OC at Tuscon International Airport?

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Today I drove up to Tucson Int’l Airport to pick up some elderly friends that were arriving, as customary (for me anyway) I OC’ed a 1911. Walking from the parking area to the baggage claim we passed a LEO directing traffic and pedestrians. Entered the baggage claim area and located the arrival area (B) and headed there. After standing about for a 3 or 4 minutes I walked back to the monitor to check the flight status and noticed the Traffic LEO speaking into his collar mic looking at me.I realized that the conversation was likely regarding me and my 1911, but I had checked the doors for “No weapons” posting before entering the baggage claim and was sure of my legal standing regarding carry at an airport so I went about my business. Shortly afterwards as I was heading to the coffee stand for a cup of Java a LEO on a bike pulled to a halt and asked if he could speak with me, “Sure” I replied, he said “I see that you are carrying a firearm”. I replied yes, that I had checked the doors for posting, and that there was no Arizona law or Federal law forbidding carry in an airport. He agreed except that in the case the airport asks that I “return the firearm to my vehicle”. I asked if I could cover as I had a CWP and he said no, underAZ law that they (the Air Port Authority) asks I return the weapon to my car. So I immediately agreed to comply, and reiterated that I had broken no law, to which he agreed.

I was all conducted with little fanfare and the officer was very polite, professional and made it clear he had no beef with me. The officer cited the following in his request that I return the weapon to my vehicle. In fact after I had returned from the parking lot and was retrieving baggage at the baggage claim the officer returned with a printed copy of the statue below and highlighted as below to show me the printed law. We talked for a few minutes and shook hands and we headed out of town.

13-3102. Misconduct involving weapons; defenses; classification; definitions

A. A person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly:

1. Carrying a deadly weapon without a permit pursuant to section 13-3112 except a pocket knife concealed on his person; or

2. Carrying a deadly weapon without a permit pursuant to section 13-3112 concealed within immediate control of any person in or on a means of transportation; or

3. Manufacturing, possessing, transporting, selling or transferring a prohibited weapon, except that if the violation involves dry ice, a person commits misconduct involving weapons by knowingly possessing the dry ice with the intent to cause injury to or death of another person or to cause damage to the property of another person; or

4. Possessing a deadly weapon or prohibited weapon if such person is a prohibited possessor; or

5. Selling or transferring a deadly weapon to a prohibited possessor; or

6. Defacing a deadly weapon; or

7. Possessing a defaced deadly weapon knowing the deadly weapon was defaced; or

8. Using or possessing a deadly weapon during the commission of any felony offense included in chapter 34 of this title; or

9. Discharging a firearm at an occupied structure in order to assist, promote or further the interests of a criminal street gang, a criminal syndicate or a racketeering enterprise; or

10. Unless specifically authorized by law, entering any public establishment or attending any public event and carrying a deadly weapon on his person after a reasonable request by the operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event or the sponsor's agent to remove his weapon and place it in the custody of the operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event for temporary and secure storage of the weapon pursuant to section 13-3102.01; or

I know that in Arizona, as in most states, the operators of an establishment have the prerogative to ask that you leave weapons outside; does this extend to the airports? As I am not a resident of Arizona and my permit is from my home state of Utah, I did not want to get in to a major pissing match in this case. My understanding was that the state pre emption of local laws regarding firearms would cover this situation. My question, does the Tucson Airport Authority have the right to ask you to leave your firearm in the vehicle as this officer asked of me, based upon the above statute?

I want to make it clear, that this officer acted in an exemplary manor, non confrontational with no theatrics, and that I believe that if he did act inappropriately by requesting that I leave the weapon in the car that he was acting under his interpretation or understanding of the law in this case.

What say you?



Thanks,

Steve

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Well, in that same section, under M(1) it defines public establishment as: "a structure, vehicle or craft that is owned, leased or operated by this state or a political subdivision of this state."

It appears they were well within the law to ask you to put it in the car. Arizona preemption seems pretty weak to me if the state can tell you not to carry on state property. Of all the places you should be able to carry, on taxpayer owned property should be near or at the top of the list!

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TIA is a municipallyowned facility:

http://tucsonairport.org/html/tia_tiafacts.html



IANAL, but if they do notoffer secure storage (your car is NOT "secure storage"), they can not ask you to disarm in the non-secure areas.



For the record, I O.C. all the time at TIA, even (especially) when picking up/dropping off my inbound/outbound Airmen. I have never gotten a second glance.

I am getting another new one in this weekend, I'll report on how it goes.

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Is there a lot of assault with intend to preserve in Arizona?
I never heard of a dry ice deadly weapons ban before. (except al gore and epa)
You would think at least Lou Dobbs would have said something about people
tossing ice cubes near the border.
Defaced deadly weapon, no sir that is holster wear, I brandish a lot.:banghead:
Does this clause make CA models illegal?
They deface the firing pin with stamps don't they?

I guess you could have asked who with the authority asked you to take it outside?
That would have stumped him I'm sure. Then while he is phoning in to find out
you ask him how does he know the person asking you to leave has the authority to
do so if he doesn't even know who he is? :lol:

Do they have the new stripping scanners there yet? Got one in atlanta now.
Won't bother me, I will drive before I subject myself to 'public' air travel.
As I always said, i'm not worried about me, it is the ex-priest homeland security
hired watching my son go through I won't stand for.
After all, they are "professionalized & federalized".:cuss:

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From what I understand, public airports(non sterile areas)are not specifically listed as off-limits in the statutes, therefore they either have to provide secure storage or they cannot ask you to leave. I would file a complaint with the Tucson PD. Of course, I'm not a lawyer so take my opinion accordingly.

After re-reading the posts I realized PavePusher had the same comment, so I agree with what he said.

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Notso wrote:

From what I understand, public airports(non sterile areas)are not specifically listed as off-limits in the statutes, therefore they either have to provide secure storage or they cannot ask you to leave. I would file a complaint with the Tucson PD. Of course, I'm not a lawyer so take my opinion accordingly.

After re-reading the posts I realized PavePusher had the same comment, so I agree with what he said.

Click to expand...

Of course you do, 'cause I'm right. Except when I'm wrong. But that never happens. Except once in a while. Hardly ever. Only every day or two....

Sorry, it's been that kind of a week...

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Notso wrote:

From what I understand, public airports(non sterile areas) are not specifically listed as off-limits in the statutes, therefore they either have to provide secure storage or they cannot ask you to leave. I would file a complaint with the Tucson PD. Of course, I'm not a lawyer so take my opinion accordingly.

After re-reading the posts I realized PavePusher had the same comment, so I agree with what he said.

Click to expand...

Agreed, except you would file with the Tucson Airport Authority not TPD as they are the LEA responsible.

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Off to the airport, will report back later.

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Yeah, I considered the locked storage thing, but we were to be there about 15 minutes total.

I have OC'ed at TIA several times in the past, but had never entered the terminal before.



Steve

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Yep the officer neglected an important piece of law:

13-3102.01. Storage of deadly weapons; definitions
A. If an operator of a public establishment or a sponsor of a public event requests that a person carrying a deadly weapon remove the weapon, the operator or sponsor shall provide temporary and secure storage. The storage shall be readily accessible on entry into the establishment or event and allow for the immediate retrieval of the weapon on exit from the establishment or event.
B. This section does not apply to the licensed premises of any public establishment or public event with a license issued pursuant to title 4.
C. The operator of the establishment or the sponsor of the event or the employee of the operator or sponsor or the agent of the sponsor, including a public entity or public employee, is not liable for acts or omissions pursuant to this section unless the operator, sponsor, employee or agent intended to cause injury or was grossly negligent.
D. For the purposes of this section, "public establishment" and "public event" have the same meanings prescribed in section 13-3102.

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Update: I dropped the ball on this, sorry folks. Got to the airport late (due to a dog Great Escape), and my Airman was waiting at the curb. Tossed bags in truck and went to get him settled on base.

So, unfortunately, I have nothing to report about O.C. in the airport for now. Got a few more coming in next month, I'll try to remember to update this.