Jan Brewer Mocks Michael Bloomberg For Arizona Gun-Show Sting (VIDEO)

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) hit back at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week, suggesting that his undercover sting to expose lax Arizona firearms laws was an indication that he thought he'd already taken care of business at home.

"I find it interesting that he's out here in Arizona solving our problems," Brewer said in an interview on Fox News. "I guess he believes that he has solved all the problems in New York."

The governor went on to explain that Arizona was a "big Second Amendment state," and that she supported the current version of its firearms laws, a line similar to one she took in the immediate aftermath of the video's release earlier this week.

Brewer then seemed to argue that both individual patrons, as well as merchants, should be working in conjunction to ensure that firearms laws were enforced.

"Those people that buy guns from private owners at a gun show have the responsibility, if they knowingly realize it, someone cannot pass a background check or if they suspect that maybe they are mentally incompetent, it is a state felony and a federal felony," she said.

Bloomberg's videos showed undercover investigators purchasing weapons at a Phoenix gun-show without first submitting to background checks, and at times indicating to vendors that they didn't believe they would pass one if asked. In releasing the evidence, the mayor argued that Congress needed to work to find a legislative fix to the gun-show loopholes that permitted the proliferation of weapons such as the one that alleged Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner used last month.

According to a Fox News report on the blowback of the investigation, Bloomberg has justified his undertaking by claiming that guns put in the hands of individuals through these gun-shows often ended up in New York City. Some in Arizona, however, instead see it as an encroachment on their state's affairs.

WATCH (comments begin at 4:45 mark):

Comments

[Gloria Otting Vestring]

05:06 PM on 02/20/2011

Brewer is just upset over "bad" exposure......again. She looks so familiar to me though. Can't place exactly where I saw her. Unless it was in the movies. Yes! That's it! She was the one riding the bicycle!

[dbrett480]

08:52 PM on 02/06/2011

Illegal guns go to Mexico, ex-convicts, and gangs in New York, LA, Chicago, etc. To claim that this is only affects AZ is ludicrous.

[Rooster Coburn]

04:32 PM on 02/06/2011

Arizona is not the problem.  New York, and particularly New York City are the problem.  By creating a artificial barriers to legal gun purchases in that state and city a secondary market is automatically and pragmatically generated elsewhere.  Hard to buy a gun in New York State.  Impossible to buy a gun in New York City.  Easy to buy a gun in Arizona.  You'd think a financial genius like the Mayor could figure out where buyers would go.  The answer is to bring New York State and city gun laws into line with neighboring states like Vermont and Pennsylvania.

[elizlucinda]

09:29 AM on 02/07/2011

If you believe that Rooster, what measures do you support putting in place to stop guns from reaching the hands of those who should not have them....and please don't use the old rub-icon of enforcing the laws that are already in place.

you might not like the video that was shot but it does show there is a problem with illegal guns sales

[dhinds]

11:21 AM on 02/06/2011

So you think that Bloomberg is the one breaking the law!

[dvkrlsn]

04:26 PM on 02/06/2011

yup--since AZ is well out of the jurisdiction of the mayor of NYC

[elizlucinda]

09:30 AM on 02/07/2011

dvkrisn...what law did he specifically break? the one that caught people in Arizona breaking the law?

[ThePeoriaKid]

11:09 AM on 02/06/2011

To date, I've not seen ONE interview with a Brewer "supporter" or voter...(and they say Chicago elections are mysterious.. ;-\ ) Was it rigged? Is anyone willing to come forward?

Just once, I want to hear ( at least I think I want to hear ) the rationale behind their voting for this person..

She's obviously severely overwhelmed and without coherent answers to anything..
now and during the "campaign".

[wyb]

11:05 AM on 02/06/2011

"Black gun" and Glock pistol sales were up in AZ.after the Tucson massacare. The nine year old girl killed with the Glock, which is green in color, is ironically the given name of the little girl killed. The "Green gun" will live in infamy in parts of AZ and be surely idealized in other areas of the state.

[boscobear]

10:39 AM on 02/06/2011

How embarassing to get caught and even more embarassing to place the blame on the fella that caught you and not the person that got caught!

[rikilii]

12:54 PM on 02/06/2011

Caught with what?

[TokyoStormWarning]

10:36 AM on 02/06/2011

Amazing. This is not news, it's pure propaganda.

[mrmike1611]

11:38 PM on 02/06/2011

Can you tell which "news" agency is NOT propaganda?

[mrmike1611]

11:43 PM on 02/06/2011

Please tell me which "news" agency does not have propaganda.

[TokyoStormWarning]

01:29 AM on 02/07/2011

Well, in North Korea all the "news" is propaganda. In most democracies, news stations newspapers and magazines have their own biases, but they do strive to tell the truth. Fox is different. It's the PR wing of the GOP.

[NorthernCaliforniaDave]

10:28 AM on 02/06/2011

Don't address the situation just blame the messenger.

[Amishguy]

11:28 AM on 02/06/2011

That is the GOP way!

[Professorofdesire]

10:03 AM on 02/06/2011

This woman is so ugly in so many ways.

[dhinds]

11:03 AM on 02/06/2011

And Arizona is a desert in more ways than one (quoting my dad as he left Phoenix for good).

[TokyoStormWarning]

02:19 AM on 02/07/2011

Which one?

[fuzzwald]

09:49 AM on 02/06/2011

Arizona might be a "big Second Amendment state," but they don't seem too big on the rest of the Constitution.

[dhinds]

10:50 AM on 02/06/2011

They are very good at usurping federal, judicial and police powers, however.

[mrmike1611]

11:44 PM on 02/06/2011

How so ?

[flinkmeister]

09:44 AM on 02/06/2011

What is with that helmet head?

[ThePeoriaKid]

10:58 AM on 02/06/2011

The rug is shifting...

[MajMike]

08:05 AM on 02/06/2011

Transactions between individuals do not require a background check whether at a gun show or elsewhere, showing this proves nothing. Now, those that seem to indicate they wouldn't pass one if performed shoud not have had weapons sold to them by those sellers who heard that. I certainly wouldn't, and I ask those questions every time, if I get a bad vibe I don't sell to that person. I also require ID and keep records on it. Most private sellers do to CYA.

[scottco]

08:36 AM on 02/06/2011

Good for you. I only wish every seller did.

[RevJimIII]

08:34 AM on 02/07/2011

Many of us do watch our own liability by checking ID (cannot sell to out of state person without using an FFL), and filling out at least a basic sales contract/reciept. I have refused sale to a couple of folks who gave me cause to pause due to either what they have said or by their behavior.
 
Even though it is not always required, many of us do not require a state or government law to be responsible.

[emrogers]

09:02 AM on 02/06/2011

I once sold a desk. Somehow I don't anticipate it being used in a violent crime. Guns are different.

[beninabox1]

07:38 AM on 02/06/2011

Brewer is so thin-skinned. Bloomberg isn't legislating anything in AZ. As far as her poke at him re NYC's problems, NYC is much better re gun violence than other big cities, but what violence there is comes from guns bootlegged from other states. States where people get away with selling multiple guns to questionable people.

[Elyriaohio]

06:25 AM on 02/06/2011

I guess "a strong belief" in the 2nd Amendment should allow Arizona to bypass gun laws? Once again, the silence from the NRA is deafening.

[MajMike]

08:06 AM on 02/06/2011

What law was bypassed here, pray tell?

[dhinds]

10:58 AM on 02/06/2011

Federal laws cover all fifty states.

[Elyriaohio]

04:50 AM on 02/07/2011

True. I guess they should have followed through & sold them to a drug cartel.