TUCSON, AZ — Arizona’s answer to the deadly shooting at a constituent event for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) Saturday will likely be more guns at political rallies, not less. That’s the word from Democrats and Republicans in this mourning desert city still reeling from this weekend’s mass shooting that left six dead and 14 injured, including Giffords, who remains in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Simply put, local politicians say, Arizona loves guns. And that means that there’s little or no chance that curbing their purchase or availability will be one the political agenda for the foreseeable future.
Despite a renewed national call for new firearms regulation following the shooting, the best gun control-supporting Arizonans can hope for is a slower pace in Arizona’s continuing march toward looser gun control laws.
“That’s not going to happen in Arizona,” state Rep. Daniel Patterson (D-Tucson) told me in an interview last night when I asked about gun control. “The more likely response is we’re going to have to think about having more armed guards at [political] events.”
[TPM SLIDESHOW: On The Ground In Arizona: TPM Retraces Shooting Suspect’s Steps ]
Patterson told me he didn’t think different gun laws could have prevented the shooting, even if passing them was possible in this deeply red state.
“My immediate reaction is, I don’t see a legislative way to prevent a crazy person from attacking people,” Patterson said. He added that he’s heard “no discussions” of new gun regulations in Phoenix as the legislature kicks off its legislative term.
“No law can ever prevent an act of violence,” Pima county GOP chair Brian Miller told TPM.
Arizona has been busy loosening its existing gun restrictions in the past couple years, passing laws allowing guns in bars and eliminating the requirement that state residents who want to carry a concealed weapon get a permit first.
As Washington Post reporter James Grimaldi told NPR this week, there are few places where guns are not a part of life in Arizona:
“It’s permitted in a bar [to carry a weapon] in Arizona if the person who has the weapon is not imbibing in alcohol,” he said. “It’s also permitted on school grounds currently if the person is picking up or dropping off a child as long as the weapon is unloaded and the gun owner remains in the vehicle.”
The state is busy trying to provide more places for guns to be carried in Arizona. There’s a proposal working its way through the legislature that would allow at least faculty to carry guns onto campuses across the state. As Slate’s Dave Weigel reports, a bill allowing community college professors to go to work armed was one of the first items placed on the Arizona legislative calendar this week.
Patterson told me the shootings in Tucson could “curb” the continued efforts to loosen gun laws, but even that will be a tough legislative fight.
Tucson Democratic Party chair Jeff Rogers told me his state is not the place for gun control advocates to look for their next campaign to start.
“The bulk of this state is so crazy about firearms that I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some law requiring every adult over 18 who legally could have a gun to have one,” Rogers told me when I asked about the potential legislative ramifications of the shooting. “You might see this as an opportunity for the rest of the nation to talk about gun laws…but the gun culture here is really insurmountable.”
“You cannot take them on and politically survive,” Rogers added.
