Senate Bill 1112 proposes any federal law passed this year that tries to ban or restrict ownership of semiautomatic firearms or magazines or tries to register weapons would be unenforceable in the state. The bill, which passed the Senate Public Safety committee Wednesday afternoon, would only apply to guns manufactured in Arizona.
Under the legislation, thestate attorney general would be responsible for defending any citizen who is prosecuted by the federal government in this regard.
The bill was forwarded by a 4-2 vote, but not before senators debated some of the finer constitutional points of prosecuting a federal official trying to uphold federal law.
Sen. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, described the hypothetical case as something that could only occur in a “fantasy world.”
Sen. Don Shooter, R-Yuma, said it’s well within the rights of local sheriffs to instruct federal law enforcement officials to back off and, if they refuse, prosecute them under state law.
The committee vote came on the same day three people were shot by a gunman in a Phoenix attorney’s office, critically injuring one of the victims.
Information from Arizona Capitol Times
