AZ Gov. Relies on Never Trumper David French to Justify Gun Control Push

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R) media and communications wing is using Never Trumper David French to justify the Governor’s current gun control push.

Ducey has been angling to add gun control to Arizona, one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union, ever since the February 14, 2018, Parkland school shooting in Florida. The central component to Ducey’s gun control push is a Red Flag law that creates STOP Orders. Such orders allow guns to be confiscated from Arizonans.

On August 15, 2018, the AZ Capitol quoted Ducey describing his STOP (Severe Threat Order of Protection) as the “crown jewel” of a gun control push that began after Parkland.

He said, “I think the STOP plan — the Severe Threat Order of Protection — is the crown jewel of our safe schools plan.” He added, “It’s the one tool that could have eliminated the mass shootings that have happened in other places in the country.”

In reality, confiscatory Red Flag Laws have not stopped some of the highest profile shootings in our nation’s recent history.

For example, Illinois has a confiscatory Red Flag Law, but that did not prevent the February 15, 2019, Henry Pratt Company shooting that killed five innocents. California also has a confiscatory Red Flag Law, but that did not prevent the November 7, 2018, Borderline Bar & Grill shooting that killed 12. Moreover, Florida also adopted a Red Flag Law after the Parkland attack, and that law did not prevent the January 23, 2019, SunTrust Bank shooting in which five innocents were killed.

Breitbart News reached out to Ducey’s office for comment on his support of Red Flag Laws and a member of his media/communications team responded by showing us that Never Trumper David French supports the gun control push. They sent us a quote from French, in which he described Ducey’s gun control as “perhaps the most intelligent policy response to school shootings (and, honestly, mass shootings more generally) that [he has] ever read.”

French refused to support Trump during the 2016 race and continues, even now, to urge Americans to vote Trump out. As recently as July 25, 2019, French wrote a column for TIME magazine suggesting Robert Mueller’s Congressional testimony should serve as justification for Americans to abandon Trump.

French thinks Ducey’s gun control push is good.

UPDATE JULY 28, 2019, 2:30 p.m. ET:

Governor Ducey’s spokesman Patrick Ptak provided an additional quote citing NRA support for the measure as well.

“There’s a reason why NRA’s Arizona director has said this ‘bill would protect the rights of law-abiding Arizonans,’” Ptak said in an emailed statement. “It ensures due process, requiring one of the highest standards of evidence from a judge: Clear and Convincing Proof. STOP orders are temporary and require law enforcement to return firearms after expiration, and the bill imposes severe felony penalties for filing false petitions.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.