Tucsonan, NRA join to fight city-imposed gun restrictions
By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX – The way Ken Rineer sees it, Tucson government isn’t promising to protect his family members when they go to a city park.

So Rineer says he’s entitled to protect them by carrying a gun.

But Rineer wound up in legal hot water for violating a Tucson ordinance that bans weapons in city parks.

Now he and the National Rifle Association are leading the fight at the Legislature to overturn all city rules on guns statewide, a move that would affect not only Tucson but everything from a similar ordinance in Glendale to Tempe’s ban on guns along busy Mill Avenue. The gun lobby won the first round yesterday in the House Committee on Federal Mandates and States’ Rights.

Steve Olson, lobbyist for the city of Scottsdale, said changing the law also could prevent his city from banning firearms at the Phoenix Open, played at the municipally owned Tournament Players Club. A ban was instituted last year after a drunken fan who was carrying a gun became disruptive.

“Now we wonder if that’s why Tiger Woods isn’t going to be at the Phoenix Open” this year, Olson told lawmakers.

A spokesman for the golf organization said the decision to ban weapons was based on state laws that prohibit guns in places where alcohol is served.

NRA lobbyist Darren LaSorte said cities still can ban guns at special events. What his organization doesn’t want is cities’ enacting permanent rules that are more restrictive than state laws.

A similar bill was approved last year by the Legislature, only to be vetoed by Gov. Jane Hull. She said it made no sense to take away a city’s ability to ban guns where the public gathers without replacing it with a state law doing the same thing.

That, however, is no more acceptable to supporters of the bill, which next goes to the full House.

Tucsonan Rineer, who has a state permit to carry a concealed weapon, orchestrated his own arrest after the City Council voted in 1996 to ban guns in parks. His case goes to trial next week.

Rineer told legislators there were three rapes, nine robberies, 23 aggravated assaults and 40 other assaults last year in Tucson city parks.

“There is a lot of violence going on,” Rineer said. “If someone were attempting to molest my child, I would want a way to protect my child.”

He said there is no way to stop criminals from violating the ban on guns in parks and elsewhere. “One way to stop that is to allow law-abiding citizens to defend themselves.”