He is a jovial man, so it is no suprise that he smiled as he killed legislation brought to him by the people’s representatives, but Governor Doug Ducey’s veto of Arizona State Rep. Bob Thorpe’s bill, HB2524, which was designed to push back efforts by former New York Mayor Bloomberg, did surprise many.
Ducey did sign SB1266 (firearms; state preemption; penalties) and HB2338 (educational institutions; firearms; rights-of-way).
In what is described as the best spin by the Govenor to date, he claimed in a press release: “Arizona has led the nation in ensuring the right of our citizens to keep and bear arms, and I intend to preserve that status. That is why I’m vetoing House Bill 2524.”
He called the effort to pushback against Bloomberg and the gun control groups “unnecessary.”
Rep. Thorpe said today, “I am vey disappointed, after all the work over the past 2 years, that Governor Ducey vetoed this important 2nd Amendment bill. Bloomberg wasn’t satisfied with just taking away individual’s rights to drink a large Coke, now he’s going state by state, spending millions of dollars in order to pass referendums that take away our 2nd Amendment rights as well. This bill was in direct response, to protect the Constitutional rights of Arizona citizens.”
Earlier this year, after the House Judiciary Committee passed HB2524, Charles Heller of the Arizona Citizens Defense League called HB2524 the bill the most “important” bill to his group this session. Heller appeared on the popular James T. Harris radio show shortly after the bill was passed by the committee.
According to Heller’s group, HB 2524 “would prohibit member states from exceeding federal law on private firearm transfers. Currently federal law has no limitations on most intrastate private party transfers between non-prohibited individuals. The passage of this bill is kryptonite to Bloomberg’s “universal background check” ballot measure… ”