For a state that recently became only the second in the country to pass a law that names an official state gun, it shouldn't come as much of a shock that Arizona scored a whopping zero points on this year's Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence annual scorecard -- and that's out of 100.
Arizona joins Utah and Alaska on the group's list of states that "do not have a single common sense gun law on their books," and are considered "do-nothing" states in terms of gun-control policy.
The point system used to score each state is based on the criteria listed below:
- States can earn up to 35 points by taking steps needed to "Curb Firearms Trafficking." States can fully regulate gun dealers within their borders, limit bulk purchases of handguns, record gun sale records and provide police certain technology to identify crime guns, and require lost or stolen guns to be reported to the police.
- States can earn up to 40 points by "Strengthening Brady Background Checks." This involves requiring universal background checks and requiring a comprehensive permit to purchase firearms. Short of universal background checks, states also can close the gun show loophole by at least requiring background checks for all gun show sales, and they can regulate handgun ammunition sales.
- States can earn up to 10 points by "Banning Military-style Assault Weapons" and the deadly assault clips, like the one used by the Tucson shooter.
- States can earn up to 7 points by "Protecting Child Safety" when it comes to guns. States can require that only childproof handguns be sold within their borders, require child safety locks be sold with each weapon and hold adults accountable for keeping guns away from kids and teens.
As we mentioned, Arizona didn't earn a single point.
"We want to prevent the next Tucson, Virginia Tech, or Columbine. Gun violence directly touches nearly 100,000 Americans each year," Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke says. "This happens because it's too easy now for dangerous people to get guns and to legally carry them in all sorts of public places."
California, the group determined, has the most common-sense gun laws, despite ranking 33rd on the Centers for Disease Control's rankings of gun deaths per 100,000 people.
In a bit of a shocker, Arizona wasn't awarded one of the group's "Craziest Gun Laws" awards -- although, it should have been.
This year's "Craziest Gun Laws" awards went to Kansas for allowing guns in K-12 schools, Virginia for allowing guns in bars, as long as the patron doesn't drink; Utah for allowing guns on college campuses; and Florida for being on the brink of passing a bill that penalizes doctors for talking to children and parents about guns in the home.
In defense of Arizona's gun craziness, the state also allows guns in bars, and a brief case of common sense by Governor Jan Brewer is the only thing that prevented the state from also allowing guns on college campuses -- yet the Colt Single-Action Army Revolver State doesn't even get honorable mention? We're calling shenanigans.
See the full Brady scorecard here.