Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 14:56:51 -0700
From: rdestep136@EARTHLINK.NET (RDeStep)
Subject: Letter to NewTimes
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu


Editor:

Edward Lebow's article on gun lockers missed its target. It has long
been Arizona law (ARS 13-3102(A)(10)) that  whenever government forbids
the carrying of firearms in buildings, they were, in Attorney General
Bob Corbin's  1988 Opinion to the Department of Economic Security,
required to "check" and store the weapon for the patron. After all, why
would I want to keep my gun in my car, where it can be stolen, when it
is perfectly safe in my holster? The  reason Brassroots Inc became
involved was that government entities began claiming, once again, that
the law did not apply to them. Brassroots, the NRA, and pro-rights
legislators at the Capitol wanted to send them yet another message that
it did apply to them. Of course, even without Arizona statutes on our
side, we have Arizona's Constitution whose Declaration of Rights
states, "The right of the indiidual citizen to bear arms in defense of
himself or the State shall not be impaired." That's not too vague, is
it?

The protests that were cited in the article occurred six months *after*
the law was passed. Most cities were not in  compliance and had no plans
to be. Those that made progress to respecting the Law and our rights
after we discussed the issue with them were left alone. Some didn't want
to play nicely. We protested in Glendale, Yuma, and Tucson to show them
we meant business. There are three things politicos don't care for. They
dislike being bothered, they hate  being ignored, and they fear being
embarrassed. We decide to use all three. We then spent the next few
months testing  various city's procedures because many cities  either
could not or would not tell us what the full weapons checking
policy was. In Glendale last year for example, when a peaceful gun owner
wanted to  check a gun at a public building in Glendale, three police
officers were dispatched SWAT-style, hands on their  pistols telling the
gun owner to "Turn around. Put your hands on your head. You are not
under arrest." It looked  for all the world like a felony arrest to
other library  patrons who were seen scattering to avoid what they
could  only guess was a pending "suicide by cop." It should be
noteworthy that none of the patrons were the least  concerned of this
man who had a properly holstered firearm, that is, until the police came
to make a mess of things.  One could only imagine what the cops might
have done if the patron were (horrors) black or hispanic.

The reason Tempe was not the site of protests or weapons check tests is
three-fold. One, our discussions with  Assistant Chief Spradling
suggested that Tempe would shortly be in compliance with the law. We
recently found they are  not. Two, we were afraid that State Senator
Harry Mitchell would steal our signs and put them in his dumpster.  The
third reason is that Tempe's old and new checking policy is so out of
compliance with the law that the unsuspecting gun owner risked theft of
his property on the basis of a city ordinance. We were informed  that in
some cases, it could take 72 hours to get the firearm back, and
ammunition would be confiscated, never to be seen again. Perhaps we
should give Tempe another look and schedule a protest. So many
government thugs, so little time.

Now, some cities are complaining about the expense of lockers. This is a
self-inflicted wound. Our position was that  they should only invoke the
checking statute when they had a clear, articulable security
requirement. Courts, jails,  and, perhaps Council  Chambers. All of
these places already have armed guards in place since these areas
contain  dangerous suspects, felons, and City Council members. Libraries
and other generic municipal buildings do not fit this  mold and as such,
should not require the good guys from going unarmed. So, instead of Mesa
(a city in complete compliance, by the way) buying 50 lock boxes for
$2500, they could buy four, and save $2,300. How many lock boxes could
City of Glendale could buy  if they weren't milking the tax payers to
construct that hockey arena?


Rick DeStephens
VP www.brassroots.org
Glendale