Montini: Gov. Doug Ducey's do-little gun plan
EJ Montini: There are some good things in Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's plan, but without a universal background check bad guys will get guns.
EJ Montini
It would be inaccurate to say Gov. Doug Ducey is planning to do nothing with gun laws in order to make school kids (and everyone else) a little safer.
It would be correct, however, to say that he is doing next to nothing.
(Which is not the next best thing.)
Ducey told Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, "We are looking to keep all of the guns out of the hands of people that should not have them. I'm not looking to take some of the guns out of law-abiding American hands.''
Universal background check needed
Unfortunately, none of the proposals that Ducey described to Fischer will do a thing to “keep all of the guns out of the hands of people that should not have them.”
No system is perfect.
But the best chance to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them is with a universal background check on all gun sales. All of them.
In other words, closing the so-called gun-show loophole, the one that allows a buyer to purchase a weapon from a private seller with no background check.
The plan Ducey announced Monday doesn't do that. He wants to increase the number of counselors in schools and he wants to expand the number of police officers protecting schools. He wants to "enhance" background checks and restrict weapons access to dangerous individuals. These are good things.
Not enough.
But not nothing.
However, no matter what else the government does or does not do when it comes to weapons if there is no universal background check then it will always be easy for a person who shouldn’t have a gun to get a gun.
Ducey told Fischer, "The thing that I want to do is everything we can at the state level. The federal government's going to have a role in this as well.''
The federal government keeps passing the buck to the states when it comes to gun regulation.
The feds keep passing the buck
If there is no uniform national code for how guns are sold and to whom, then just about any state law can be circumvented.
That seems to be what organizations like the National Rifle Association want.
It gives the NRA the opportunity to say there are already too many gun laws on the books, knowing that the problem isn't the number of laws but the lack of uniformity across the country.
Ducey is trying to walk a tightrope between appeasing the gun lobby while appearing to take strong action against gun violence.
But it doesn’t work that way.
The NRA knows it.
Ducey knows it.
You know it.
There is no perfect solution, of course. But there are common sense regulations that would not inhibit anyone’s Second Amendment rights and offer the best chance to keep people safe.
Common sense regulations
Not long ago, the folks at DICK’S Sporting Goods outlined what they are. Check Ducey's plan to see how many are on the list. Or not on it.
They include: A ban on assault-style firearms. Raising the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21. Banning high capacity magazines and bump stocks. Requiring universal background checks to include relevant mental health information. Creating the most complete database possible of those banned from buying firearms.
And, again, closing the private sale and gun show loophole.
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