Arizona’s Other Crazy New Law

Flickr /<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveparker/3180524059/">daveparker</a>.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


In an attempt to preserve all that they believe is great about a free and just America, Arizona has opened US culture to two words that previously were the exclusive province of Nazi Germany and the communist bloc: “Papers, please.”

You may have heard last week about Arizona’s latest bout of nostalgia for a never-was White America, in the form of a draconian “illegal immigration” law that effectively lets police stop anyone and haul them in if they can’t prove their Americanness on the spot. (Just a few months ago, MoJo exposed how Texas peace officers were using petty drinking misdemeanors to round up undesirables; Lone Star State cops must be jealous of Arizona now. No more red tape to cover your penchant for profiling!)

But guess what? Arizona’s got other new crazy laws! Just a week before criminalizing trips to the supermarket sans birth certificates, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a decree that empowers state residents to carry a concealed weapon with no license, no registration, and no questions asked. Exciting, right? But wait—there’s more! If your gun was made in Arizona, you don’t even need to submit to a federal background check to buy it.

The nice thing about concealed-carry permits—which most states have—is that they require the applicant to go through some sort of weapons training proving that they can, you know, not kill the wrong people with their lethal firearm. That had been the case in Arizona. But now, for citizens who opt to get the state’s now-pointless permit, “classes are no longer required to be a set number of hours or include any hands-on use of the weapon,” according to the Arizona Republic. What’s more: “Those who don’t get a permit would not be required to get any training or education.”

That’s so crazy, even gun enthusiasts are aghast. Ex-cop and firearms-safety instructor Dan Furbee says the law won’t just kill off his business—and that of every other weapons instructor in Arizona—but it could literally kill off Arizonans:

“I fully agree that we have a right to keep and bear arms,” Furbee said. “But if you are not responsible enough to take a class and learn the laws, you are worse than part of the problem.”

He said it’s not uncommon for students to walk into his classroom and pull a new gun out of a box with no idea how to hold it and no understanding of the laws surrounding it.

“If you are going to carry a concealed weapon, you should have some kind of training and show that you are at least competent to know how the gun works and be able to hit a target,” he said. “You owe the people around you a measure of responsibility.”

Furbee’s not alone. Another local sheriff told the AP he was concerned about twentysomethings who can’t legally rent a car, but can now stuff a Desert Eagle .50-cal down their cargo shorts. “I know a lot of 21-year-olds; the maturity level is gravely concerning sometimes,” he said, with a flair for understatement rarely evidenced among Arizona lawmen.

One wonders, too, what might happen when Arizona’s two new laws intersect: Somewhere, right now, a legal Arizonan with Latino features—maybe 10, maybe 10,000—is legally stuffing a pistol into his waistband. Perhaps that prospect will make police a little more circumspect about who they round up on the streets? We doubt it.

Anyway, as far as the Great Immigrant Roundup of ’10 goes, the Arizona law-enforcement establishment is already warming up: A Phoenix TV station last week told the story of a trucker—born in Fresno, California—who was detained at a weigh station under suspicion of being an illegal. Yes, he’s Latino, and as the video shows, he speaks heavily accented English. So the authorities apparently were unimpressed when he showed his driver’s license and recited his social security number. He was hauled in to the hoosegow, where his wife had to leave work and produce his California birth certificate to secure his release.

We shudder to think what will happen to Barack Obama if ever decides to take the family on a road trip through the Painted Desert.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate