By Paul Lathrop
Contributing Editor
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2111 into law, bringing Arizona into the family of states that are popularly called Second Amendment Sanctuaries.
House Bill 2111, titled the 2nd Amendment Firearm Freedom Act, is very brief, filling all of one-half of a page, and like the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, is written in plain language that does not need a law degree to decipher. Here is the official wording:
“Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona
Section 1. Title 1, chapter 2, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 1-272, to read:
1-272. Sovereign authority; right of the people to keep and bear arms
PURSUANT TO THE SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY OF THIS STATE AND ARTICLE II, SECTION 3, CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA, THIS STATE AND ALL POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS OF THIS STATE ARE PROHIBITED 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 ANY LAW OF THIS STATE REGARDING THE REGULATION OF FIREARMS.
Sec. 2. Short title 14 This act may be cited as the “2nd Amendment Firearm Freedom Act.”
The Arizona Constitution does have a right to bear arms, specifically Article 2 Section 26. “The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the state shall not be impaired, but nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing individuals or corporations to organize, maintain, or employ an armed body of men.”
The language there is curious as most states that have a right to keep and bear arms in their constitution simply repeat the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is word-for-word the same language found in the Washington State Constitution, adopted Nov. 11, 1889.
Second Amendment sanctuaries have been proliferating across the nation this year as communities and states look to hold back Federal regulations and laws that could emanate from Congress and the Biden Administration.
According to sanctuarycounties.com, as of March 1 of this year 1,188 counties in the nation had declared sanctuary status.
