A judge struck down a law in Pima County last week which made it a crime to fail to report lost or stolen guns to law enforcement within two days or face $1,000 fines. This was the second time the law was passed and removed for conflicting with state law. Unlike most states, Arizona does not require those who purchase firearms to undergo a federal background check unless they purchase the firearm from a dealer with a Federal Firearms License. Since many Arizonans are concerned about privacy, they purchase guns from private parties instead to avoid getting on a government list.
Goldwater Institute (GI) lawyers sued the county last April over Ordinance 2024-2, representing Air Force veteran Chris King and the Pima County-based Arizona Citizens Defense League. GI issued a statement afterwards. “The new ordinance wasn’t just illegal — it took aim at the wrong people,” GI said. “Rather than target criminals who steal firearms, the requirement would have revictimized law-abiding gun owners who experience the loss or theft of a firearm. Some may not even realize they are victims until much later.”
King said, “I’m grateful the court recognized that Pima County officials are not above the law. Firearm owners like me shouldn’t have to pay exorbitant fines as punishment for being robbed.” King is an NRA-certified firearms instructor whose firearm was burglarized from his home while he was on active-duty out of state.
GI said the Pima County Attorney’s Office warned the Pima County Supervisors of the law’s deficiencies before they passed it. GI sent the county a letter threatening a lawsuit last March. State law prohibits counties from enacting any firearm-related regulations unless expressly authorized by state law.
GI said the county’s law violated the provisions relating to possession, sale, transfer, purchase, acquisition and storage. GI informed the county of a 2013 Attorney General opinion, No. I13-010, which found “nearly identical provisions of a City of Tucson Ordinance unlawful.” That ordinance was essentially the same, requiring gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm to law enforcement within 48 hours. Then-Attorney General Tom Horne said, “The ordinances directly contradict § 13-3108, and they govern subjects in a field that state law already fully occupies.”
The letter also emphasized that the law violates the Second Amendment of the Constitution and the right to keep and bear arms provision in Arizona’s Constitution, Article II, § 26. Despite the pushback, four of the five county supervisors voted to implement the law, with the lone Republican supervisor, Steve Christy, dissenting.
