Tucson City Councilman Paul Cunningham said that Horne’s decision was asinine. Cunningham, a Democrat, accused Horne, a Republican, of trying to score political points. The next day, Cunningham admitted that he did not know the Attorney General and told a radio show host that he wouldn’t recognize him.
According to the Arizona Attorney General, Arizona Revised Statute §13-3108 preempts the City of Tucson’s ordinances 11080 and 11081 because the ordinances govern a subject “in a field that state law already fully occupies.”
Into 2000, the Arizona legislature amended ARS §13-3108(A) which provided Arizona municipalities from enacting an “ordinance, rule, or tax related to the transportation, position, carrying, sale, or use, of firearms, or ammunition, or any firearm or ammunition components” in the state. The legislature than went so far as to clarify their intent; the state intended to limit the ability of any city in the state to regulate firearms and ammunition, and the act was to apply to ordinances created before or after the Legislature passed the law.
In 2010, the legislature enacted legislation prohibiting cities from enacting any rule or ordinance related to firearms that is more prohibitive than what state law provides.
On May 29, 2013 the City of Tucson passed two ordinances related to firearms after the shooting of a young mother, Genna Louise Ayup, who was shot and killed in June 2012 by a man who had been consuming alcohol before the shooting.
Ordinance 11080 provided that a law enforcement officer, with probable cause to believe that a person with criminal negligence has discharged a firearm within or into the corporate limits of the City of Tucson, may request that such person submit to a blood or breath test to determine that persons alcohol concentration. In the event that the person refuses this request, the law-enforcement officer may have pursued a search warrant to obtain a blood or breath test to determine the person’s alcohol concentration. The second ordinance, 11081, provided that any person who owns or possesses a firearm shall report the theft or loss of such firearm to the Tucson Police Department within 48 hours of the time he or she knew it, or should have known that the firearm had been lost or stolen. Failure to report the loss or theft of a firearm would be punishable by civil sanction of $100.
The Attorney General’s Office found the the City had a right to enact laws, but not if they contradict state law or “over subject that is a field already fully occupied by State law.”
The Attorney General noted that the Tucson ordinance 11080 permits the officer to pursue a search warrant which the officers already have under state law. However, the City is prevented from passing any ordinances that would relate to firearms.
The Attorney General said the timely reporting requirement is greater than any penalty provided for by State law, and as a result is not allowed.