13 February 2001
Kevin James Walsh
**** N **th Place
Phoenix AZ *****-****
(***)***-****
The Honorable Harry Mitchell
Arizona State Senate
1700 W Washington
Phoenix AZ 85007
Cc: Deb Gullett, Tom Smith, Jeff Hatch-Miller, Steve May
Dear Senator Mitchell:
I am writing to urge you to withdraw your support for SB 1566. There is too much infringement on our right to keep and bear arms as it is, much of it perpetrated by unconstitutional laws passed by the federal government. We don't need to do the dirty work of the feds for them.
SB 1566 is a tool to help the federal government enforce its unjust law forbidding the transfer of firearms to prohibited posessors. This list includes:
--Anyone who has ever been convicted of an act of domestic violence, however slight (that can mean a slap on the face or throwing a dish).
--Anyone who has committed an offense punishable by a term of imprisonment longer than one year (that can mean carrying a gun within 1000 feet of a school for no evil purpose). This applies no matter how long ago the offense was committed and without regard to whether violence was involved.
--Anyone who has ever been declared mentally ill, regardless of whether the mental illness made that person dangerous or whether that person has been cured.
--Anyone who has ever been dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, whatever the reason.
--Anyone who is under an order of protection, despite not having been convicted of any crime.
These are not just reasons to deny or infringe upon people's rights to bear arms, either in service of a well regulated militia (per 10 USC 311) or in defense of themselves or other innocent third persons. If the federal laws are unjust, as in this case they are, we should not be helping to enforce them. Let's keep the loopholes open!
Sincerely,
Kevin Walsh