A massive planned community in Port St. Lucie, Florida is enacting new rules for residents that prohibit the lawful carrying of firearms in all common areas of the neighborhood, including all parks, trails, and even the community dog park.
Tradition is home to about 10,000 people, including an untold number of gun owners who’ll be impacted by the new policy. At this point, though, it’s unclear who will actually enforce the new rules.
Port St. Lucie Councilman Anthony Bonna strongly opposes the new firearms policy, calling it an infringement on Second Amendment rights. Bonna announced plans to challenge the Tradition Community Association’s decision to ensure the community’s rights are protected.
However, the Port St. Lucie Police Department clarified its position on enforcement. Port St. Lucie Police Chief Leo Niemczyk explained in a statement that they enforce state law rather than homeowners association rules and fully support constitutional rights. He emphasized that violations of the HOA’s new firearms policy are not criminal violations and will not be enforced by city police.
News of the gun ban came as a surprise to some residents, who said they weren’t informed that the community association was even considering a change.
“While this is a safe community, we have seen an uptick in incidents around here where I would personally just feel better if I was allowed to still carry around the parks, the walking trails,” she said.
“I don’t feel like they have the right to deny people the ability to carry their guns. There is a law that allows people to conceal or open carry at this point,” said Brandy Gray, a Port St. Lucie resident who was visiting Tradition.
There is a law, and if Tradition were a traditional community then its policy would be in conflict with Florida’s preemption law. But the common areas in the planned community aren’t technically public property. Instead, they’re owned and operated by Tradition Community Association, which is a not-for-profit corporation.
Florida’s preemption statute prohibits any “county, city, town, or municipal ordinances or any administrative regulations or rules adopted by local or state government” that regulate the purchase, sale, transfer, taxation, manufacture, ownership, possession, storage, and transportation of firearms and ammunition, but the community association doesn’t appear to fall under the preemption statute.
A court challenge seems unlikely to succeed, and it may be difficult to find a legislative fix to this as well. Private property owners typically have the power to prohibit firearms from their premises if they choose, and though one could argue that a storefront retail location is very different from a property that covers hundreds of acres and is visited by thousands of residents, I’m not sure there’s much of a difference as far as property rights are concerned.
I’d be ticked, though, if I bought a home in the planned community years ago only to see the community association suddenly change the rules and prohibit the lawful carrying of firearms. With the Port St. Lucie police chief declining to enforce the new rule it’s unclear who actually will be in charge of compliance, as well as what fines violators might be subjected to, but given the number of Floridians who exercise their Second Amendment rights on a regular basis, it probably won’t be long before we find out.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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