Tucson Standard

A state court judge this week struck down a Pima County ordinance requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within two days. The ruling was a victory for law abiding gun owners and for the Goldwater Institute, which filed the lawsuit soon after the Board of Supervisors approved the law last March in a 4-1 vote.

Superior Court Judge Greg Sakall ruled that state law supersedes the county ordinance, whose intent was to reduce "straw purchases," which is when someone buys a gun for someone who is prohibited by law from owning a firearm. 

The Goldwater Institute, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Chris King, an Air Force veteran, and the Arizona Citizens Defense League, argued that the law would not only fail to prevent straw purchases but also punish law abiding gun owners. The fine for failure to report within 48 hours was up to $1,000 for each violation.

“I’m grateful the court recognized that Pima County officials are not above the law,” King said in a statement. “Firearm owners like me shouldn’t have to pay exorbitant fines as punishment for being robbed.”

Goldwater attorney Parker Jackson added that the judge’s ruling “was a significant victory for the rule of law, for gun owners statewide, and for the state’s ability to prevent rogue cities and counties from creating a confusing patchwork of local firearm restrictions.”

For an earlier story, Jackson said that Democrats had been “angling for a fight over gun rights for a while.”

“Public records obtained by the Institute show that the Board of Supervisors, led by District 1 Supervisor Rex Scott and Board Chair Adelita Grijalva, has been gearing up for this fight for more than two years, coordinating with left-wing activist groups, attorneys, and other elected officials to undermine Arizona’s broad protections for the rights to keep and bear arms,” Jackson said.

“Now, after years of trying to ban gun shows at the county fairgrounds, Pima County has ignored state law and gone after law-abiding gun owners who are victims of loss or theft,” he added.

Count 1 of the Goldwater complaint cited that both the U.S. and Arizona constitutions guarantee citizens the right to keep and bear arms.

“As such, the Arizona Legislature has taken—and reinforced—measures to prevent a regulatory patchwork across the state by expressly preempting all local firearms-related rules, ordinances, and regulations, with very narrow and defined exceptions,” the complaint said.

Count 2 stated that the Arizona Legislature has declared that the regulations of firearms is a statewide concern, and it has expressed its intent to preempt “firearms regulation in this state” and thereby “limit the ability of any political subdivision of this state to regulate firearms.”

In a statement posted on X, the Pima County Attorney’s Office, which defended the law in court, said only that the county would consider its options moving forward.