ARIZONA REPUBLICANS PASS GUN CONTROL LAW, BECAUSE FREEDOM

Remember, gun control is a horrible thing -- except when gun absolutists do it:

Arizona cities and counties that hold community gun buyback events will have to sell the surrendered weapons instead of destroying them under a bill Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Monday.

The bill was championed by Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature who argued that municipalities were skirting a 2010 law that was tightened last year and requires police to sell seized weapons to federally licensed dealers. They argued that destroying property turned over to the government is a waste of taxpayer resources.

Democrats who argued against the bill said it usurps local control and goes against the wishes of people who turn over their unwanted weapons to keep them out of the hands of children or thieves....

So I assume the next piece of legislation from these Republicans will be a requirement that all pot seized in Arizona from illegal growers must be resold in Colorado at a profit, or sold as medical marijuana in California ... No? Really? Why, I'm shocked.

I'm sure you understand that these Republicans don't actually give a crap about proper use of taxpayer resources. They're just doing what Republicans do all the time when they're in power: showing liberals who's boss.

Now, I'm skeptical about gun buybacks -- I think manufacturers and dealers can make 'em and sell 'em faster than we can melt 'em down, though I'd love to think that someday the buyback idea might go so viral that it could really make a difference. Still, this sticks in my craw -- the people who yell "Freedom!" all the time are showing us (as if we didn't already know) that they believe in freedom only until it involves people doing things they don't like.

I'm hoping some municipalities will engage in civil disobedience on this -- go ahead, arrest the mayor and the police commissioner, and then maybe it'll happen in another town the next day and you'll have to do the same thing.

Failing that, I'd love it if someone of wealth or prominence in Arizona -- Mark Kelly, maybe? -- would set up as a federally licensed gun dealer in Arizona, buy firearms from municipal buybacks just as the law requires, then melt them down. Except I guarantee you that such a person would become the focus of national attention, with huge gun-community pressure to shut him or her down (even though pressure from gunners keeps the ATF understaffed and underfunded so it can't shut down legitimately bad gun dealers). Believe me, you'd hear grandstanding on this all the way from Washington. That dealer's license would be pulled faster than that of any other dealer in history, even someone who'd sold thousands of crime guns with a nod and a wink.

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UPDATE: I'm reminded in comments that Arizona has legalized medical marijuana.