PHOENIX — State senators failed by one vote Wednesday to override Gov. Janet Napolitano's veto of legislation to trim gubernatorial powers to seize weapons.
The 19-10 vote — one vote short of the necessary two-thirds margin — came even after Sen. Dean Martin, R-Phoenix, speculated that Napolitano vetoed the measure so she could use her emergency powers to take weapons away from members of the Minuteman Project patrolling the Mexican border.
Sen. Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, bolted party loyalty and agreed to override the Democratic governor. Another Democrat whose district includes a large stretch of rural Arizona, Rebecca Rios of Apache Junction, left the floor before the vote was cast.
But enough other Democrats who voted for the bill last month, when there were sufficient votes in both the House and Senate to override a veto, switched their position Wednesday to narrowly keep from handing Napolitano her first override defeat.
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"I'm not willing to override the governor on this one," said Sen. Robert Cannell, D-Yuma, one of those who switched his vote.
Napolitano said she had no intention of taking anyone's weapons. But she said the measure was crafted too broadly, taking away her power even to order someone to move ammunition from the path of a forest fire.
But Martin, who crafted the measure, did not believe her.
"With this governor's veto, I don't know what she has planned if she gets re-elected as a lame-duck governor," he said. And Martin noted that Napolitano last year declared a state of emergency in the four Southern Arizona counties to deal with problems of people crossing the border illegally — an emergency declaration that remains in effect.
"Does she plan on disarming the Minutemen?" he asked.
Gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer said those fears of Napolitano are unfounded. "She has always said the Minutemen have the right to be there, they have the right to bear arms," L'Ecuyer said.
Arzberger said she was "uncomfortable" voting to override a Napolitano veto. But she said her husband, Gus, stationed in Germany after World War II, told her how the Nazis had gained control by going door-to-door, taking the weapons of German citizens.
"He told me we must never let that happen," she said.
The legislation was a direct outgrowth of incident in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina where police took firearms from citizens. A judge subsequently blocked that action and ordered the guns returned.
Martin said it shouldn't take a lawsuit to stop that from happening here.
