REFERENCE TITLE: firearms; prohibited governmental activities

State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-second Legislature Second Regular Session 2016

HB 2300

Introduced by Representatives Kern, Mitchell, Montenegro: Campbell, Lawrence, Leach

 

AN ACT

 

amending title 13, chapter 31, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 13‑3122; relating to firearms.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1.  Title 13, chapter 31, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 13-3122, to read:

START_STATUTE13-3122.  Second amendment violations; prohibited activities; state treasurer; prohibited money transfers; civil penalties; classification

A.  Notwithstanding any other law and except as required by a court order, an agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state or an employee of an agency or political subdivision of this state acting in the employee's official capacity shall not do any of the following:

1.  Knowingly and willingly participate in any way in the enforcement of any federal act, law, order, rule or regulation issued, enacted or promulgated on or after the effective date of this section regarding a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition.

2.  Use any assets, state monies or monies allocated by this state to political subdivisions of this state on or after the effective date of this section, in whole or in part, to engage in any activity that aids a federal agency, federal agent or corporation providing services to the federal government in the enforcement or any investigation pursuant to the enforcement of any federal act, law, order, rule or regulation issued, enacted or promulgated on or after the effective date of this section regarding a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition.

B.  Notwithstanding any other law, the state treasurer shall not transfer any monies to a political subdivision of this state in the fiscal year after a final judicial determination is made that the political subdivision of this state adopted a rule, order, ordinance or policy that intentionally violated this section. 

C.  Any agent or employee of this state or any political subdivision of this state who knowingly violates this section is subject to the following:

1.  A civil penalty of not more than three thousand dollars for the first violation of this section.

2.  A class 1 misdemeanor for a second or subsequent violation of this section. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2.  Legislative findings

A.  The legislature finds:

1.  The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental individual right that shall not be infringed.

2.  That it is the intent of the legislature in enacting this act to protect Arizona employees, including law enforcement officers, from being directed, through federal executive orders, agency orders, statutes, laws, rules or regulations enacted or promulgated on or after the effective date of this act to violate their oath of office and individual rights affirmed under the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States and article II, section 26, Constitution of Arizona.

3.  That pursuant to and in furtherance of the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution of the United States, the federal government may not commandeer this state's officers, agents or employees to participate in the enforcement or facilitation of any federal program not expressly required by the Constitution of the United States.

4.  That this right to be free from the commandeering hand of the federal government has been most notably recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Printz v. United States when the Court held, "The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program."

5.  That the anticommandeering principles recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Printz v. United States are predicated on the advice of James Madison, who in Federalist Number 46 advised "a refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union" in response to either unconstitutional federal measures or constitutional but unpopular federal measures.