Yesterday, two new laws in Arizona that loosen restrictions on gun ownership went into effect. The first one, documented by TPM, allows gun owners to carry their firearms into bars and restaurants. The second law allows students at the University of Arizona to carry firearms in their cars without a concealed weapons permit.
Let's start with the guns-in-bars law, a measure which was approved by the Arizona Senate back in June. From TPM:
The NRA-backed law, which takes effect today, allows those with a concealed weapons permit to bring guns into bars and restaurants. The new rules coincide with the Supreme Court announcement today that it will review a gun-control case, McDonald v. Chicago, which concerns whether state and local gun laws may be challenged under the Second Amendment.
There are a couple of stipulations to this law. First, gun owners who bring their firearms to a bar or public restaurant are prohibited from drinking liquor on the premises. Second, if the bar's owners put up a sign prohibiting guns in the establishment, then gun owners cannot carry a firearm inside.
Here's the problem: There are loopholes that basically render those stipulations meaningless. The legislation applies only to those who have a concealed weapons permit, and because the weapon is concealed, it's tough to imagine how bartenders are going to enforce the alcohol restrictions for gun owners. Unless the bars are planning on installing metal detectors at the door, or have cops or bouncers check for concealed weapons or even permits, there's virtually no way for businesses to regulate who's carrying a weapon on the premises, and then ensure that such gun owners are not served any alcohol. In addition, gun owners can be exempted from the law "if the sign banning guns had fallen down, the person wasn't an Arizona resident, or the notice was first posted less than a month earlier."
As for the new law the University of Arizona, it's still illegal to carry firearms on the campus while outside, but students and faculty members who own guns no longer need a concealed weapons permit to carry firearms in their vehicles.
The new law, Arizona Revised Statute 12-781, states that any firearm brought onto university property must remain locked in a privately owned vehicle and must not be visible from outside of the vehicle or motorcycle.
Previously, state law required a person to have a concealed weapons permit in order to keep a weapon in a motor vehicle. The new law revokes this restriction.
What really fascinates me about these new laws is how they came up. I would have originally thought that if there had been such a great demand for gun owners to be able to carry firearms into bars, that it was because there's a lot of gun violence in Arizona. Indeed, Arizona has the 5th-highest firearms mortality rate in the country with 18 gun-related deaths per 100,000. But that's not what the law's biggest proponents were arguing a couple of months ago. Instead, we heard this:
Gary Christensen, lobbyist for the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association, an NRA affiliate, says that is an inconvenience for those who have obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon because they want to be able to defend themselves. He said the law limits where they can eat, as many restaurants also have liquor licenses.
"You have to decide are you going to go in, are you going to go someplace else, are you going to leave the gun in your car?" he told members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Russell Pearce, a Republican legislator from Mesa and supporter of the new bar law, said this:
"We have laws against bad guys," he said. "Let's give the good guys the right to do what I think our founders decided a long time ago when they recognized our God-given rights to bear arms."
So instead of statistics that show how increased gun sales and loosened gun restrictions promote improved gun safety and decrease homicide rates, we get baseless fear-mongering about how we need guns to protect ourselves and that age-old "frontier" mentality -- that gun ownership is a "God-given right."
It's also worth mentioning the NRA's recommendation with regard to alcohol and gun safety:
Never use alcohol or over-the-counter, prescription or other drugs before or while shooting.
Alcohol, as well as any other substance likely to impair normal mental or physical bodily functions, must not be used before or while handling or shooting guns.
J.P. Nelson, the NRA's Western Region director, said that "if a person starts drinking and gets in a shootout and kills someone, of course they're subject to criminal prosecution." Doesn't that sound great? Basically, if gun violence happens because of this new de-regulation, it happens. We'll deal with it and cross that bridge when we come to it.
That would all be well and good, except that Nelson is forgetting that we don't live in a vacuum. People drink. Gun owners who want to a) drink and b) carry their firearms into a bar are going to find a way to do both. Alcohol impairs your judgment and people who drink it can make some incredibly stupid, irresponsible decisions. That's why the police crack down very hard on people who drink and drive. In states with the toughest gun restrictions (like New York and Massachusetts), there are laws that prevent gun owners from carrying concealed weapons into crowded spaces. That's why Plaxico Burress is facing a long jail sentence. Those laws are in place not because the government wants to "curb people's liberties," but because it doesn't want people to get needlessly hurt.
It doesn't even matter if the new bar law prohibits gun owners from drinking in the bar. Their friends might drink. They might drink beforehand at home before going out. One should NEVER assume that all gun owners are going to act completely responsibly, and if there's no sign in place that prohibits guns in bars, then you shouldn't assume that gun carriers won't drink or that bar owners will even enforce the no-drinking policy. I absolutely fail to see how allowing gun owners to bring concealed weapons into crowded spaces where people drink alcohol is going to make things safer.
It all sounds like a dangerous cocktail to me.