AZ AG: Tucson May Have Violated Law By Destroying Guns

2013
Collected 1926
Auctioned 244
Departmental Transfer 121
Destroyed 1849
2014
Collected 1694
Auctioned 99
Departmental Transfer 82
Destroyed 1305
2015
Collected 1587
Auctioned 21
Departmental Transfer 59
Destroyed 538
2016 (As of 10/13/16)
Collected 1364
Auctioned 49
Departmental Transfer 84
Destroyed 1128

On Monday, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office answered the question presented by Rep. Mark Finchem as to whether the City of Tucson was in violation of Arizona statute when it destroyed thousands of guns. The SB1487 investigative report prepared by Paul Watkins, Chief of the Civil Litigation Division of the Arizona Attorney General Office, concluded that under Arizona law the “ordinance may violate state law.”

According to the Attorney General’s Office, the report essentially puts the City on notice. The notice does not legally have the force of law to make the City stop destroying weapons, however because the report concludes that the City “maybe” as opposed to “is” violating the law, the matter could go directly to the Supreme Court.

“The City of Tucson will be given an opportunity to take steps to stop the offending action (repeal the ordinance and have the police department change its policies). While the time period to remedy is undefined by statute, when a similar finding was issued against the City of Snowflake, they were provided approximately 30 days to remedy the offense (which is consistent with the timeline outlined in statute for a “yes” finding),” Ryan Anderson spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office told the ADI in an email. “If the city opts to not change their policies, then the next step under the statute would be for this office to file in the Arizona Supreme Court.”

“The Ordinance, which requires the Tucson Police Department to destroy forfeited firearms, conflicts with State law. The Office recognizes, however, that while the prior case law is most likely distinguishable, there is a question as to whether this matter is of purely local concern and thus the Ordinance might not violate state law,” noted Watkins in the report.

If the City of Tucson is found to have violated the law, it could lose its share of state sales tax revenue.

A.R.S. 13-3108 provides the state with the right to regulate firearms. Section F specifically prohibits “any agency or political subdivision of this state and any law enforcement agency in this state” from facilitating “the destruction of a firearm or purchase or otherwise acquire a firearm for the purpose of destroying the firearm…”

Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik has claimed that the statute is unconstitutional and as a result supports the continued violation of it.

Finchem said he filed a public records request with the City of Tucson to obtain all records related to the destruction of firearms that had significant market value, some of which had significant collectable value in excess of $10,000. “Under ARS 13-3108(F), which is part of Arizona’s criminal statutes, the majority of these firearms are treated as a public asset and should have been auctioned off to the highest bidder after a proper records and background check. The proceeds of the sales would have gone to the City of Tucson general fund”, said Rep. Finchem last month.

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