When you rent, you may find yourself having to navigate some rules that seem a bit invasive. The biggest one is whether or not you can have a pet and, if so, what those limits might be. Most people are used to that to some degree, and they don’t even blink about it.
But what if a landlord decided you couldn’t protect yourself from a violent intruder?
Like it or not, and I know most of you don’t, there are landlords out there who will tell you that you can’t have a gun in the property as part of the lease agreement. I don’t know how common the practice actually is, as I’ve never encountered it, but it’s enough of a thing that people have started looking at stopping it.
And that’s just what Tennessee has now done.
A bill that would bar landlords from banning firearms on rental properties is headed to the governor’s desk in a shift that would affect future lease agreements for thousands of tenants in Tennessee.
The bill, SB0350, would prohibit landlords from restricting tenants from lawfully possessing and carrying firearms and ammunition inside their homes or apartments. The protections also extend to vehicles parked in tenant-designated spaces.
Supporters, including advocacy groups such as the Sportsmen’s Alliance, said the measure ensures tenants can keep firearms for self-defense and hunting. Democrats opposed the bill, arguing it overrides private property rights and limits landlords’ ability to set rules for their own buildings.
I kind of wonder how many of those Democrats who opposed the bill love NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans for extensive rent control in the Big Apple. A bit of a double standard there, don’t you think?
And a stable, consistent rent isn’t a constitutionally protected right, while the right to keep and bear arms is.
Now, I’m a big property rights guy. I don’t like telling property owners what they can and can’t do with their own property. I’m not even a fan of zoning laws for just that reason.
That said, the idea of telling people they can’t have a gun in the home they rent is akin to telling them they can’t take vaccines, to worship as they please in the rental property, nor can they engage in political discussions that the landlord might not approve of. It’s an invasive abridgement of people’s personal freedoms.
While I don’t want to live in a property where the landlord thinks I shouldn’t be able to protect myself, I shouldn’t have to worry about that being an issue in the first place, either.
I’m not sorry to see this bill pass.
I’m sorry we live in a world where a bill like this was needed in the first place.
Just because you rent out property doesn’t mean you should just go around telling people what they can and can’t do in that property, so long as they’re not messing it up. Pet restrictions tend to be about damage to the property rather than just not approving of pets, for example.
And if I have to use my gun inside the house, I’ve got bigger problems than a damage deposit.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
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