Brewer signs controversial gun carry bill

AZ Governor Brewer signs controversial gun carry bill

By: Mike Leiby, The Independent
04/20/2010

PHOENIX - Just one day before the deadline, Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill into law which in three months allows gun-carrying Arizonans to carry concealed weapons without permits.

By eliminating the permit requirement, the new law allows people 21 or older to forego background checks and classes which are now required.
Brewer signed the controversial bill on Friday and while she has supported gun laws in the past, Dennis Welch of the Arizona Guardian said it was also a good political move.
"She doesn't want to be going into a primary championing a sales tax and against guns and the other core republican values," Welch said.
Conservative lawmakers and the NRA supported the move for gun-carrying Arizonans.
"I believe this legislation not only protects the Second Amendment rights of Arizona citizens, but restores those rights as well," Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement. Others however say the law could have serious consequences.
"(Phoenix is the) fifth largest city in the country, and we can't be the Wild West any longer," said Hildy Saislow, a member of the group Arizonans for Gun Safety. "We can't go backwards, we need to go forward."
Some worries surrounding the new law are it could mean more guns in the wrong hands, making it harder for police to tell who is or is not a threat. One of the requirements of the bill is that anyone carrying a concealed weapon must declare they have it when they come in contact with an officer.
Penalties in Arizona for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit include up to six months in jail and/or up to a $2,500 and that remains until the new law becomes effective in three months putting the likely date it becomes law sometime in July or August. More than 154,000 people have permits to carry a concealed weapon in Arizona.
In 2007 Brewer's predecessor, Democrat Janet Napolitano, vetoed two related bills. One would have reduced penalties for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. The other would have allowed a person without a permit to carry a gun largely concealed as long as any part of it or its holster was visible.

*Reach the reporter at mleiby@wmicentral.com