The political sky in Arizona fell on Monday. In an unexpected move, Gov. Jan Brewer said no to guns. As if that weren’t enough, she then said no to so-called “birthers.”
Brewer vetoed a bill that would have allowed guns on campus, and another that would have required candidates to show long-form birth certificates or equivalent documents to be on the ballot in Arizona.
These moves are breaks from the Arizona Republican Party doctrine and an embrace of common sense. While we fully expected both to pass, we are thrilled that the governor also sees the guns-on-campus bill and the “birther” bill as nonsensical measures that we’re better off without.
But Brewer’s justification for vetoing the bills left us wanting more. Brewer wrote in a letter that she vetoed the guns bill, SB 1467, because it was “poorly written.” We suspect this isn’t all the reasoning behind her decision, but there’s no doubt it’s the easiest explanation for her supporters.
Regardless, Brewer did the right thing. “Bills impacting our Second Amendment rights have to be crystal-clear so that gun owners don’t become lawbreakers by accident,” she wrote.
Several misunderstandings existed in the guns bill, and Brewer pointed them out. The legislation didn’t define “public right-of-way,” which is where guns would have been allowed on campus. It also didn’t exclude K-12 schools from the places where guns would be allowed, even though federal law does.
Brewer’s reasoning may have been a cop-out to avoid being disowned by her own party, but maybe it is sincere. “While I support the thoughtful expansion of where firearms should be allowed, the actual legislation that does so must be both unambiguous and clear,” Brewer wrote.
The idea that Brewer may still back guns on a university campus is still troubling.
We hope our governor will make the same decision in the coming days as SB 1201, dubbed the “firearms omnibus,” makes its way to her desk. We can only hope she turns to common sense once again to shut down this bill that allows guns in all public buildings, including university classrooms.
The fact that HB 2177 was vetoed as well suggests that maybe some reason still exists at our state Capitol. The bill came about as a result of the conspiracy theory that our president was not born in the United States.
This “birther” legislation would have given the Arizona secretary of state the authority to judge the validity of a candidate’s birth certificate, which Brewer opposed.
“As a former Secretary of State, I do not support designating one person as the gatekeeper to the ballot for a candidate, which could lead to arbitrary or politically-motivated decisions,” Brewer wrote in a letter explaining her decision.
In a final jab at the lawmakers who crafted this legislation, Brewer was fairly blunt.
“I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates’ among other records to the Arizona Secretary of State,” she said.
As the final days of our state’s Legislative session come to a close, we have seen a hint of sanity in our state government. Let’s hope it lasts.
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