Lawmakers, Armed and Dangerous

By FRANK BRUNI
NYT

WHILE all the country gaped last week at the acrimony ensnarling the Federal government, Arizonans were treated to an additional, equally bizarre spectacle. You’ll be shocked to hear that a firearm was involved.

It was a classic case of he said/she said, but of a particular stripe hard to imagine outside Arizona, where guns are so fervently embraced that I imagine they rank above waffle irons as popular wedding gifts and make the occasional appearance at christenings, too.

In dispute was this: Did a local lawmaker intentionally point her loaded .380 Ruger at a newspaper reporter during an interview, or was it all just a silly misunderstanding?

The reporter, Richard Ruelas, who writes for The Arizona Republic, said it was deliberate. Not hostile, mind you, but purposeful: State Senator Lori Klein was proudly showing off her piece. He told this story first in an article published Sunday in The Republic, repeated it in subsequent public comments and went through it one more time on the telephone with me. He sounded incredulous still.

(More here.)