The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has issued an ultimatum to Tucson over its policy of destroying confiscated handguns and automatic rifles.

Stop the practice immediately or face an expensive court battle, the office has warned city officials.

“To be clear, if the Council does not intend to promptly undertake such action to remedy the issues regarding the destruction of firearms identified in the Office’s report, then the Office plans to file a petition for special action with the Arizona Supreme Court shortly thereafter to obtain a resolution,” Assistant Attorney General Brunn Roysden wrote in a letter to city officials last week.

The Tucson City Council will meet in executive session Tuesday, Dec. 6, with City Attorney Mike Rankin to discuss legal strategies about the long-established city policy of turning most guns taken in by police into scrap metal.

Several members of the City Council have publicly defended the policy, saying destroying the firearms is lawful because the disposition of municipal property is a “local concern.”