REFERENCE TITLE: support; second amendment

State of Arizona Senate Fifty-first Legislature First Regular Session 2013

SCR 1015

Introduced by Senators Griffin, Burges; Representatives Fann, Gowan, Stevens: Senators Barto, Murphy, Shooter, Ward

 

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 

proclaiming support for the second amendment of the united states constitution.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

Whereas, the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"; and

Whereas, the right to bear arms and self‑defense is recognized in state constitutions; and

Whereas, the natural and inalienable right to self-defense is well established in the writings of many philosophers and authors since ancient times of Greece and Rome; and

Whereas, for centuries tyrants have recognized that a disarmed population is readily dominated; and

Whereas, the Second Amendment protects the rights of self-defense, defense of others and defense of the nation, and assumes the rights to hunting and sport shooting; and

Whereas, it is estimated that more than 70 million people, representing more than half of the households in America, have chosen to lawfully exercise the right to bear arms and defend themselves and their families; and

Whereas, many gun control laws implicitly assume the guilt of lawful and responsible firearms owners with little effect on the ability of criminals to obtain firearms and use them unlawfully; and

Whereas, the vast majority of all lawfully owned firearms in America are not used in crimes; and

Whereas, statistically, lawful gun owners are less likely to break the law than the average member of the public; and

Whereas, in 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual's—not a collective—right to keep and bear arms.  In 2010 the Supreme Court further opined in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the right of an individual to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states; and

Whereas, studies by the National Academies of Science and the Centers for Disease Control have found no persuasive evidence that gun control laws actually reduce crime; and

Whereas, Americans today are safer from violent crime than they have been at any time since the mid-1960s.

Therefore

Be it resolved by the Senate of the State of Arizona, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the Members of the Legislature support the right under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution of individual citizens to keep and bear arms and reject the consideration of new legislation that would infringe on this constitutionally protected right.