Arizona: Tucson gun owners demand city council to comply with state law

Gun owners demand city council to comply with state law

Posted: Feb 8, 2011 10:29 PM
Updated: Feb 9, 2011 2:21 AM

TUCSON - Gun advocates went to City Hall Tuesday to fight a decision the Tucson City Council made in January over gun laws in city parks.



Tucson city code states that you can only bring a gun on to a city park with a concealed carry permit. But state law recently changed to allow gun owners to bring them to parks without a permit.
In a council meeting on January 19th, the Tucson City Council took no action to bring the city code in line with the state law, which takes precedent.

Gun owners want the city to match.
"If TPD would arrest someone for possession of a firearm in a park, they could actually file a civil suit against the city for false arrest or false imprisonment," President of Gun Owners of Arizona, Ken Rineer said.
But Councilman Steve Kozachik says that our officers are fully aware of the state law, and how to enforce it correctly.
"There aren't any lawsuits going on. What we did is we took an act saying that the City of Tucson ought to have the right to determine time, place, and manner restrictions on where guns are carried in the city. That's all we did," Kozachik said.
The gun owners did not get a chance to speak at Tuesday's meeting because of the overload of speakers during the call to the audience. Mayor Bob Walkup said they will pick up where they left off at the next meeting.