The classic Old West town Tombstone has a rich tradition and culture, steeped in cowboy swagger and heavily influenced by the archetypal image of the gunslinger. Opponents of limiting gun rights often cite that tradition in support of their positions, while gun control activists insist that the time of the Old West has passed and Arizona's legislature needs to move into the twenty-first century.

In Arizona, gun control has long been a political hot-button issue. In fact, one cause of the infamous shootout at the O.K. Corral in 1881 was a dispute over guns: Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday were trying to disarm a group of cowboys.

Gun control regulation is nothing new in Arizona. The first call for stricter gun regulation in the state took place more than 100 years ago, and many municipalities -- including Tombstone -- had strict rules about carrying guns that were codified in municipal law.

The right to bear arms in specifically reserved in our state constitution, in even stronger language than in the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Mail-order gun sales, along with sales to convicted felons and those demonstrated to be mentally ill were outlawed by the Gun Control Act of 1968, the first major gun legislation since the turn of the century. It was passed after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

Arizona lawmakers were also active in the proposal and passing of the Brady Bill in the 1990s. The bill instituted a 10-year ban (which has since lapsed) on certain semi-automatic assault weapons.

Yet, when Arizona sheriff Richard Mack challenged the constitutionality of the Brady Bill's five-day criminal background check requirement, both the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. In an odd twist of fate, the U.S. District Court judge who originally held that portion of the law to be unconstitutional was Judge John Roll, who was slain on January 8 during the Gabrielle Giffords shooting.

Would an armed citizen have been able to save lives that day? Mack thinks so, but there is no way to know for sure. We do know that the debate over the proper place of guns in Arizona society is sure to be hotly debated for some time after the Giffords shooting -- and that debate will be nothing new.

Source: The Arizona Republic, "Guns in Arizona: Safety, rights issues shape gunslinger attitude," Dan Nowicki and Dennis Wagner, July 11, 2011