On Wednesday, February 17, HB 2827 and HB 2840 are scheduled for a 9 AM hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.  At 2 PM, HB 2810 is scheduled for hearing in the House Criminal Justice Reform Committee.

HB 2810 is proposed Civil Asset Forfeiture reform legislation that requires a criminal conviction before property can be forfeited.

HB 2827 would prohibit business or financial discrimination against a “firearm entity” that supports or is engaged in the lawful commerce of firearms, firearms accessories or ammunition products.

HB 2840 would remove the requirement that a firearm must be unloaded when secured in a vehicle on school grounds.

Your RTS “vote” supporting these bills must be entered before the February 17 hearings.

We thank everyone who used the Legislature’s Request to Speak system this past week to show support for HB 2111, HB 2551 and SB 1328.  All three bills passed out of their respective committees.

HB 2111 proposes that any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates the Second Amendment would be unenforceable in Arizona.

HB 2551 would, with certain exceptions, exempt CCW permit holders from the prohibition on entering state and local government-controlled property while armed.

SB 1328 is almost identical to HB 2111 but contains the added verbiage that any act, law, treaty, rule or regulation of the U.S. Government that violates Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution would also be unenforceable in Arizona.  Article 2, Section 26 is Arizona’s constitutional protection of our right to bear arms.

Friday, February 19, is the last day bills can be heard in committees in their originating chamber (House or Senate).  Any bills not meeting this deadline are effectively dead for the session.

The next steps for bills that pass out of committees are debates and votes in the originating chamber (House or Senate).  When bills are scheduled for chamber debates and/or votes, we will prepare emails for you to send to your legislators urging them to vote for bills we support and against bills we oppose.  Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, this is a good time for those of you who do not have RTS accounts to acquire one.  We have volunteers willing to travel to the Capitol and create new RTS accounts for AzCDL members who do not have one, and activate RTS accounts that were not created at an official RTS terminal.  To request an RTS account creation or activation, click here.  Not an AzCDL member?  Click here to join AzCDL.