Arizona GOP try to halt Phoenix gun shipment to Ukraine, but it may be too late

Unclaimed firearms that the state Attorney General says were donated illegally by the city of Phoenix to Ukraine are still in the United States, but an executive of the company handling the transaction said it's too late to stop the shipment now.

Marco Gruelle, president of the logistics firm DT Gruelle Company Group LLC, said the firearms are at his Pennsylvania facility now and will be shipped to Ukraine this weekend.

Told Friday that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes found last month that the donation broke the law, Gruelle said that is a "shame." Although it's now debated that the contract complies with state law, Gruelle insisted the 599 donated firearms would be going to Ukraine.

"These weapons will be going to the police forces of Ukraine in order to assist them against Russian aggression," Gruelle said.

The company notes on its website that it and its affiliated nonprofit, DT Cares, send aid to Ukraine and a number of other countries where it feels help is needed.

Gruelle's statements come on the heels of efforts by Republican lawmakers this week to hold the city accountable for the donation. They hoped to get the mayor and city council investigated for violations including "war crimes."

Armed with the Sept. 20 opinion by Mayes that Phoenix officials broke the law, three state House members took their complaint to Republican Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who said she'd look into it.

Told Friday that the guns were still in the United States, House Speaker Pro Tempore Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, said he would immediately ask Mitchell to file for an emergency injunction in court to stop the shipment.

There was no word late Friday if that happened.

"This is a gross and blatant violation of the law, and it is unbelievable how callous the city of Phoenix is being with regards to this illegal gun-trafficking operation," he said. He added later that Mitchell told him the office was working on his request.

The county attorney's office didn't immediately respond to questions about the development.

City rebuffed officials in plan to donate firearms

Phoenix officials signed the contract for the donation with DT Gruelle in July, a month after Mayor Kate Gallego and the City Council approved an ordinance that allowed the deal. The shipment of guns included more than 400 9mm pistols, 62 12-gauge shotguns and more than 100 semi-automatic rifles that take 5.56mm or 7.62mm ammunition.

The arsenal includes seized or recovered firearms that have gone unclaimed for more than 30 days. But state laws written by pro-firearm Republicans over the years clearly ban such a deal.

A state law signed by then-Gov. Jan Brewer in 2013 mandates that cities and towns must sell such firearms to licensed dealers who will then sell them to the public. Another state law prohibits cities and towns from enacting any ordinance to donate or do almost anything with firearms that the state doesn't expressly allow.

Leaders of some Arizona cities, including Phoenix, don't like that law and see it as antithetical to their goals of keeping guns off "the street."

Phoenix Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari killed a city plan to sell 3,000 guns for $150,000 last December, saying at the time that "while state law currently does not allow us to destroy these firearms, I look forward to exploring creative alternatives with my colleagues" on the council.

One of those creative solutions was to donate guns to Ukraine. But the June 28 approval of the ordinance appeared to violate those state prohibitions, catching the attention of two lawmakers. Rep. Selina Bliss, R-Prescott, and Quang Nguyen, R-Prescott Valley. They informed the city in a July 3 letter that the ordinance should be repealed immediately. After failing to convince the city to halt the transaction, the lawmakers filed a formal complaint with Mayes in August.

The Attorney General's Office investigation showed that the city took its time to address the issue.

City Attorney Julie Kriegh responded to the lawmakers two weeks after their inquiry, saying Phoenix officials would respond in a week or so. Two weeks later, Kriegh said she would need another two or three weeks to respond.

The city wouldn't divulge when the weapons would be shipped out of Arizona and ignored a request by the lawmakers for assurance that it wouldn't occur before the city responded to them. Finally, Kriegh told the two lawmakers she would meet with them on Aug. 17.

"The city appreciates your concern and looks forward to resolving any issues," wrote Kriegh in her Aug. 16 letter to Bliss and Nguyen.

City spokesman Dan Wilson told The Arizona Republic the weapons shipped to DT Gruelle on Aug. 17 — the very next day.

Nguyen sent three angry-faced emojis by text when told the city shipped the guns on the same day as his meeting with the officials.

"You could not find a more criminally-intended bunch of people" than at the city of Phoenix, he said.

Next steps remain unknown

Despite her office's finding that the city broke the law, Mayes supports the Ukraine transfer and not the state law requiring the sale of unclaimed weapons.

She stated in her investigative report that it "should not be construed as a rebuke of the public spirit underlying the city’s desire to aid Ukraine or as an endorsement of the policy underlying Arizona’s firearms disposition statutes. Nor should it discourage future support and donations to Ukraine or elsewhere that can be carried out in compliance with Arizona law."

Mayes didn't investigate whether the city "knowingly and willingly" broke the law, telling The Arizona Republic through a spokesman that the lawmakers asked her only to investigate a violation of the state's preemption law, which bans municipalities from enacting laws more stringent than state laws.

When a violation is found, the preemption law only calls the Attorney General to order the offending action stopped. By Sept. 20, when Mayes concluded her probe, the city had already shipped the guns out of state and repealed the ordinance.

The Republican lawmakers hope the city will face consequences for breaking the law in the first place.

Mitchell's office does have the power under state law to investigate an officeholder who "unlawfully holds or exercises any public office," as the lawmakers noted in a public statement about the controversy earlier this week. But according to Arizona State University law Professor Paul Bender, that law only applies "when someone usurps or unlawfully holds an office."

Mitchell, in response to the lawmakers' request earlier this week for her office to investigate, told The Republic her office would "review laws that were cited and are applicable, and then we're going to take appropriate next steps. We haven't decided what those are going to be at this point.”

State law allows for a civil penalty of up to $50,000 to be levied on municipalities that break the law banning them from enacting ordinances to donate guns. But that applies only if the city committed the violation "knowingly or willingly," which the city denies.

"Any claim the City Council knowingly violated the law is false and not supported by the facts," Wilson said. "The city made good faith arguments to support the ordinance. When the Attorney General ruled against those good faith arguments, the city acted quickly to come into compliance."

Yet it may be a stretch to believe the city of Phoenix's legal team did not understand what they were doing. As city officials told Mayes office, they believed the donation was legal because it was similar to an aid shipment former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey sent to Ukraine last year. But that shipment didn't include any firearms, which are the main subject of the state laws the city broke.

"The city of Phoenix consulted with multiple attorneys to draft the program and arrived at a different view than the state legislature, which is why Council passed the ordinance with a bipartisan, unanimous vote," said Gallego's spokeswoman, Arielle Devorah. She added that only a court and "not individual state legislators or even the Attorney General (can decide) whether an ordinance is lawful."

Former Republican state Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he urges Mitchell to investigate whether the law was broken not just by city officials, but also by Mayes.

"Unfortunately, Kris Mayes has really struggled to honor her oath of office when it conflicts with her partisan politics," Brnovich said. "It's disappointing that she appears more interested in protecting Democratic politicians than enforcing the law."

Reach the reporter at rstern@arizonarepublic.com or 480-276-3237. Follow him on X @raystern.

Republic reporter Jimmy Jenkins contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why GOP lawmakers want Phoenix prosecuted for Ukraine gun deal