Is advertising a form of speech protected by the First Amendment? Can government agencies reject advertising in facilities they control just because they don't like its content? Those questions arise in Flagstaff, Arizona, where city officials are trying to block a gun range owner from promoting his business at the local airport.
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"By denying Mr. Wilson's request to advertise based on an unreasonable and pretextual application of the advertising policy, the City has violated Mr. Wilson's constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due process of law," John Thorpe, staff attorney for the Goldwater Institute's Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, informed Flagstaff officials in an October 24 letter. "Moreover, the new policy currently under consideration is unconstitutional, both as applied to Mr. Wilson (as it expressly targets his expression) and on its face (as it bans broad, poorly-defined categories of speech and discriminates based on content and viewpoint)."
Unless Flagstaff officials reverse course when they formally consider the city's proposed advertising policy this month, their new-found aversion to firearms will be tested in court.
reason.com