Arizona Citizens Defense League Protecting Your Freedom Volume 2021, Issue 2  AzCDL’s Membership Newsletter May 2021

Directors & Officers Dave Kopp, President Michael Gibbs, Vice President Tom Woodrow, Secretary Fred Dahnke, Treasurer Duke Schechter,  Director Charles Heller, Media Relations Available on the web(www.AzCDL.org)• AzCDL Goals & Successes• Legislative Updates• Court Cases• Membership• Online Store• Important Links(and much more) Need help accessing the web site? Contact AzCDL at webmaster@azcdl.org  Contacting AzCDL Inside this issue:2021 Legislation 1 & 2Director Elections 3April at Front Sight 4info@AzCDL.org(623) 242-9086P.O. Box 86256Tucson, AZ 85754

The 2021 Legislative session convened on Monday, January 11. Although sessions typically last about 100 days, this one has run longer than usual.The 2020 elections resulted in a single vote Republican majority in both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, there are Republican Representatives and Senators that have a history of voting against bills that restore and protect your right to keep and bear arms. As a result, it has been challenging to get good bills passed. 

The following are key bills that impact your Right to Keep and Bear Arms (RKBA). You can view the status of all the bills we are monitoring this session at AzCDL’s Bill Tracking Page. Arizona has a Republican Governor with a history of being unsupported of pro-rights firearm bills and whose staff has worked behind the scenes to prevent good bills from leaving the Legislature, but there have been some pleasant surprises! Legislative Successes! Despite these challenges, AzCDL had some significant successes this session. These bills were signed by the governor and will soon be law in Arizona:HB 2111, introduced by Representative Biasiucci, prohibits the state and its political subdivisions (cities, counties, etc.) from using any personnel or financial resources to enforce, administer, or cooperate with any act, law, treaty, order, rule, or regulation of the United States government that is inconsistent with Arizona firearms laws. Signed by the governor April 6, 2021. HB 2810, introduced by Representative Grantham, reforms the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws and generally requires a criminal conviction before personal property can be seized. Although technically not a firearms bill, gun owners are often the target of the state’s asset forfeiture efforts. Signed May 5, 2021. SB 1382, introduced by Senator Rogers, classifies ammunition and fire-arms related businesses as “essential” during a state of emergency and provides state-level liability protections to those businesses similar to those in the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Signed May 7, 2021. 2021 Legislation HB 2551, introduced by Representative Kavanaugh, would exempt CCW permit holders from the prohibition on entering state and local government controlled property while armed. 2021 Legislation PAGE 2 PROTECTING YOUR FREEDOM VOLUME 2021, ISSUE 2HB 2451, introduced by Representative Friese, proposed a “Red Flag” law that would use civil proceedings to forcibly confiscate your firearms based on claims from family members or school officials with virtually no recourse or appeals.HB 2452, also from Representative Friese, would have outlawed the mere possession of a bump stock or “any part, combination of parts, component, device, attachment or accessory that is designed or functions to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic rifle.” It could include that aftermarket trigger you bought to smooth out your trigger press, since it can function to accelerate the rate of fire. HB 2572, introduced by Representative Powers Hannley, would have repealed the civil penalty on political subdivisions that destroy seized and surrendered firearms. HB 2581, introduced by Representative Longdon, would have criminalized your private firearm transfers as “trafficking” and added several reg-ulatory requirements for firearms dealers, which would include gunsmiths and businesses that deal in aftermarket parts. Among the long litany of additional onerous state regulations were:• Limiting your firearms purchases to one per month.• Reporting anyone who buys multiple fire-arms in a 90-day period to law enforcement.• Visual and audio recording of sales and maintaining a database of the guns you buy.

Bad Bills Killed: Good Bills Still in the State Legislature HB 2582, also from Representative Longdon, would have created a $1,000 civil penalty (i.e., substantially reduced standard of evidence) if you don’t have your firearm or ammunition locked away at home. SB 1205, introduced by Senator Mendez, would have eliminated “no duty to retreat” from the statutes justifying the use of deadly force for self-defense.SB 1285, by Senator Engel, would have required a 3 day waiting period on all firearm purchases.  Violation would be a Class 6 Felony. SB 1385, also from Senator Mendez, would have made it a Class 1 Misdemeanor for “storing” your firearms without using a trigger lock or placing them in a locked container.  There is no explanation of what is meant by “storing” in the proposed statute or when or where it’s supposed to occur.  It could have meant you needed to add a trigger lock before placing your gun in your holster. SB 1535, introduced by Senator Alston, would have made you a criminal if a minor could access your firearm.  Violation would have been a Class 6 felony. SB 1718 by Senator Conteras and HB 2449, filed by Representative Friese, would have made it a Class 5 felony to transfer a firearm unless you surrendered it to an FFL and background checks were conducted on both you and the transferee. “Transfer” is broadly defined and could include simply handing your firearm to a family member or friend.HB 2840, introduced by Representative Parker, Would remove the requirement that a firearm must be unloaded when secured in a vehicle on school grounds.

FBI firearm background checks set another all-time record  in June WENY  -  c/o Lucianne The  FBI conducted more than 3.9 million background checks associated with the sale,  transfer or permitting of firearms in June, making it the highest month on  record for background checks since the bureau began keeping statistics in 1998.  By comparison, the bureau conducted 2.3 million checks in June 2019. The figures  released for June 2020 also eclipse the previous record set in March 2020, when  the bureau conducted 3.7 million checks.