Gun rights advocate Alan Korwin won a victory for free speech and gun safety in Arizona. (Photo by Dave Workman)
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
Arizona gun rights advocate and author Alan Korwin scored a major court victory against the City of Phoenix when a state Appeals Court panel ruled unanimously that he has the right to purchase advertising on city bus shelters promoting his company TrainMeAZ.
That company, supported by both the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, among others, tried to buy advertising space in 2010 promoting its “Guns Save Lives” message and training opportunities. The banners were rejected because the city contended they amounted to political messaging, rather than promoting a commercial business.
The trial court agreed with the city, but Korwin – with the Goldwater Institute, Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation handling the case – appealed. The case was reversed and remanded back to the lower court for a proper verdict.
At issue is free speech as well as the ability for gun rights and gun safety advocate Korwin to promote proper firearms training. The message, “Guns Save Lives,” in a red heart that is the central artwork of his advertisement, has a double meaning that the city insisted was political in nature.
But the court, with Judge Kenton Jones writing the opinion, ruled that the city’s 2011 advertising standards, which would allow the city to reject Korwin’s advertisement because it is not “limited to” a proposed commercial transaction, are unconstitutional as applied to Korwin’s advertisement. Chief Judge Diane M. Johnsen and Acting Presiding Judge Patricia K. Norris concurred.
But it may be a narrow win, according to the Phoenix New Times. That newspaper noted that “it’s a win based on a technicality of sorts, and stops well short of forcing the city to accept every ad submitted by the public.”
Technicality or not, Korwin will take the win. He told TGM via telephone that, “This is a gigantic win for the Second Amendment and we now have the free speech to protect our gun rights in Phoenix, and the rest of the nation will have to take note of this victory.”
TrainMeAZ promotes firearms education, including marksmanship and gun safety. But the message that “Guns Save Lives” hits a raw nerve with some people.
As noted by the Arizona Daily Sun, the city argued that small print around the image of a heart that is at the center of the advertisement contained what an assistant city attorney called a “diatribe” about the Second Amendment and Arizona gun laws.
However, according to the court, it appears the city was acting inconsistently with the specific language of its own standards, and the court noted that, “Although Appellant’s advertisement clearly contains a number of noncommercial statements, it comports with the first provision of the 2011 Standards requiring that it propose a commercial transaction.”
The city has until June 9 to appeal, so Korwin is keeping his fingers crossed. At this point, however, he is cheered with a victory that, he suggested, should put other cities on notice. He also hinted that this ruling might portend some bad news for anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg and his big-money “grassroots” lobbying effort, Everytown for Gun Safety.
“The attempt to suppress the message that guns save lives should give Mayor Bloomberg and his $50 million campaign to deny our rights one huge festering ulcer,” Korwin remarked. “The First Amendment protects the Second Amendment, and here it is on a platter.”
