Navy veteran Rob Wilson, a resident of Flagstaff, Arizona, has been denied the ability to advertise his business, Timberline Firearms and Training, at the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport. Wilson first ran a 10-second silent ad in the airport in 2019, hoping to attract tourists visiting the area.
The ad, which ran on a loop at the baggage claim, shows four people standing, smiling, and holding guns. The ad then shows Wilson as a firearms instructor, teaching a student how to shoot at the indoor range.
This year, Wilson says he was told his ad did not align with the city’s advertising guidelines when he tried renewing his request.
“After spending 22 years in the Navy on active duty, defending our rights,” Wilson told Arizona’s KTVK News. “I’m not about to give them up to a city council who wants to dictate to me what my First Amendment is or is not.”
According to Wilson, the city told him his ad violates a city ban on “showing violence or anti-social behavior.”
The City of Flagstaff has proposed a new advertising policy that’s not set to be discussed until the city’s council meeting on Nov. 14. The proposed advertising policy would, in part, prohibit advertising “that promotes, solicits, depicts, or markets the sale, use, rental, distribution, or availability of firearms, ammunition, or related goods or services.”
Wilson’s lawyers at the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix wrote a letter on Wilson’s behalf to the Flagstaff City Attorney Sterling Solomon.
“The city has violated Mr. Wilson’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process of law,” The letter said.
Wilson’s lawyers also accused the city of “abusing its power to push an anti-gun agenda.”
“They can’t censor messages they don’t like, and they can’t target people to try to silence them because they’re sharing those messages,” John Thorpe, Wilson’s lawyer, told KTVK News.
Thorpe is asking Solomon to provide written assurance that Wilson may continue running his ads at the airport – and if not – they will seek legal remedy.
“I’d like to see the city council honor the oath they took to honor the Constitution of the United States and the state of Arizona,” Wilson said.
