It’s nice to see the Arizona Legislature passing common sense gun laws

I couldn’t be happier that Senate Bill 1122 has made its way to Gov. Doug Ducey’s desk because Arizona legislators have actually passed a piece of common sense firearm legislation.

In case you missed it, SB 1122 is a bill that would ban state and city municipalities from requiring background checks for the sale of personal property (read: guns).

I know they put personal property on there in an attempt to not make it look like firearm legislation, but for the life of me, I can’t think of anything that I would sell to my neighbor that requires a background check other than a firearm.

Let’s call it what it is, shall we?

Here’s why I love this piece of legislation: Requiring a background check for the sale the private sale of a firearm is ridiculous for several reasons.

First, who would it impact? Guys like me. You see, I’m a law-abiding citizen and responsible firearm owner.

If I were required to take my neighbor down to the local firearm store to run background checks on both of us and clear the firearm just to sell that firearm to my neighbor, it would be an inconvenience, but I would do it because it’s the law.

Of course, background checks are meant to stop bad guys from getting firearms. How childish is it to think that requiring a background check would stop bad guys from getting firearms? How childish is it of us to think that the bad guys would actually follow the law?

I think you know what I’m getting at here so I’ll move on.

Most legislation requiring background checks for private sales of firearms point to what’s been commonly referred to as the gun show loophole.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no such thing as a gun show loophole. If you know of one, please tell me. I could save some time the next time I’m at a gun show purchasing a firearm.

If you buy a firearm at a gun show, you fill out a background check.

It would be more realistic to call it the private firearm sale loophole. Gun show loophole just sounds sexy for political purposes. End of story.

The next reason why legislation requiring background checks for the private sale of firearms is absolutely ridiculous is enforcement.

How could any agency keep up with private firearms sales? If I sell my neighbor one of my firearms for a couple hundred bucks, he hands me the cash, I hand them the firearm and no one is the wiser.

The promise of enforcement is just grandstanding by politicians pining to their base, the anti-gun crowd.

Money is the final reason why legislation requiring background checks for private sale of firearms is ridiculous.

Any piece of legislation that places any additional burden on responsible, law-abiding firearm owners will be challenged in court. This will be costly for the state.

Just read the Second Amendment of Constitution. The last four words are “shall not be infringed.”

It’s pretty easy for an attorney fresh out of law school to point to those four words, match it to a piece of legislation requiring additional paperwork and cost to obtain a firearm and win their case.

Darn that pesky Constitution. It keeps getting in the way of our government telling us we can and can’t do.

I applaud the Arizona Legislature for preemptively stopping anti-firearm municipalities from infringing on law-abiding citizen’s rights and costing their municipalities thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

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