On Monday, the top members of the Arizona House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego expressing concern that the city’s recently approved plan to donate firearms to the National Police of Ukraine is unlawful.
The plan, which some critics within law enforcement have nicknamed Phoenix Fast and Furious, would donate 500-600 “unclaimed” handguns, rifles, and shotguns to D.T. Gruelle Inc., a federally approved company that would act as middleman to deliver the firearms to Ukraine.
But according to Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott Valley) and Rep. Selina Bliss (R-Prescott), Phoenix Ordinance S-50010 passed on June 28 conflicts with state laws pertaining to the manner in which political subdivisions such as cities can dispose of firearms that come to be possessed by the municipality.
Nguyen and Bliss have therefore called on Gallego to ensure the Ordinance is “immediately” repealed.
As previously reported by Arizona Daily Independent, the Phoenix City Council unanimously authorized City Manager Jeff Barton to contract with D.T. Gruelle to facilitate the donation of unclaimed firearms, worth about $200,000, that are currently in the possession of the Phoenix Police Department.
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That plan, however, appears to run afoul of Arizona laws addressing disposal of unclaimed firearms.
Nguyen and Bliss, who serve as chair and vice-chair respectively of the House Judiciary Committee, point to Arizona Revised Statute 13-3108 which prohibits political subdivisions from enacting any ordinance relating to “the possession, sale, transfer, purchase, acquisition, or use of firearms in Arizona.”
Another provision of ARS 13-3108 reads in part that any firearms-related ordinance “enacted by a political subdivision in violation of this section is invalid and subject to a permanent injunction against the political subdivision from enforcing the ordinance.”
The statutes under Title 13 relate to Arizona’s Criminal Code. They differentiate between guns confiscated or forfeited as part of a criminal investigation, prosecution, or court order compared to firearms which a city happens to come into possession of some other way and that no one ever claims.
But as Nguyen and Bliss point out, there are also statutes related to “unclaimed property” under Title 12, Courts and Civil Proceedings.
Their letter to Gallego cites ARS 12-943, which states that when a county, city or town possesses unclaimed property it ”may only be disposed of” as allowed under Title 12. Property is defined under Title 12 as “any item, including currency, that is held for safekeeping or as evidence or found property or that has been abandoned, unclaimed or awarded by the court.”
This would seem to apply to forfeited and seized property, as well as unclaimed property.
ARS 12-943 allows a law enforcement agency like Phoenix PD to trade an unclaimed firearm to a federal firearms licensed business “for ammunition, weapons, equipment or other materials.”
Any other disposal of an unclaimed firearms must, according to the statute, be through sale to an authorized business that then “shall sell the firearm to the public” in accordance with federal and state law.
There is no mention in ARS 12-943 of donating an unclaimed firearm, no matter the intended recipient.
The choice of D.T. Gruelle to handle the transfer of the Phoenix PD firearms is also raising concerns. The company is closely aligned with the Ukraine Arsenal of Liberty, a group created by some members of the Ukrainian Parliament to obtain firearms for the country’s citizens.
Critics also point to the lack of disclosure by Phoenix officials about how the firearms would be tracked to ensure they do not end up in other countries, or even possibly used in acts of violence against Americans.
Phoenix PD must keep detailed records regarding where every firearm in the city’s possession came from and in what manner it was disposed.
But the limited information put forth about the city’s donation plan makes no mention of whether D.T. Gruelle will be required to track each donated firearm, most likely via the gun’s serial number.