The city of Jacksonville, Florida is being sued, along with Mayor Donna Deegan and Sheriff T.K. Walters, over the disarming of several lawful gun owners in apparent violation of the state’s preemption law.
Florida Carry, along with Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation, filed the suit after several members ran headlong into what the organizations describe as “local firearm restrictions at Jacksonville venues,” some of which appear to be unwritten policies and practices.
The lawsuit points to city-owned venues including EverBank Stadium (for a non-athletic event), the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts and the Florida Theatre Building.
The plaintiffs claim that at the time of the incidents described, the individuals involved were legally carrying firearms, but were still denied entry, told to disarm, or threatened with trespass.
The lawsuit also alleges that, in multiple incidents, uniformed law enforcement was involved and that the enforcement described was not a one-time misunderstanding.
Florida’s preemption law already contains restrictions on carrying in government-owned buildings like police stations, jails, courthouses, courtrooms, and schools, but political subdivisions don’t have the authority to declare other government-owned property “gun-free zones.”
Jacksonville is already facing a civil lawsuit from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier over the creation of an illegal registry of gun owners who visited City Hall; a practice that ended only after a city council member and Second Amendment advocates were able to uncover its existence. You’d think that with that ongoing litigation, city officials would be extra cautious about staying on the right side of the state’s gun laws, but if the allegations in the lawsuit are true then officials have once again proven themselves to be incapable of understanding the preemption statute… or willfully ignoring it.
Florida Carry’s Sean Caranna has previously told Bearing Arms that the group routinely sends out letters to municipalities and counties that have run afoul of the preemption law, and in many cases the offending jurisdictions make the necessary changes without the need to file any lawsuits. Here, though, it seems that the city is digging in its heels, at least for now.
The only real argument Jacksonville could make is that it’s regulating the carry of firearms as a property owner, not as a government. I don’t think it would be a successful argument, since the preemption statute doesn’t have any kind of carveout for government-owned entertainment facilities. Florida law does prohibit the lawful carrying of firearms at any school, college, or professional athletic event not related to firearms, but if there was no athletic event taking place at EverBank Stadium when gun owners were turned away or told to disarm, that too would be a violation of Florida Statute 790.06(12)(a).
The wisest course of action for Mayor Duggan and Sheriff Walters to take would be to comply with the request by Florida Carry and GOA and rescind those policies, written or unwritten, that are keeping lawful gun owners from being able to carry in these non-sensitive places. I suspect if that was going to happen, though, it would have been done before a lawsuit was filed. If the city and county sheriff want to fight over their gun-free zones, I’m sure Florida Carry and GOA will be happy to oblige, but I don’t think Duggan and her pals are going to be happy with the results when the court battle is over.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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