Trump-Backed Arizona Gov. Candidate Vows to Defy Federal Gun Laws, Dares DOJ to Stop Her: What Are They Gonna Do, ‘Arrest a Sitting Governor?’
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Kari Lake, the Trump-backed Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, vowed on Wednesday not to “recognize” federal gun laws if she is elected – the same day the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan gun reform bill.
Lake, who is leading in her GOP primary, explains her stance on the Second Amendment on her website with only four words: “Shall. Not. Be. Infringed.”
The Senate agreed to take up the gun reform bill in a 64 to 34 vote, with 14 Republican Senators voting in support. The legislation increases funding for “school safety, mental health, state crisis intervention programs and incentives for states to include juvenile records in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System,” according to CNN’s read of the bill.
The key component of the legislation is that it broadens the ability of officials to conduct comprehensive background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21 – the demographic responsible for many of the recent mass shootings.
Lake not only voiced her opposition to the gun bill, but declared she would somehow nullify the law as governor:
When I’m Governor, Arizona will not recognize unconstitutional Gun Laws in our state. We just won’t do it.
What are the Feds going to do? Fly down here and arrest a sitting Governor? Call my bluff.
Lake’s tweet harks back to the many attempts of states throughout U.S. history that attempted to nullify or refused to implement federal law, a practice that largely ended after the Civil War.
When I’m Governor, Arizona will not recognize unconstitutional Gun Laws in our state. We just won’t do it.
What are the Feds going to do? Fly down here and arrest a sitting Governor? Call my bluff.
— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@KariLake) June 22, 2022
