Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's gun-safety plan is sharply dividing GOP primary candidates for the 1st Congressional District seat.
During a debate on this weekend's "Sunday Square Off," political newcomer Tiffany Shedd, an attorney and family farmer in Eloy, slammed the Ducey bill as a violation of Arizonans’ constitutional rights.
It “would have allowed your guns to be seized for five days without due process" based on a tip, said Shedd, a shooting instructor who also owns a shooting range and teaches. "You could literally be locked up for five days."
State Sen. Steve Smith, who sponsored the bill, shot back: "You haven't either read the bill closely enough or read my amendment. The initial language of the bill that came out was ... flawed. I changed it."
Ducey’s plan never got a vote in both the House and the Senate. He has vowed to re-introduce it next year.
Shedd, Smith and Wendy Rogers, who has run for Congress four times in the last six years, are competing in the Aug. 28 primary in the vast 1st District. The winner will face first-term Democratic Congressman Tom O’Halleran in the November general election.
Rogers declined to attend the debate. She said her schedule was booked into mid-August.
Smith and Shedd also discussed:
- What President Trump has done right, and what he’s done wrong.
- How they would deal with the rural district’s persistently high unemployment.
- Whether they would cut Obamacare and tighten Medicaid in a district with above average enrollment.
- Whether to build The Wall or not to build The Wall.
Watch each segment from this week's episode below.
Tiffany Shedd says it’s unconstitutional; Sen. Steve Smith says she’s reading it wrong. Watch in the player above.
The GOP candidates give their take on the president’s performance.
Should Navajo Generating Station get government subsidies to keep it open? Should the feds allow uranium mining at the Grand Canyon?
Republican candidates discuss whether they would cut back health insurance programs in district with large number of uninsured.
“Sunday Square Off” airs at 8 a.m. Sundays on 12 News, after “Meet the Press.”