Parking Lot Guns

The “guns-in-parking-lots” bill, HB 2474, prevents property owners, tenants, employers and businesses from prohibiting the storage or transport of a firearm in locked vehicles parked in a parking lot, parking garage or other designated parking area. The bill was sponsored by Fountain Hills (D8) Republican John Kavanagh and D30 Republican Frank Antenori. Kavanagh equated property owners’ right to prohibit guns on their own property to prohibiting African Americans on their property. “The owner of a private business can’t say I don’t like blacks; therefore, the Civil Rights Act does not apply in my business, no blacks can come in.” “I was surprised to hear this bill compared to the Civil Rights Act of 1965,” said Assistant House Democratic Leader Kyrsten Sinema. “It’s ludicrous.” “This bill violates private property rights of both homeowners and businesses,” she went on to say.

“Property owners should have the right to make decisions about how they will manage, control and protect that property.” House Democratic Leader David Lujan stated, “It would allow people to have incredibly easy access to a firearm immediately
outside of a work environment without the property owner’s consent.” “As House Democrats and Arizonans, we believe in the rights of gun ownership. We also believe in common sense.” The bill would allow weapons in cars at daycare centers and other areas where children are present even without their parents. The bill also offers no exemption for condominium or apartment complexes to keep weapons from coming on to their property. It allows guns in cars parked at a home without consent from the homeowner. The bill, which lacks common sense and violates property rights, passed Committee of the Whole on a voice vote May 7 with all Republican lawmakers voting “yes.”

Source: Rod - Independent Voice