Phoenix, Arizona: No Friend Of Firearms
By Wyatt Earp | October 24, 2010
It is inexcusable that something like this would happen in Arizona.
You’d think that with seeing how government is now out of the business of licensing firearms possession in Arizona, the Powers That Be would approve of private entrepreneurs picking up the slack and letting the citizens of Arizona know that proper gun training saves lives. And you’d be wrong:
The city of Phoenix, in an apparently arbitrary move and without formal legal process, has forced CBS Outdoors to tear down 50 illuminated bus-shelter billboards under contract to promote gun safety training for children and their parents. The posters were placed by TrainMeAZ.com, a commercial joint-educational effort of the firearms industry in Arizona, and had been up all over the Phoenix metro area for a little over one week before the city acted.
“The Phoenix attorney’s office claimed these were public service announcements, and those are banned,” said Alan Korwin, manager of the TrainMeAZ campaign and the Publisher at Bloomfield Press, a sponsor of the program. “It’s a bogus excuse — and they know full well we’re an LLC and not a non-profit. The commercial sponsors, shooting ranges and trainers on the website expect to attract customers. The ads are aimed at parents, so they can teach gun safety and the values of marksmanship to their kids,” he said. “We’re promoting a culture of marksmanship, where everyone learns to shoot and understands gun safety.”
Read the rest of the insanity here. But you better bring a roll of duct tape.
Topics: Gun Pr0n | 11 Comments »
October 24th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Wow what a bunch of thugs. Must be liberals who don’t want the mexican drug cartel members in their state to have to worry that citizens might just defend themselves.
Boy has the climate changed. As a blast from the past for you young-ins out there, I remember as a 10 year old grabbing my Daisy Golden BB gun and standing on the cormer waiting for the YMCA bus on Saturday morning to compete in the shooting matches that they sponsored. I remember the ROTC .22 rifle matches sponsored by our schools and as a kid dreaming of the day of adult competition at Camp Perry. I remember in the late 60′s after classes at CSU in the parking lot changing into field dress for bird hunting (pheasant and grouse) at West Farmington off of Rt 608 and assembling and loading our shotguns with tons of people walking by who could have cared less…sigh…what happened?
“Those who beat their guns into plows, will be forced to plow for those who didn’t.”
Thomas Jefferson
October 24th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Howdy Wyatt! Last time I was in Arizona was about 20 years or so ago. At that time you could buy a handgun (assuming no criminal history, drug abuse and over age 18) so long as you carried the weapon OPENLY. Concealed Carry permits were for LE only.
The only “city” who voted to NOT allow firearms to be carried in the “city” limits AT ALL was – hold on to your hat, pardner, Tombstone AZ in Cochise County. Re-enactors were licensed to carry guns which only shot blanks to re-enact, among other things, the Gunfight At the OK Corral (which wasn’t at the OK Corral, but that’s another story). Here we have private businesses ADVERTISING for folks to pay them money to learn firearms safely and………………the politicians forced them to take those billboards DOWN? What?!?
October 24th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Jon – TrainMeAZ is trying to help promote responsible gun ownership and technique. Why is that a bad thing, Phoenix?
Real – I went to Tombstone in 2005 when I was visiting friends. We didn’t see the re-enactment because it was raining. Only day that week it rained. Figures.
And I knew it didn’t happen at the OK Corral. Happened around the corner outside Fly’s photography shop.
October 24th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
It is unconstitutional for any government within US sovereignty to tell a sign co that it does not have the right freedom of speech on a billboard .
Those city officials need to be prosecuted for obstruction of the Constitution like many local governments across our nation .
October 24th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I foresee a very large lawsuit against the city by that sign company and TrainMeAZ LLC. And if the judge is honest, they’ll win. This is the exact thing that the First Amendment is designed to protect, and a repressing of free speech should be punished. What would be ideal is the individuals who chose to make the decision should be prosecuted as individuals, but that’s not likely.
October 24th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
I really have no words for how stupid this is. Actually, it’s pretty sick. Someone with an anti-gun agenda wanted the signs down…safety be damned!
October 24th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Alan Korwin is a patriot: see I've known about Korwin for a number of years and he will ultimately win this fight, which he should, for the people of Phoenix and AZ. He's a fighter par excellence for gun rights.
October 24th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Hey REAL Americans don’t need to be lectured on how to use a gun safely.
By the way, there’s the knobby kinda thing at the back of the top of my gun. It makes these clicking noises when I turn parts of it but that’s all it seems to do and it kinda blocks my view when I’m pointing at things. Do I need it for anything?
October 25th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Charles – Never happen. Sad, isn’t it?
PhillipC – And it’ll get to the 9th Circuit and they will say that taking down the ads is perfectly fine. You see, some rights should be infringed upon. /snark
Lou – My guess? Liberal politicians inside Phoenix; a town that is dealing with an illegal immigrant crime wave.
Piper – Sounds like someone we should all get behind.
Richard – Nah, it’s just decoaration. Toss is on the dung heap!
October 25th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
To be fair, you posted a picture of a billboard and not the advertisement in question. Since the City of Phoenix owns the bus stops, they can make what ever rules they want no matter how retarded.
They’d have been riddled with bullet holes anyway.
October 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Mark – My bad, I borrowed the image from ExUrban League who had the original story.