Arizona has no law to stop intimidating, armed protesters. That must change

Imagine armed protesters and militias “patrolling” a crowd, intimidating bystanders and chanting about conspiracy theories about vaccines and false claims of voter fraud in the last election.

It wasn’t long ago that we would have thought this implausible, yet this describes what happened in September, when extremists gathered at the state Capitol for an event dubbed the “Liberty Revolution.”

The mix of misinformation, extremism and guns has sadly become common across the country. What’s worse: in Arizona, thanks to the state’s lax gun laws, none of this conduct is regulated or prohibited.

We must not accept armed protests as the new normal.

Armed individuals attended 17 Arizona events

Seeing the concerning number of armed protests throughout 2020, Everytown for Gun Safety partnered with the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project to launch a first-of-its-kind report on armed demonstrations in the United States.

Through ongoing monitoring, the project has identified more than 30,000 demonstrations between January 2020 and October 2021, more than 600 of which involved the presence of one or more armed individuals. They include high-profile events like the siege on the U.S. Capitol, but also hundreds of events that barely made the nightly news, including 17 in Arizona.

The vast majority of demonstrations nationwide were peaceful, and while armed demonstrations represent a small proportion of the total, our findings are clear: Armed demonstrations are significantly more likely to involve violence or destructive behavior.

In fact, armed demonstrations are nearly six times as likely to be violent or destructive compared to unarmed demonstrations – which undercuts what the gun lobby has been claiming for years: that more guns make you safer.

Thankfully, armed demonstrations in Arizona have been marginally less violent than the national average; nonetheless, they are still three times more likely to be violent or destructive than unarmed events.

More than half were at government facilities

Where these demonstrations are occurring is also important. Nearly all armed demonstrations took place in public spaces, with at least 18% at government facilities, including more than 100 at Capitol buildings and vote-counting facilities.

In Arizona, the figure is even more stark: More than half of the armed demonstrations occurred at legislative buildings and vote-counting facilities. In fact, Arizona has had the second-highest number at government facilities in the country.

This is especially troubling because public areas and government facilities are where people should feel most safe to engage in First Amendment speech. As the ACLU has noted, “[T]hose who march with arms threaten the free exchange of ideas and increase the risk of violence that will in turn limit the protest itself. And they chill the right to engage in counter-demonstrations.”

Our leaders can do something about this.

Intimidation hurts democracy. We can change this

Despite the efforts of some gun sense champions – including those who voted last year against House Bill 2551, which would have forced the allowance of guns in public buildings and at events held on public property – Arizona has some of the weakest gun laws in the country. That includes no law allowing law enforcement to stop individuals from carrying firearms in public spaces and using them to intimidate bystanders.

But Arizona can prohibit open carry and take additional action to protect places where First Amendment rights are often exercised.

It’s easy to think that the rise of extremism is relegated to a few fringe outliers, but at the Phoenix rally in September, one candidate for governor praised militia groups and indicated he would, if elected, send these groups to the border.

Other state legislators, some who are running for higher office, have praised the Proud Boys and openly affiliated with the Oath Keepers – two groups involved in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.

We’re at a pivotal crossroads. Arizona can take a major step toward preventing armed intimidation in public spaces by passing stronger gun safety laws or allow the fear and divisions that have fed the extremist movements to get worse.

It wasn’t long ago that meeting with your representative came without the specter of intimidation and having to wade through an armed crowd. That’s still possible, if we pass commonsense gun safety laws.

Justin Wagner is director of investigations at Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates for gun control. Share your thoughts at press@everytown.org; on Twitter: @Everytown.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Armed protests are all too easy in Arizona, thanks to lax gun laws