Havasu News By Howard Fischer May 1, 2017
PHOENIX – Arizonans won’t have to worry the state or city will demand a background check before someone can sell a refrigerator, a microwave or, possibly more to the point, a gun.
Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday signed legislation which bars all levels of government from requiring that the owner of any personal property be forced to search a federal or state database before transferring the item. The law, which takes effect later this summer, also says governments can’t require the involvement of a third party in such transfers.
Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, said the legislation is the outgrowth of a concern from a constituent who heard of restrictions being enacted elsewhere and wanted to be sure Arizona not only makes those illegal for itself but keeps cities and towns from their own such interference.
But the only such laws approved by voters in other states apply only to firearms, designed to close what some call the “gun show loophole” that allows individuals with multiple weapons to sell them at such events without getting the same background checks required for sales through licensed gun dealers.
The governor on Monday also signed several other measures.
One with potentially broad effects would impose new restrictions on in-state moving companies.
Federal law already governs situations where people move from state to state. But the attorney general’s office said there are many complaints from people moving within Arizona that a company quotes one price, picks up the goods but then insists on additional cash before delivering the items.
This new law not only requires up-front estimates but also says household goods must be delivered once the property owner pays that amount. Any dispute over additional services would have to be resolved later in court.
Ducey also penned his approval to legislation to allow up to 35 electronic billboards within a 40-mile radius of Bullhead City.
That legislation was sought by lobbyists for Lamar Advertising who said they were not part of the 2012 deal which made most of the state off-limits to the internally illuminated signs. The only place new ones are permitted is a swath from the eastern edge of the Phoenix metro area west to Yuma, protecting telescopes and dark skies for southern, southeastern and northern Arizona.
The deal includes limits on illumination and a requirement the signs be switched off at 11 p.m. It also is crafted to bar the signs in and around Lake Havasu City and Hoover Dam.
The gun legislation is the latest bid by lawmakers to forestall some public demand for background checks for all sales, not just those made by licensed gun dealers.
For the moment, there are no state laws. But former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and husband Mark Kelly are using their organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions, to lobby for such an Arizona law and to work to elect legislators who will approve such a check.
The more immediate effect would be on a Tucson ordinance which says anyone who wants to sell weapons at the city-owned convention center has to first make sure a background check has been done on the buyer to ensure that person is legally entitled to own a firearm.