NW Valley Times

Arizona State Rep. Austin Smith (R-29) criticized Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-Ariz.) after Hobbs tweeted she was "wearing orange to bring awareness to the increase in gun violence."

"You have a 24/7 DPS protection detail," tweeted Smith. "Democrat politicians like Hobbs aren’t anti-firearm, they actually don’t mind it. They just want the state to be able to protect itself, not little old you or me."

In addition to tweeting about "wearing orange", Hobbs also said gun violence "takes the lives of 120 Americans every single day. We can and must do better to protect our communities, and I’ll continue to work across the aisle to make that happen."

A Pew Research analysis of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that, in 2021, "54% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides." That analysis also found that gun deaths in 2021 were "well below the peak of 16.3 gun deaths per 100,000 people, back in 1974, "despite rising sharply during the pandemic."

A separate report compiled for the CDC by The National Academies’ Institute of Medicine and National Research found that "defensive use of guns by crime victims is a common occurrence."

"Almost all national survey estimates indicate that defensive gun uses by victims are at least as common as offensive uses by criminals, with estimates of annual uses ranging from about 500,000 to more than 3 million," said the report. "Defensive uses of guns (i.e., incidents in which a gun was 'used' by the crime victim in the sense of attacking or threatening an offender) have found consistently lower injury rates among gun-using crime victims compared with victims who used other self-protective strategies."

Data compiled by the Heritage Foundation shows thirty cases of defensive use of firearms in Arizona in 2022-2023.

On April 17, 2023, AZ Family Digital reported that 18-year-old Hassan Kamara was shot and killed after attempting to burglarize a car in Goodyear, Ariz.

"Family members witnessed 18-year-old Hassan Kamara and another person trying to break into a car," said the report. "Police say Kamara pointed a gun at the homeowner, who was also armed."

On April 11, 2023, AZCentral.com reported that, "Phoenix police are investigating a home invasion that resulted in the fatal shooting of the intruder."

"Police say early information suggests that the man had unlawfully entered the residence, made threats and aggressively approached the homeowner. The homeowner then shot the man before calling police and remained on scene," said the report.

On June 22, 2023, the Verde Valley Independent reported that a man, David Chesney, was shot and killed after "Chesney fired shots into a trailer home where another man and his wife were staying, and that he also pointed a gun at the wife."

"As long as I’m in the legislature, I’ll be in the way to stop any work cloaked in 'bipartisan' false rhetoric that is aimed to strip Arizonans of their rights," tweeted Smith. "Just as you see here. Article II, § 26 of the Arizona Constitution states: 'The right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself or the State shall not be impaired.'"

The Grand Canyon Times reported last week that Arizona is one of 26 states that allows citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

"We applaud legislators and the executive branches of states like Arizona where our representatives fight to preserve and maintain constitutional rights like permitless carry," Lori Roman, CEO of the American Constitutional Rights Union, told the Times. "After all, the fundamental purpose of government in our constitutional republic is to protect the natural rights of its citizens. Among these enumerated rights are the right to keep and bear arms."