HOW DUMB ARE WE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS

A recent nationwide survey concluded that Arizona is the seventh dumbest of
the 50 states. Six states are dumber than we are. Forty- three states are
smarter.

The people dumber than we are live (in descending order of intelligence) in
Hawaii, Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico. The folks
who aren't as dumb as we are live everywhere else.

Question. Do we really need a national survey to tell us what's already
abundantly apparent? No. In fact, we need look no further than Mesa and the
proponents of Proposition 203 to make Arizona's convincing case for stupidity.

Consider two proposals now pending. The first would require the Mesa Police
Department to sell to gun dealers (rather than continue to destroy) its
annual inventory of confiscated weapons.

Here's how the new plan would work. Criminal A has his or her gun seized in
2002. Criminal wannabe buys it back in 2003. How completely dumb is that?

We're repeatedly told of the many dangers faced by the brave men and women
of law enforcement. The mantra is as unyielding as it is compelling.

Well, in light is this nutty idea, it's either not as dangerous as we're
constantly led to believe, or it's every bit as dangerous and the makers of
public policy don't care. It's either one or the other. It can't be both.
Putting guns back into the community doesn't make the community any safer,
particularly for the police.

It is against this conflicted backdrop that Mesa's City Council would
require Mesa's police to sell the very things that criminals routinely use
to shoot them and their professional peers. It's estimated the sale of the
illicit guns will earn the city a whopping $32,000 a year.

The guns in question come from Mesa's mean streets. And, once they're
resold by Mesa police, many of them will return to those same mean, if not
meaner, streets. It's just a matter of time. Tick tock goes the clock. Mesa
takes a snooze.

Just wait until a Mesa patrolman or detective is gunned down and killed
with a gun sold to his or her assailant by that officer's own employer, the
supposedly risk-adverse municipality of Mesa.

Why would a politician want to take that chance? Or get pinned to the wall
with well-deserved blame when the inevitable finally happens? It may make
twisted ideological sense, but it sure doesn't make any common or symbolic
sense. None.

Why this issue has arisen so suddenly is equally puzzling. You wonder who
took whom to lunch, what they said and what was promised. There's no other
explanation, because there's no reason or pressing public need that
justifies reversal of the city's long-standing policy regarding the
destruction of its captured guns.

If you want a gun, go buy one. Buy two. Own three. Fill your closet. But,
dictating that the Mesa Police Department must aid and abet the resale of
the guns it has impounded in the most questionable of circumstances does a
disservice to every member of the so-called thin blue line.

Meanwhile, dumb ideas aren't limited to Mesa. Goodness knows, Arizona is a
big state. There's plenty of room for dummies.

Take, as our second example, Proposition 303. If enacted, it will require
the Arizona Department of Public Safety to distribute free drugs. It's an
awkward and unworthy task that the agency is neither equipped, by
temperament or training, to do.

Nonetheless, with the wave of a ballot this November, East Valley voters
and voters statewide can turn the esteemed men and women of Arizona's
Department of Public Safety into state-sanctioned drug dealers. That
prospect is beyond pathetic.

The decriminalization of marijuana is one thing. And, the use of marijuana
for medical purposes is another. But, making the Highway Patrol dole out
pot is contrary to the department's natural culture.

With one hand and a warrant, DPS will take away your drugs. With the other
hand and a prescription, DPS will give them back. It will be internally
divisive and adversely affect departmental morale. Imagine. Two of
Arizona's largest police agencies peddling used guns and distributing free
dope.

What's wrong with that picture? A whole lot more than people choose to
appreciate or care to admit. And, that's why Arizona is such a dumb state.