AzCDL Action Alert - HB 2166

 

Thank you to everyone who continues to respond to our Action Alerts--your voices are being heard by our legislators! This week we need to provide some encouragement for another important gun bill--HB 2166. The bill would exempt firearms and firearm safety equipment from transaction privilege (sales) tax. Among the long list of exemptions from taxation found in ARS Title 42, many are related to goods and services necessary or useful for the preservation of life and health. This includes prescribed drugs, oxygen, eyeglasses, disability aids, and some food and fuel products. Firearms and related safety equipment are clearly necessary and useful for the preservation of life, health and personal safety--so much so that the state's founders enshrined the right to keep and bear arms in Article 2, Section 26 of our Constitution. Governments have historically used taxation as a way to drive behavior. Tax something to discourage it, reduce or eliminate a tax to encourage it. The safe and proper use of firearms should be encouraged!   HB 2166 will be heard this week by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, March 9th, at 10:00 AM. Please log into the RTS system today to enter your "For" vote and encourage your Senator to pass the bill out of committee. AzCDL's  lobbying effectiveness at the Capitol is dependent upon you contacting legislators, letting them know that as a voting constituent you are watching what they are doing, expecting them to vote for bills you support and against bills you oppose. To voice your opinion on this bill, visit the AZ Legislature Applications page, sign in to your RTS account, click on the big blue “Request to Speak” icon in the middle of the page, then click on the “New Request” tab on the left side of the page. Note:  If you do not see the “New Request” tab, it means your RTS account was not created or activated at an official RTS terminal at the Capitol.  If that’s the case, we can help.  Let us know in a reply to this message.   A new window will open up.  In the “Search Phrase” line, enter the bill number without HB or SB (i.e., 1123, 1177, etc.) and click on the blue “Search” button below the Search Phrase.    Your search results will appear below the “Search” button as in the example below.    Click on the blue “Add Request” button on the right side of your search results to bring up your voting page.  For these bills we ask that you click on the “For” (thumbs up) button.  Unless you plan on attending and testifying at the hearing, always answer “No” to the “Do you wish to speak?” question.   About RTS AzCDL does not control the RTS system  Several years ago, the Legislature set up the RTS system.  With the automation of RTS a feature was added to allow citizens with RTS accounts to state their positions about a bill online, without having to testify.  However, to access this feature, RTS accounts must first be created at dedicated computer terminals at the Capitol in Phoenix or the state offices in Tucson. Please do NOT be tempted to create an RTS account online.  It is essentially useless and cannot be used to comment to committees on legislation unless it is activated at an official RTS terminal. If you are a current AzCDL member and do not have an existing RTS account, we will be happy to assist you in setting up an account.  Simply reply to this message and request our help. If you have ever created an existing RTS account, a duplicate account cannot be created.  You must use your existing account.  If you log in and receive a message that your RTS account must be “activated”, that too must be done at an official RTS terminal. We can also assist you with that.  Those who want to disarm you understand the importance of RTS.  Their followers are flooding RTS with demands to committee members to defeat the same bills we are asking you to support.  Their goal is to have every peaceful Arizona gun owner tagged, tracked and targeted for registration and confiscation.  You can defeat them by using your RTS account to tell committee members to support good legislation and to prevent bad bills from progressing. Committee hearings will be a priority in the coming weeks.  The deadline for bills to be heard in the other chamber (House bills in the Senate, Senate bills in the House) is Friday, March 25th.   As important bills are scheduled for committee hearings, we will notify you via these alerts. We encourage you to share this and all AzCDL emails with anyone you know who is interested in protecting their right to keep and bear arms in Arizona.  They can click here to subscribe to AzCDL email broadcasts. A list of firearms related bills we are monitoring this session can be found on AzCDL’s Bill Tracking Page. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization.  AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom.  Copyright © 2021 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.