Triangle Tactical Podcast and Blog on Guns, Gear, and Competition Shooting
Ares Armor in National City, CA is battling for their 1st Amendment rights, while promoting the 2nd. These folks put up a billboard for their business, and are being threatened with legal action and jail time if they don’t take it down.
I’ll be honest in telling you that I’m not super familiar with Ares Armor, other than hearing their name a handful of times when scouring my Facebook feed, but after looking over their website, it appears that they do some custom kydex work and they sell 80% AR-15 lowers (You know, those “ghost guns” we talked about in Episode 65) and some other tactical gear.
The posted a really awesome billboard back in November that says:
Ares Armor
Unserialized. No Registration. Legal.
As someone who is into guns, this is a pretty tame sign. It’s factual, clean, unoffensive, and gets the point across. Unfortunately, the powers that be in the community are trying to make them take down their sign by using some completely bogus interpretation of their city code.
According to the citation that was given to Ares Armor by the city, they are attempting to use city code 18.11.100 which has to do with businesses taking down their signs when they go out of business. Unfortunately for the city, I believe that Ares Armor is very much in business, so this particular code doesn’t really fit, and I imagine that the folks at Ares Armor won’t have too much trouble fighting it in front of a judge, as long as the judge has any respect for free speech.
I posted this not just because it’s about a gun related business who is being oppressed, but because there’s a lesson here. As gun owners, and supporters of the 2nd Amendment, we also need to be supporters of the 1st Amendment rights of Ares Armor, just like we support the 4th Amendment rights of Mr. Filippidis.
I think instead of pushing the “Pro2A” ideal, we should push “ProRights”, or “ProFreedom” instead. All of our rights are important.
Exactly, ALL of our rights are vital, even if some may disagree with them. We cannot give the government one single inch of encroachment. Not for our guns, not for our privacy, and not for our bodies.
Preach it brother.
Well national city has a Fee that must be paid and permits that must be sought and obtained before a sign can be erected.
Let me say I’m a gun owner and a very active supporter of the 2A, but this may all have been for not if Ares would have asked the city planner if it was OK to erect a sign.
The problem is National city is a fee heavy tax laden city. I operated a business out of my home in Escondido and all that was required of me was a 1% tax on my gross receipts or $35 which ever is more to obtain a license. No review, No digging into what we do, No inspection, no nothing. For me to set up shop in National city requires about $300 in fees just to be considered for a business license, on top of inspection of my home office.
Here’s a Hint Ares. Go rent a place in the county jurisdiction. No business license required. Just a resale permit from the state. No zoning BS to deal with. Screw them
It is not at all clear that there is any First Amendment issue here. “Commercial speech” done for profit does not enjoy the same protections as individual speech. Jurisdictions routinely regulate signage, advertising, distribution of flyers, and other sorts of communications by businesses. The First does not permit unlimited free speech, it prevents laws restricting free speech with a long list of limits as it was refined by the Suprem Court. It doesn’t prevent a local government from restricting the language used on a sign, or its size or type or even color. Ares may have a strong position or not, but I don’t think it can be based on the First.