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March 25, 2025
Arizona Governor Has Field Day at Range – When She’s Not Blasting Firearm Industry
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs tore up targets on the range with her state’s National Guard to mark the Arizona Governor’s Dozen – a marksmanship competition for the state’s National Guard soldiers to earn their way to compete in regional and national marksmanship competitions. They earn the Governor’s Dozen tab to wear on their uniforms to boot.
That’s commendable. Anytime a sitting state governor gets out to the range, settles in behind a belt-fed machinegun, shoulders a rifle or gets trigger time with handguns should be celebrated. That’s especially true when it promotes not just marksmanship but also military proficiency.
Iron-Sight Irony
It’s also ironic, especially since Gov. Hobbs vetoed legislation that would have protected firearm and ammunition manufacturers from “woke” financial discrimination in her state. After all, those same firearm manufacturers making firearms for the military also make firearms for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Gov. Hobbs celebrated the soldiers’ achievements by posting photos to her X account of her getting some trigger time. She let loose with an M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) and took a turn with the M-17, the military’s latest sidearm.
“It was great to support our guardsmen and try out some of the state of the art weaponry our National Guard has at their disposal,” Gov. Hobbs noted in her X post.
It’s an incredible development for a sitting governor to recognize the importance of American firearm manufacturing and the vital role it fulfills in preserving American freedom. After all, the firearms she shot that day were American-made. The M-249 SAW is manufactured at FN America’s plant in South Carolina and the M-17 is produced by SIG Sauer in New Hampshire. Arizona is home to titans in the firearm industry as well, with Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., the largest Arizona-based firearm manufacturer, based in Prescott.
Firearm manufacturing accounted for over 14,000 total jobs in Arizona in 2024, bringing with them a $3.76 billion economic impact. Those jobs pay well, averaging $81,700 in wages and benefits. Those manufacturers also paid over $506.20 million in taxes, including property, income and sales-based levies. That doesn’t include the over $8.6 million those firearm manufacturers paid to fund wildlife conservation through Pittman-Robertson excise taxes.
Protecting Arizona Business
That should be a sizable-enough investment in the state to garner protection from special-interest groups that seek to hobble those same manufacturers by denying them the essential banking services they need to operate. That was the intent when state Sen. Frank Carroll drafted SB 1096, the Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act, in 2023.
That bill was necessary because “woke” Wall Steet banks refuse to provide essential banking services to firearm and ammunition businesses simply because they politically-disfavor the Second Amendment. It was an outgrowth of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) movement that privatized what began under the Obama administration’s illegal Operation Choke Point, when the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coerced banking institutions to deny services to disfavored industries. Congress acted and the FDIC relented. Still, large banking institutions and payment processors – including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo – continue the practice.
The FIND Act would have enabled Arizona to use discretion to conduct business with only those entities that do not discriminate against the lawful and Constitutionally-protected firearm and ammunition. There are nine states with similar laws already on the books. Several states are currently considering similar bills. The FIND Act has also been introduced in Congress by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) as S. 137 and by U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) as H.R. 45.
Side with Special Interests
Arizona’s bill – SB 1096 – passed both the state’s Senate and House of Representatives with bipartisan support and was sent to Gov. Hobbs for her consideration in 2023. However, instead of protecting Arizona firearm manufacturers from financial discrimination, Gov. Hobbs sided with “woke” special interests. She vetoed the bill that would protect Arizona businesses from financial discrimination.
“Governor Hobbs chose to allow Arizona businesses to be subjected to out-of-state discriminatory policies that put special interests over business success,” said NSSF’s Larry Keane at the news of Gov. Hobb’s 2023 veto. “This shows state residents that their governor’s loyalties are with Wall Street’s ‘woke’ agenda and not with protecting homegrown businesses or protecting the Second Amendment rights of Arizona’s citizens.”
Sadly, that tracks along with Gov. Hobbs’ abysmal record on protecting Arizona’s firearm and ammunition manufacturers. In 2023, she also vetoed HB 2394, legislation that would have prohibited any county or municipality from enacting their own taxes, levies or fees on firearms and ammunition. When Gov. Hobbs previously served in Arizona’s state Senate, she voted against HB 2244, a bill that established reciprocity for concealed carry permits (which later passed and was signed into law) and voted against SB 1610, a bill that named the Colt Single Action Revolver as the Arizona’s official state gun.
Gov. Hobbs was impressed by the “state of the art” firearms employed by Arizona’s National Guard. It would be helpful if she were just as enthusiastic about protecting Arizona’s firearm and ammunition manufacturers against “woke” financial discrimination. That’s a target we could all support.
You may also be interested in:
Arizona Governor’s Veto Embraces ‘Woke’ Discrimination Over State Businesses
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