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Arizona Senator Allegedly Points Gun at Reporter


But the lawmaker says the media frenzy is just an effort “to advance an anti-Second Amendment agenda.”
By Stephen Spencer Davis | Posted Tuesday, Jul. 12, 2011, at 10:47 AM EDT

Arizona state Sen. Lori Klein loves her pink Ruger pistol so much she just had to show it off to a reporter—by allegedly pointing it directly at his chest.

The pistol has no safety (because that would be crazy) and was loaded when Klein, a Republican, remarked “Oh it’s so cute,” and trained the gun’s laser sight on Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas’ chest, the paper reports.

Klein insists the reporter was not in danger. “I just didn’t have my hand on the trigger,” she said in the Republic's initial account of the incident, which was detailed in a recent story about Klein’s decision to carry her loaded gun into the state Capitol only two days after the Tucson mass shooting that killed six and seriously injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, among others.

Klein said she was unaware she would be entering the House of Representatives the day she brought her gun to the Capitol, and might have considered leaving the weapon in her office. Still, she says she now carries the gun due to what she sees as lax security at the Capitol.

“It’s like an insurance policy,” she told the Republic.

Klein issued a statement on Monday evening with her version of the events, saying that she “ensured that the chamber was clear before displaying the weapon” to the reporter, adding, “That is basic gun safety and something that I do instinctively.”

She said that she won’t be giving any more interviews on the topic because it "makes little sense to contribute to a media feeding frenzy that is driven by a few individuals who never miss the opportunity to advance an anti-Second Amendment agenda.”

According to Klein’s account, she was pointing the laser sight at a wall at the request of a photographer when the Republic reporter sat down in its path. When Klein and the reporter “noticed the light,” she turned it off and apologized.

Klein said the reporter did not seem uncomfortable at the time, but that she learned several lessons. She said she will not show her gun to anyone again, because it “isn’t a fashion statement or accessory” and “if anyone wants to see a demonstration of any of my gun’s features, it will have to take place at a gun range.”

Doing this at a gun range, Klein writes, would allow someone to “better experience the enjoyment and security that hundreds of thousands of Arizonans enjoy as a result of our Second Amendment freedoms.”

Klein has carried a handgun since 2000, when someone rattled the door of her Moon Valley home. After it took police 10 minutes to respond to her call, she bought a .40 caliber revolver and slept with it.

Klein, who grew up around guns, first fired a BB gun at age six and went on childhood hunting trips with her father. According to the Republic, Klein has had “informal training sessions on each of her guns and was taught gun safety by her father.”

While Klein defends the rights of citizens to carry concealed weapons, she insists that it’s a personal choice. “I don’t like chocolate ice cream,” she said. “Am I going to force you not to have any?”

Because ice cream is exactly like guns.

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Any of you Second Amendment guys or regular gun carriers have any comment?

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According to Klein’s account, she was pointing the laser sight at a wall at the request of a photographer when the Republic reporter sat down in its path. When Klein and the reporter “noticed the light,” she turned it off and apologized.

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
I was taught to ALWAYS treat ANY gun as fully loaded and ready to go.

I was taught that ANY time you are handling a gun, you are dealing with deadly force.

I was taught to NEVER point ANY gun at ANY person unless you were willing to kill him on the spot.

I was taught NEVER to play ANY game with ANY gun, and NEVER to engage in ANY kind of horseplay with ANY gun.

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:


and behavior like that is WHY some folk have issues with gun ownership to begin with.

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:


and behavior like that is WHY some folk have issues with gun ownership to begin with.

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I appreciate your making that point.

And I love that the gun-- a Ruger-- is pink, and she thinks it's "cute". I also think I saw somewhere that it's a 10mm , or .40 S&W, which is way too big to be cute, but I can't document that fact at this time.

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:



And I love that the gun-- a Ruger-- is pink, and she thinks it's "cute".

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Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Oh, I forgot you were a huge gorilla with meathook hands..
Bersa is way small for you, alas, you prolly would have trouble firing it, yeah.
I likes my itty bitty popgun, but depending on circumstance (like in winter when a heavy jacket covers it) I am leaning more and more in favor of packing the Taurus Judge with nonlethal shot, not necessarily for humanitarian reasons (although, really, why kill/harm someone you don't have to ?) but rather in that it reduces potential risk to bystanders and avoids the legal issues caused by prosecutors who seem to think self-defense is the sole province of the State... and finesse, less fuss, muss and mess, you know ?

Although I am not sure the smaller shells will have the same effectiveness as the 2-3/4" 12G shells I've found entirely sufficient for home defense though, gotta test that a bit.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:

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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:



And I love that the gun-- a Ruger-- is pink, and she thinks it's "cute".

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I believe I owe the lady an apology- Following the various hints, I looked up the Ruger LCP, and it is a tiny, cute little gun, designed for ankle holsters, really, and using the .380 ACP cartridge.

My bad-- I'm not really a gun guy, just done a little reading. I thought of Ruger as making big automatic pistols, similar to the Browning and Beretta 9mms, and big single action magnum revolvers. Ya learn something every day...

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