Tempe responds to youth violence with restrictive brass knuckles ban

PHOENIX — Tempe is the latest East Valley community to enact a brass knuckles ban in response to the youth violence issue.

The Tempe brass knuckles ban, which was approved unanimously during Thursday’s City Council meeting, covers more ground than similar ordinances previously enacted in Gilbert and Chandler.

Like those cities, Tempe is making it illegal to sell or otherwise transfer possession of brass knuckles or similar weapons to a minor.

But the Tempe brass knuckles ban goes a step further, prohibiting the weapons on public property, regardless of the possessor’s age.

Gilbert Goons victim speaks in support of Tempe brass knuckles ban

Connor Jarnagan, a Chandler teen who was beaten with brass knuckles in a December 2022 attack in Gilbert, spoke about his ordeal during Thursday’s meeting in Tempe.

Jarnagan said he was lucky to escape with his life after getting attacked by a teen he said was a member of the Gilbert Goons, a gang of violent youths connected to a string of unprovoked assaults in recent years.

“Unlike many other weapons, brass knuckles are specifically engineered to enhance the force of a punch, turning a relatively harmless blow into a potential lethal weapon. I know this because doctors told me if the punch were to be an inch to the left that I could have been paralyzed or killed,” he said.

Jarnagan said he hopes to use Tempe’s ordinance as a model for a future statewide ban, something Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said he would support.

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