) by February 19, a little over 2 weeks from now. It’s impossible for all bills that are filed to meet that deadline. The Republican leadership in the House and Senate determines the committee assignments.

As key bills we are monitoring are scheduled for committee hearings, we will call upon you to contact committee members using the Legislature’s Request to Speak (RTS) system.

• If you have an existing RTS account, please access your account to make sure it is still active.
  
• If you are a current AzCDL member and do not have an existing RTS account, please reply to this message with your name and email address and we’ll assist you in setting up an RTS account.
  
• If you created an RTS account online, it is essentially useless unless it is activated at an official RTS terminal at the Capitol. If you are a current AzCDL member and need assistance in getting your RTS account activated, reply to this message requesting help.
  
• Not an AzCDL Member? You can join here.

Note: When you are looking for bills to comment on in RTS, keep in mind that they are only accessible when they are scheduled for a committee hearing.

Stay tuned!
These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom. Copyright © 2021 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.

 

[old lady new shooter]

Here is the latest update. If you are an AZCDL member (which you should be if you live in AZ!) and do not have an RTS account set up, they will help.

RTS Action Alert
February 10 & 11 Committee Hearings

We thank everyone who used the Legislature’s Request to Speak (RTS) system to show support for SB 1382 which proposes to classify ammunition and firearms related businesses as "essential" during a state of emergency. You made a difference. SB 1382 passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 4 by a 5 to 3 vote along party lines.

On Wednesday, February 10, HB 2111 and HB 2551 are scheduled for an 8:30 AM hearing in the House Government & Elections Committee.

HB 2111 proposes that any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates the Second Amendment would be unenforceable in Arizona.

HB 2551 would, with certain exceptions, exempt CCW permit holders from the prohibition on entering state and local government-controlled property while armed.

On Thursday, February 11, SB 1328 is scheduled for a 9 AM hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. SB 1328 is almost identical to HB 2111 but contains the added verbiage that any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution would also be unenforceable in Arizona. Article 2, Section 26 is Arizona’s constitutional protection of our right to bear arms. We prefer the SB 1328 version to the almost identical HB 2111 version, but it’s important that BOTH bills pass out of their respective committees.

Your RTS “vote” supporting these bills must be entered before the February 10 & 11 hearings.

To voice your opinion on these bills, visit the AZ Legislature Applications page, sign into your RTS account, click on the big blue “Request to Speak” icon in the middle of the page, then click on the “New Request” tab on the left side of the page.

Note: If you do not see the “New Request” tab, it means your RTS account was not created or activated at an official RTS terminal at the Capitol. If that’s the case, we can help. Let us know in a reply to this message.



A new window will open up. In the “Search Phrase” line, enter the bill number without HB or SB (i.e., 2111, 2551, 1328) and click on the blue “Search” button below the Search Phrase.



Your search results will appear below the “Search” button as in the example below.



Click on the blue “Add Request” button on the right side of your search results to bring up your voting page. For these bills we ask that you click on the “For” (thumbs up) button. Unless you plan on attending and testifying at the hearing, always answer “No” to the “Do you wish to speak?” question.



About RTS
AzCDL does not control the RTS system

The Arizona Legislature created the RTS system early in the last century, before cell phones or the Internet. The original Request to Speak was a paper document process used by citizens to notify a committee chair that they wished to testify at an upcoming committee hearing.

Several years ago, the Legislature automated the RTS system. With the automation of RTS a feature was added to allow citizens with RTS accounts to state their positions about a bill online, without having to testify. However, to access this feature, RTS accounts must first be created at dedicated computer terminals at the Capitol in Phoenix or the state offices in Tucson.

Please do NOT be tempted to create an RTS account online. It is essentially useless and cannot be used to comment to committees on legislation unless it is activated at an official RTS terminal.

If you are a current AzCDL member and do not have an existing RTS account, we will be happy to assist you in setting up an account. Simply reply to this message and request our help.

If you have ever created an existing RTS account, a duplicate account cannot be created. You must use your existing account. If you log in and receive a message that your RTS account must be “enabled”, that too must be done at an official RTS terminal. We can also assist you with that.

Those who want to disarm you understand the importance of RTS. Their followers are flooding RTS with demands to committee members to defeat the same bills we are asking you to support. Their goal is to have every peaceful Arizona gun owner tagged, tracked and targeted for registration and confiscation. You can defeat them by using your RTS account to tell committee members to support good legislation and to prevent bad bills from progressing.

Committee hearings will be a priority in the coming weeks. The deadline for bills to be heard in committees in their originating chamber (House or Senate) is Friday, February 19. As important bills are scheduled for committee hearings, we will notify you via these alerts. We encourage you to share this and all AzCDL emails with anyone you know who is interested in protecting their right to keep and bear arms in Arizona.