To: Our Arizona Gun Show Friends
From: Bob Templeton, Crossroads of the West Gun Shows
Subject: Arizona State Fire Marshal Limits on Ammunition
at Fairgrounds Gun Show July 6-7
The Arizona State Fire Marshal Deputy Phil Mele' decided less than a week before the last Phoenix gun show that he was going to limit the amount of ammunition in the building at the show.
The Uniform Fire Code of 1997, which is the Code that the State Fire Marshal uses, limits primers to 25,000 in a building. We have never allowed primers to be sold inside the buildings at the gun show. However, Phil Mele' decided, in his wisdom, that since each cartridge has a primer, he would limit the amount of ammunition in the building to 25,000 rounds. Such a low limit on ammunition would have made it impossible to have a gun show. Our dealers typically have between 3 and 4 million rounds offered for sale at the shows.
The Uniform Fire Code of 1997, the same version that the Fire Marshal was quoting from, clearly exempts small arms ammunition from any quantity limitations in a subsequent section of the Code. The Fire Marshal chose to ignore the exemption provided for small arms ammunition, claiming that no exemption was provided for the retail display of ammunition. Section 7701.1, provides that no limits shall be imposed on quantities of ammunition. Sec. 7701.1, Exceptions, states that " (4) The possession, transportation, storage and use of small arms ammunition when packaged in accordance with DOT packaging requirements." Thus ammunition is clearly exempted from the quantity limits under the uniform fire code.
The Fire Marshal Deputy Phil Mele' is clearly misinterpreting the Uniform Fire Code and we need to call him to task for his error. We are asking our gun show friends to join us in a grass-roots contact campaign to encourage Mele', his supervisor Assistant State Fire Marshal Steve Alley, and the Chief State Fire Marshal Duane Pell, to re-evaluate their interpretation of the Code as it relates to the storage, display and sale of small arms ammunition.
Here's what we're asking you to do. Contact each of the following individuals and request that they reconsider their limitation on the number of rounds of ammunition in a building. Ammunition is clearly exempted from quantity limits in the Uniform Fire Code, and they need only to contact the group who wrote the Code to confirm that.
Please be courteous and non-confrontational in your communication with these folks. We are, for the moment, assuming that the problem is due to a fuzzy interpretation of the Code and not due to any direct attempt to shut down the gun shows. With your help in the form of phone calls, faxes and letters, we can get this problem solved before it becomes a show-stopper for our next Crossroads show.
Deputy Phil Mele' Phone (602)-364-1003 Pager (602)-420-0390 OFFICE OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL 99 E Virginia St Suite 100 Phoenix, Az. 85004
Assistant State Fire Marshal Steve Alley Phone (602)-364-1003 OFFICE OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL 99 E Virginia St Suite 100 Phoenix, Az. 85004
Arizona State Fire Marshal Duane Pell (602)-364-1003 OFFICE OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL 99 E Virginia St
Phoenix, Az. 85004
The FAX number for each of the above is (602)-364-1084
Thanks for your help!
Bob Templeton,
Crossroads of the West Gun Shows, Inc.
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