Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona has professed his support of the second amendment his entire career. His recent move to block all federal laws that “violate the second amendment” could be the most radical right wing move in decades. Ducey has been met with great backlash from lobbyist groups such as Moms Demand Action and Americans Against Gun Violence. 

State House Bill 2093 states directly “Any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the United States government that violates Amendment II of the Constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in this state.”

While denying state employees the right to report and enforce federal laws does not stop federal agencies from doing so. However, the number of federal agents to local police is extraordinarily low. On average, there are 21 police officers per 25,000 citizens, while there is only 1 FBI agent per 15,000 citizens. Needless to say, the federal government relies heavily upon local law enforcement on these kinds of issues. 

The bill states that upon first offense, a state employee who “cooperates” with enforcing a federal gun crime will be cited a $3,000 fine, and a second offense carrying upwards of 6 months in jail. 

Supporters of this bill offer the classic arguments that, “All gun laws are unconstitutional” or “The government has no right to regulate my freedoms”. While most bi-partsans can agree on some facets of these arguments, the one that holds the most water is that a state should have the right to challenge the federal government, and if it doesn’t it will eventually lose this right. Much like many states’ decisions to legalize marijuana. Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, and a schedule one drug at that. However, many states have done what Arizona has decided to do, and refuse to enforce federal marijuana laws at the state level.

With the American demand for weapons so high, and the availability of budget AR-15s on the market, it wouldn’t be foolish to assume that the AR could become the most produced firearm in global history. This is with good reason, since it has been refined since the 1960s to be lightweight, efficient, and versatile. It fires a relatively cheap and easy to find .556 NATO slug at over 2200 feet per second. The new presidential administration is out to remove these weapons from the hands of the general public, but with Texas anticipated to follow in Arizona’s footsteps, the road ahead seems awfully rocky.