Crazy, Right-wing, gun-loving Arizona

Did you see where Right-wing Arizona went koo-koo recently and got a few more extremely conservative laws on their books as of yesterday?

Oh, yeah. Guns and abortion.

I won't touch the abortion subject here but I couldn't pass up their gun ideas.

"The new laws allow guns to be kept in cars on campus, as well as on public and private properties."

Makes you want to send your son or daughter to ASU for college, doesn't it?

Here's the part that really gets me:

"Another new gun law allows licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons into bars and restaurants unless there is a sign on the property prohibiting firearms, according to state legislative documents."

You got that right.

Arizona is going to let people take their guns into bars.

That's always a good idea, don't you think? Guns and alcohol, your safest bet.

Fortunately, at least the head of the university sees the insanity of this:

"ASU President Michael Crow said in an Arizona Board of Regents meeting Friday that allowing concealed weapons in locked vehicles on campus goes against the environment he wants for the University.

'Our job as university presidents is to create an environment for openness, tolerance, communication, understanding — all these things,' Crow said. 'The public projection of weapons is a counter to the creation of that environment.'"

I'd love to hear what stand the local police groups had to say about allowing guns in bars and on university campuses.

To tie in with this story, I was doing some research to respond to a comment sent me by a reader and found an article from April, 2008 that showed that gun-related deaths in Hawai'i are the lowest in the nation and that this coincides with their stricter gun laws.

In yer' face, NRA.

I repeat, "more guns" is never the answer.


Here's the link to that story and data:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/04/26/editorial/editorial01.html

and this one:
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/04/25/news/story01.html

While this links you to a story about Arizona's new laws:
http://www.statepress.com/node/7967