Gov. Jan Brewer is defending Arizona laws which allow the sale of firearms at gun shows without a background check and forbid cities from imposing such requirements.
"We believe our laws are fair and just in the state of Arizona,'' the governor said Monday.
Her comments come on the heels of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg releasing videos Monday taken by undercover agents at a Phoenix gun show just 15 days after the Tucson shootings. There, Arizona private investigators hired by New York City were able to purchase weapons not only without a background check but, at least twice, after admitting to sellers they probably would not pass.
Brewer said she had not seen the videos. Nor had she seen Bloomberg's comments.
But the governor said the laws are "something that the Legislature and I decide.''
Last year Brewer signed legislation making Arizona only the third state in the nation to let anyone carry a concealed weapon without a state permit, training and a background check. But Brewer said Monday she remains open to further liberalizing the state's gun laws.
"I am a strong proponent of the Second Amendment,'' she said.
One of the measures awaiting debate this session, SB 1201, would further expand where individuals can carry guns to include public buildings unless there were metal detectors and lockers for owners to secure their weapons. Brewer said she hasn't studied that measure and would have to see the final version before deciding whether to sign it.
"We're strong people in Arizona,'' she continued. "We believe in the Constitution and we certainly support the Second Amendment.''
Bloomberg is not looking to change Arizona law.
"He's looking for a federal fix,'' said spokesman Jason Post. That, he said, would supersede Arizona laws.
It also would close what Bloomberg considers a loophole in federal laws.
While gun dealers must conduct background checks, those laws do not require background checks for the person-to-person sale of weapons by individuals. But it does prohibit anyone from selling a gun to another person who there is "reasonable cause'' to believe is not legally entitled to have one.
In two videos released by Bloomberg, a buyer at the Crossroads of the West gun show on Jan. 23 in Phoenix specifically asked sellers if they were dealers and said, "I probably couldn't pass one.''
"I just need an ID and money,'' one seller is shown saying on the video.
"We have demonstrated how easy it is for anyone to buy a semiautomatic handgun and a high capacity magazine, no questions asked,'' Bloomberg said in a prepared release. "Congress should act now.''
Short of that, Post said Bloomberg wants gun show promoters who stage these events around the country to mandate that merchants do background checks on prospective buyers.
Post said that followed similar undercover buys staged by New York officials in 2009 in Tennessee, Ohio and Nevada.
"Four of the seven gun shows we investigated in 2009 have agreed to make that reform, and there is no doubt it will save lives,'' Bloomberg said in his statement.
Nothing in federal law precludes states or cities from having more restrictive laws on the sale and possession of guns.
Arizona, however, does not have such additional restrictions. In fact, lawmakers voted in 2000 to bar cities from imposing their own requirements on those using their facilities for gun shows.
That was in direct response to a Tucson ordinance approved following a triple murder in 1999 at an east side Pizza Hut. Council members voted to impose that condition on groups that lease space in the Tucson Convention Center.
The state Court of Appeals subsequently ruled that law was flawed. But legislators have since remedied that with a comprehensive ban on local regulations of any kind.
On the other side of the equation, a Senate panel in 2001 killed legislation which would have required those selling weapons at gun shows to do an instant background check through the state Department of Public Safety prior to making a sale.
Despite that, state Sen. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, filed SB 1586 late Monday making it a crime to sell a weapon at a gun show without running a national instant background check. Violators would be subject to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine; gun show operators who do not make a licensed dealer available who can do those checks would face a $10,000 civil fine.
No one from the Crossroads of the West, the company that operated the Phoenix gun show and others in Tucson and elsewhere, would agree to be interviewed. Instead, the company issued a release saying that law enforcement at all shows "is conducted on a regular basis.''
The statement also said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms "regularly has several undercover agents enforcing federal law at the Phoenix show, and state and local law-enforcement agencies work cooperatively with BATF and other agencies to ensure that activities at the show are legal.'' It also said sellers agreed to comply with federal gun laws.
The statement also blasted Bloomberg for conducting the undercover operation.
"These forays into America's heartland committing blatant acts to entrap otherwise innocent gun owners is an unlawful scheme that is created by Bloomberg's task force,'' the statement reads. "The result of the task force's illegal activity is the entrapment of individuals by involving them in a crime which the 'investigators' themselves actually initiated and committed.''
Post said that New York City hired Arizona private investigators to meet the requirement for those purchasing weapons at gun shows in Arizona to provide legal Arizona identification.
The company had a gun show in Tucson the week after the Jan. 8 shootings. Another Tucson show is planned by the company for March 12 and 13 at the Pima County Fairgrounds.
abimopectore posted at 11:37 am on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Bloomberg should worry about the Big Apple's crime rate instead of trying to embarrass the state of Arizona. This guy is unbelievable and a disgusting politician to use his own resources to worry about problems in another state. Talk about wasting the tax payers money. As for these sellers, he should give up the name of these sellers to the appropriate authorities to investigate what ACTUALLY happened. I wouldn't take Bloomberg's word for it.
EmperorSmith posted at 11:58 am on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
I would not take his word and yes he should worry about his state.
That is the best comment I have read from you Abi.
Dale Whiting posted at 12:12 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Bloomberg is paying attention to his state. NY strictly obeys federal gun sales laws and has eliminated these "private sales at gun shows" exceptions. But the loop holes permitting private gun sales in Arizona and other states make it possible to buy here and then go there. Chances are Mike did report these sales. The purchasers are supposed to come qualified to purchase. And registered sellers are supposed to be asking. But where private sellers are there to sell, they are going to sell and who can prove that they had reason to doubt that their purchaser would not qualify. Jared passed himself as reasonable to most of those he met.
EmperorSmith posted at 12:41 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Gun show in in NY sounds like a oxymoron, so what do you suggest, Dale?
I have a collection of arms and decided to sell at a gun show.
I rent a booth.
I'm not in the Bis of selling I do not have a FFL since I am a private citizen.
So I know have to have the ability to do back ground checks in order to sell? For a one time event.
EmperorSmith posted at 12:45 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
You love this Dale, I bartered for a small block Chevy engine in December. I gave my MAK 90 and got back 50 bucks and the engine. Guns are like gold.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:05 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
New York City Mayor Bloomberg should be minding his own house.
Population of New York City, 2009 = 8,391,881
Number of New York City murders, 2009 = 412
Population of the "whole" State of Arizona, 2009 = 6,595,778
Number of murders in the "whole" State of Arizona, 2009 = 354
rrjenn posted at 2:08 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Guns stop crime
Long before those studies, history records what happened when the Cole Younger gang of eight tried to hold up the bank in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1876. They were recognized by a citizen who sounded the alarm. The gang was shot to pieces by armed civilians as they exited the bank. Two were shot dead, two wounded, and Cole Younger was captured. Jesse James and his brother Frank escaped, though Jesse was wounded. It wasn’t the police but rather armed citizens who thwarted the gang’s attempt to rob the bank.
Statistics prove that violent crimes have gone down as gun sales have increased. An armed citizenry is a protected citizenry. Ask any cop for their unofficial opinion and they will tell you the same thing. Police can usually only mop up after a violent attack. When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
What would have happened in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1876, if only the sheriff had been able to own and carry firearms?
Slabside posted at 4:48 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Check the stats... Arizona has relaxed stringent gun laws and crime is DOWN. New York crime is #2 in the nation. DUH!
CSalafia posted at 5:47 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
I love it.
Commenters disparaging Bloomberg, yet ignoring the 800lb Gorilla in the room... the illegal sale of firearms in Arizona.
Priceless.
Next time a cop or anyone gets shot, or shot at, by someone linked to the cartels remember..... AZ laws are so lax that we're second only to Texas in supplying firearms to drug cartels through currently legal purchases.
abimopectore posted at 6:24 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
CSalafia,
I'm laughing at your comment and the fact you take Bloomberg for his words. Read the following article where it clearly states that the these sales that Bloomberg is highlighting were probably NOT illegal sales:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41358714/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
In fact, Bloomberg has no authority to do these things and even the ATF tried to dissuade him, and asked him to work with them. So who looks like a fool here now? There's no question that there are probably folks who are doing illegal things but Bloomberg isn't catching them.
AZMomma posted at 6:40 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Bloomberg is a one agenda politician (HACK). He has built his reputation on sticky his nose and goon squads where he has NO jurisdiction.
Yes, there are criminal citizens selling guns illegally or at least skirting the intent of AZ law.
It is NONE of his business.
Slabside posted at 8:37 pm on Mon, Jan 31, 2011.
Good 'ol Chris never misses a chance to the EVT posters his A S S!!!
k33j88 posted at 8:04 am on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
Dear CSalafia: Please remove yourself from my constitutional republic , known as ARIZONA, and go somewhere else to be with your own liberal kind. Thank You
Poorman posted at 12:51 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
Someone tell me just how a private citizen can run a gun backround check?When i have tried to get a bussines or the cops to check for me they said nope! The feds won't do it either as far as i know.
rrjenn posted at 2:58 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
Poorman, I think what is being said is that private sellers may be selling to private buyers after hearing them say that they probably wouldn't be able to pass a background check. Arizona law demands that as a private seller if you have some reason to suspect a buyer isn't legally allowed to possess a gun that you cannot sell them a gun. If someone told me that, there is no way in heck I would sell them a gun. Especially a gun that could be traced to back to me. Anyone who says such a crazy thing like they probably aren't legally able to possess a gun is probably a cop or an insane person and should be avoided like the plague. I'm surprised that someone selling guns at a gun show would do that.
rrjenn posted at 3:03 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
CSalafia, I don't think we send enough guns south of the border. We should send enough guns and ammunition to arm every Mexican citizen to the teeth so that they can obliterate the drug cartels and throw out their incompetent and corrupt government. Viva La Revolución!
hoopydreams posted at 8:18 am on Wed, Feb 2, 2011.
I'm all for the 2nd amendment. I'm a gun owner and have a CCW Permit from the State of Arizona. And PROUD OF IT! Regardless of the fact if you are for the 2nd Ammendment or not, there has to be some responsibility on the State's part and should not be sole responsibility of the gun buyer/owner/operator to be trusted by the state. For responsible gun owners (is the majority) this isn't an issue. It becomes an issue when ANYONE is able to buy a gun without a background check.
I don't think that gun laws should be anywhere as strict as NY, but at least bring back the CCW Permit. AZ Was already an open carry state anyway. The class I had to take in order to get my CCW was very informative and I feel like I'm a better gun owner now after taking that class. The class went over law, did finger printing, and a full federal background check. If you were ever convicted of a felony, or arrested for domestic violence NO CCW FOR YOU!
These are common sense laws. Such as our driving laws: you have to take a written test, when you've passed you take your driving test, then the state deems you able to drive. At the very least the state should have something like this in place for owning a firearm. Which it did at one point but Brewer trashed that idea.
A gun doesn't kill people and neither does a car, it's the operators that does.
ernie13x posted at 7:53 pm on Wed, Feb 9, 2011.
Jan Brewer is a strong proponent of whatever Russell Pearce tells her to be a strong proponent of. Drug cartels thank them both, they couldn't make it much easier.