NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday February 26, 2008

Republicans vote to make schools more dangerous

In a party-line vote today, four Republican lawmakers voted to make Arizona colleges more dangerous.

Senators Karen Johnson, Ron Gould, Chuck Gray and Jim Waring approved the bill, against the best advice from law enforcement experts.

“Guns have a very important place in our society – but that place is not our schools,” said Emily Bittner, spokeswoman for the Arizona Democratic Party. “Pushing this measure – at a time when lawmakers should be working on the budget – defies logic. They have much more important things they should be spending their time on.”

Furthermore, police chiefs from all the major Arizona colleges opposed the bill, and testified against it last week.

“I fear that additional lives will be lost because we will have to take the time to identify each and every gun that we encounter while we attempt to locate the source of the shots,” testified Greg Fowler, police chief at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. (http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/77297.php)

“Who should we trust on this issue? Ideologically driven lawmakers, or the professionals who are experts in the best ways to keep our campuses safe?” Bittner asked. “I would say it’s a pretty simple choice. We urge the Legislature to reject this measure when it comes to a full vote.”