Removal of ad sparks free speech debate

PHOENIX - At bus stops across the Valley you will see advertisements plastered across the railings, and while most don't even pay attention to them, the City of Phoenix was watching and pulled a series of gun safety ads.

Now there's a legal fight to get the ads back up.

Valley bus riders we talked to on Wednesday said they never saw the ad that read "Guns Save Lives" and "Arizona says Educate your Kids". But they questioned whether the City of Phoenix had the right to take them down.

"I don't think they have the right to do that," said one rider.

"If they're causing no harm I don't see what the problem is," said another man.

After just 10 days, Phoenix transit officials ordered all 50 of the bus stop ads to be removed.

The city told the group TrainMeAZ.com , who sponsored the gun safety ad, they were pulled because they were not part of "a commercial transaction."

Now the Goldwater Institute is suing, saying the removal of the ads violated the group's freedom of speech.

"They aren't anybody to decide," said Bridger Kimball, who owns Caswell's Shooting Range. "They don't get to decide what our advertising campaign gets to put on our billboards as long it's not inappropriate."

Kimball is one of dozens of business owners who sponsor TrainMeAZ.com.

He says the whole idea behind the ad was gun safety.

"For the TrainMeAZ campaign to come out and say 'educate your kids', I think that's probably one of the best things you could put on a billboard," he said.

The city refused to comment on the Goldwater lawsuit, only to say they will be reviewing it.