Here’s a story that ought to get the attention of anyone who lives under a homeowners association, which these days is a lot of us. I’m Lance Rankin, owner of Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas, and while this one happened in Florida, the lesson travels.
What the HOA tried
Residents of Tradition, a large community in Port St. Lucie, Florida, got a letter from their HOA board announcing that firearms, open or concealed, were no longer allowed in any of the community’s common areas. Parks, walking trails, the dog park, the splash pad, the town square, the gazebo, all of it. No community vote, no town hall, just a letter. If you carried on your evening walk, you were suddenly in violation of your own neighborhood’s rules.
The legal gray area
Here’s the uncomfortable part: the HOA had more legal footing than you might assume. The Second Amendment restrains government, not private parties. An HOA is a private contractual association, and its common areas are private property. The same principle that lets a business post a no-guns sign arguably lets an HOA regulate its own grounds. I don’t like it, but honest analysis beats wishful thinking, and “it’s unconstitutional” isn’t automatically the winning argument against a private entity.
The attorney general’s counter
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stepped in anyway, publicly warning the Tradition Community Association that its ban was unenforceable under Florida law and that any attempt to enforce it would draw legal action. Notably, he didn’t lean on the Second Amendment. He pointed to a Florida statute that bars private entities from punishing customers or invitees for lawfully exercising the right to keep and bear arms, treating residents in the common areas as protected invitees. It’s a creative application of the statute, and as of this writing it’s untested in court, so check the current status of this fight before you cite it as settled law. But it put the HOA on notice fast.
Why this matters beyond Florida
Two takeaways from where I sit. First, infringement doesn’t only come from legislatures. An HOA board in one of the most gun-friendly states in the country tried to disarm an entire community with a form letter, and if nobody had pushed back, it would have stuck. Rights erode quietly like that, one common area at a time.
Second, read your mail and go to the meetings. HOA boards count on nobody showing up. The residents who caught this letter and raised the alarm are the reason the state got involved at all.
Texas has its own protections for gun owners against overreach, but the same vigilance applies here. If you’re sorting out where you can legally carry in Texas, my constitutional carry and Texas LTC guides lay it out. And as always with legal matters, verify current law; these fights move quickly.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
