Picture this: You are at your local Suns game; you bring your ticket, gun, and money for a hot dog and soda. The next day you stop by the Capitol building for an appropriations meeting. You bring your opinion and your gun to the public hearings room.
After all this, you have one last stop to see a band perform at the Dodge Theatre — don’t forget your gun.
See the pattern? The more guns there are, the safer we are, says Senate Bill 1201, which passed the state Senate last week.
The bill amends Arizona’s gun laws to allow firearms in public buildings and events. It also prevents buildings from banning such weapons unless a metal detector is provided.
This could cost companies and the state several thousand dollars per metal detector annually if they did not want guns in their building.
Preventing facilities from banning guns allows for entry of violence.
Gun advocates believe that not allowing guns in public buildings violates citizen rights of gun-ownership. What about a citizen’s right to feel safe and unthreatened?
Basically if this bill passes the House, gun-owners would have the right to bare arms anywhere they please. Schools, universities, courtrooms and police stations are the only exceptions.
How is this making Arizona safer? Are fans truly going to feel safer at the Cardinals game when gun-toting fans burst out in anger when wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald misses a pass?
Is the NFL going to be OK hosting a Super Bowl where guns are present? In 2008 during the Super Bowl in Glendale, a man approached the stadium with an AR-15 assault rifle with 200 rounds. He was threatening to kill the innocent after being denied a liquor license, according to the Associated Press.
Guns are as easy to own as cigarettes — no permit, registration or background check needed. We can hide them under our jackets in bars and buy as many AK-47s as we please.
Like cigarettes and smoke, not everyone enjoys being around firearms. Similarly, cigarettes and guns are both deadly, but while one is being banned in more places, the other is increasing its presence.
The bottom line is that guns are meant to kill, as we saw in the Tucson shooting when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others were shot. At the time, guns were not permitted at public events, but with SB 1201, guns will be perfectly legal at civic engagement events like the one where Giffords was shot.
The bill opens the door for anyone to carry a gun. What if someone like me, a college student with no gun experience, wanted to start carrying an AK-47? Is this bill intended for someone like me to carry a gun? I might just try it out.
I can now; it is the law.
Share your ideas with Justine at jrgarci8@asu.edu
