It’s my state and I love it but Arizona does have the
largest gang of nincompoops in the country running the state government, and
that’s all the way from the Governor down to the Republican legislature. Jan Brewer, the finger waggin’ Gov. who has
been in office since 2003 still does not have a clue about what she is
doing. I have to admit she has lucked
into some good decisions—one was the sales tax measure to help Arizona’s
economy—but stupid moves like denying qualified illegal immigrants driver
licenses is more indicative of her style of bungling government.
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| Jan Brewer |
She is supported by the biggest bunch of incompetent Republican
state legislators ever assembled in one state, a clique of gun loving cowboys
and cowgirls that have succeeded in passing the loosest gun control measures in
the country and which have made Arizona a laughing stock. The latest example is the reaction to a
voluntary gun buyback program organized by Tucson’s vice mayor, Steve Kozachik,
at the time a Republican. When the
National Rifle Assn. (NRA) had been successful in quelling any gun control
since Jared Loughner’s Tucson gun massacre, Kozachik jumped into action.
In the two weeks leading up to the gun buyback, Kozachik
received threats and was referred to as “Hitler,” just because he wanted to
take back firearms from people who no longer felt comfortable with them in
their house. Sounds simple enough, and
they were given in return a $50 gift card.
As an example of the program’s success, $10,000 in gift cards was
distributed during the event. Kozachik
was a Republican at the time but switched parties one week after the
buyback. His contention is that there
are some in the GOP who want to do right but the party is still being led by
the GOP far right.
During Kozachik’s gun buyback program success, the NRA
couldn’t stand the heat so in defiance of Kozachik, a group of gun nuts set up
a “cash for guns” firearms flea market close by and right on the boundary of
the police department where the buyback was taking place. Kozachik comments,
“In Arizona, it is legal for a person to walk up to another on a street corner,
hand him cash for a firearm and simply walk off with it, with no need for a
background check into his psychological or criminal history.” And that’s exactly what this brazen bunch of
gun worshippers did.
In talking further about his change
from Republican to Democrat, Kozachik said, “It is that rigid ideology that is
driving the party into irrelevancy.”
But Arizona’s gun culture could also mean that when the Obama/Biden
gun control laws start going on the books, it could be the hardest hit of all
the states. A state law has already been
proposed in Arizona saying it does not have to comply with any federal laws it chooses
not to. That’s my state, but I still
love it. Charles Heller, co-founder of the Tucson-based Arizona Citizens
Defense League, another gang of radical gun nuts, resurrected the now cliché 2nd
Amendment argument making a bizarre comment:
“The idea of the Second Amendment
was so we could shoot the cops and the soldiers ... who are trying to overthrow
the U.S. Constitution.” It’s like these
people are on another planet.
Dennis Wagner, in the ArizonaRepublic, says, “The National Rifle Association does not maintain a
ranking list for states, but its website shows Arizona conforming to nearly
every NRA barometer for Second Amendment support.” Arizona also gets an “F” in firearms safety
regulation by The California-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “Out of
50 states, Arizona came in 49th behind only South Dakota,” said Lindsay
Nichols, an attorney who worked on the report card. “It has some of the weakest
gun laws in the country.”
The Brady Campaign gives Arizona a “0” score, last along
with Utah and Alaska, for firearms safety provisions.
One can only try and imagine what goes through
the minds of such a group of nitwit state legislators who pass these laws and the
bonehead Governor who signs them into law.
The term double-digit IQs comes to mind.
