Preemption Bill Races Ahead
— your hard work instrumental in “educating” politicians

Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408

http://www.gunowners.org

Arizona legislative alert — February 9, 2000

To all GOA activists in Arizona:

You are doing great work! The pressure you have brought to bear over
the last week has convinced the Arizona House of Representatives
that law-abiding gun owners are a political force that must be
respected.

Yesterday, the bill to strengthen the Arizona preemption law
(originally HB 2582; now HB 2095) passed the House of
Representatives. The final recorded vote was an impressive 42-19.

Now it’s on to the Senate! Please contact your senator to start
applying pressure in that chamber.

As you recall, last week anti-gunners managed to gut the preemption
bill with an amendment allowing local governments to ban gun
possession on any property they control– such as streets and
sidewalks.

Outraged, gun owners in Arizona responded to GOA’s call to punish
the legislators, who while on record as sponsors of the bill,
allowed the sell-out to occur.

Regardless of how an individual sponsor might have voted on that
voice vote amendment, there is no excuse for losing a voice vote
when *a majority of the body* had sponsored or cosponsored the
legislation.

You instructed those sponsors in no uncertain terms that when the
bill next appeared, you expected them to be present and fight off
anti-gun amendments.

That is exactly what happened yesterday. Anti-gunners, led by Rep.
Bill Brotherton (D-20), tried again. But, because of your
overwhelming pressure, all anti-gun amendments were soundly defeated
and HB 2095 passed with an impressive majority.

There were those who said GOA had chosen the wrong course of action
in laying down the law to the bill’s sponsors. Some legislators told
activists that GOA and you were “hurting” the pro-gun side. Some
legislators were even angry.

So what if a politician gets angry at your insistence that he stand
up for your rights? You’re not running for office — he is.

There can be no doubt that such “confrontational politics” are
effective — you proved that yesterday. The sponsors and cosponsors
of the bill, angry or not, showed up and passed a clean bill while
beating back a number of anti-gun amendments.

The Senate is expected to be an even tougher fight. The well-funded
anti-gun cities and organizations will do whatever they can to keep
this bill from going to the governor. There are reports that
anti-gun Senators might try to attach “poison pill” language to the
bill. One way to do that is to combine preemption with an anti-gun
bill such as the so-called “Shannon’s Law” that you derailed in
December’s special session.

Therefore, the rallying call must continue to be: PASS HB 2095
EXACTLY AS WRITTEN, WITH NO ANTI-GUN AMENDMENTS.

Again, thank you for a job well done to this point. Please contact
your senator as soon as possible, using the roster and pre-written
text provided below. Or better yet, write your own letter.

—– Pre-written text —–

Dear Senator:

I urge you to vote in favor of HB 2095, the bill to strengthen
Arizona’s firearms preemption law. This bill has already passed the
House with an overwhelming majority.

Further, I ask that you actively work to defeat any anti-gun
amendments or delaying tactics. HB 2095 is good legislation and
should be passed with all due speed, exactly as written.

Again, please vote in favor of HB 2095 and do everything
legislatively possible to see that it passes exactly as written. Gun
Owners of America will keep me informed.

Sincerely,

————- Arizona State Senate Roster —————

District maps at:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/maps/state.htm

Senate fax 602-542-3429

Name Dis E-Mail Phone

Linda Aguirre 23 [email protected] 602-542-7830
Gus Arzberger 08 [email protected] 602-542-4321
Keith A. Bee 09 [email protected] 602-542-5683
Ken Bennett 01 [email protected] 602-542-5584
Russell Bowers 21 [email protected] 602-542-5288
Jack Brown 04 [email protected] 602-542-4129
Scott Bundgaard 19 [email protected] 602-542-4136
Brenda Burns 17 [email protected] 602-542-3160
Edward Cirillo 15 [email protected] 602-542-4173
Chris Cummiskey 25 [email protected] 602-542-4916
George Cunningham 13 [email protected] 602-542-5911
Ann Day 12 [email protected] 602-542-4326
Tom Freestone 30 [email protected] 602-542-5325
Randall Gnant 28 [email protected] 602-542-4138
Sue Grace 24 [email protected] 602-542-5284
Herb Guenther 05 [email protected] 602-542-4139
Darden C. Hamilton 16 [email protected] 602-542-5261
Mary Hartley 20 [email protected] 602-542-4485
John Huppenthal 06 [email protected] 602-542-4178
Jack C. Jackson 03 [email protected] 602-542-4323
Joe Eddie Lopez 22 [email protected] 602-542-4171
Harry E. Mitchell 27 [email protected] 602-542-4124
David Petersen 29 [email protected] 602-542-4481
Elaine Richardson 11 [email protected] 602-542-5262
Peter Rios 07 [email protected] 602-542-5685
Tom Smith 26 [email protected] 602-542-5955
Ruth Solomon 14 [email protected] 602-542-5993
Victor Soltero 10 [email protected] 602-542-5342
Marc Spitzer 18 [email protected] 602-542-4480
John Wettaw 02 [email protected] 602-542-4486