Tucson.com: Arizona AG: Tucson may be Breaking State Law by Destroying Guns
“He said there is statewide interest in preserving the right to bear arms, regulating firearms to preserve public safety, regulating police departments and ensuring that cities do not waste “resources that could generate revenue.”
Via Tucson.com:
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich says the city of Tucson may be violating state law by destroying guns that were turned in or confiscated by the police department.
However, in his 11-page response to a complaint filed by state Rep. Mark Finchem, Brnovich did not indicate whether he will pursue legal action to force the city to stop turning most guns taken in by police into scrap metal.
The city contends destroying the firearms is lawful because the disposition of municipal property is a “local concern.”
“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,” Brnovich concluded in his report, issued Monday. “The Office therefore concludes … that the Ordinance may violate state law.”
He said there is statewide interest in preserving the right to bear arms, regulating firearms to preserve public safety, regulating police departments and ensuring that cities do not waste “resources that could generate revenue.”
That, Brnovich wrote, makes the destruction of firearms “distinguishable from the disposition of municipal real property, which courts have treated as being purely of local concern.”
Read more here.
