I don’t know why some people feel a need to
bring their concealed weapon to the poker table or mah-jong game
in the clubhouse, but you would be surprised how many times I
have been asked whether or not the Board has the right to make a
rule that would simply prohibit guns in the common areas.
Here’s the funny part. I don’t think anyone
is going to care one way or the other about my answer. The
staunch
2nd amendment people
are still going to say they have the right no matter what I say,
and the anti-gun crowd will still say guns kill people, not
people kill people.
We’re that divided on this issue.
But considering it’s an issue that seems to
be on lots of people’s minds, here’s my answer: The Board can
ban guns on the common elements.
To reach that conclusion, let’s talk about
two cases. In HIDDEN HARBOUR ESTATES, INC., v. NORMAN
309 So.2d 180 (4th DCA, 1975) suit was brought by a condominium
owner to enjoin enforcement of condominium association rule
prohibiting use of alcoholic beverages in the clubhouse and
adjacent areas. The Circuit Court granted a permanent injunction
against enforcement of the rule and the association appealed.
The District Court of Appeal held that the association could
adopt reasonable rules, and that the restriction on the use of
alcoholic beverages was reasonable. Moreover, the court said:
Inherent in the condominium concept is the
principle that to promote health, happiness, and peace of mind
of majority of unit owners, since they are living in such close
proximity and using facilities in common, each unit owner must
give up a certain degree of freedom of choice which he might
otherwise enjoy in a separate, privately owned property.
Twenty-Eight years later, in NEUMAN v.
GRANDVIEW AT EMERALD HILLS, INC. 861 So.2d 494 (4th DCA,
2002) condominium unit owners brought an action for injunctive
and declaratory relief against a condominium association
challenging a rule banning use of the common elements for
religious services. The Circuit Court denied the owners' motion
for a permanent injunction against the rule. The District Court
of Appeal held that the rule did not unreasonably restrict the
owners' rights to peaceably assemble. More specifically, the
court said, prohibiting the use of the common elements of a
condominium for those types of assembly which will have a
particularly divisive effect on the condominium community is a
reasonable restriction and where a condominium association's
regulations regarding common elements are reasonable and not
violative of specific statutory limitations, the regulations
should be upheld.
So, alcohol can be banned from the common
areas even though alcohol is legal. Your 1st amendment right to
practice religion can be banned from the common areas as well.
There is no specific statutory right to bring your concealed
weapon on to the common areas of a condominium. Therefore, I
can’t see a Florida court ever deciding that there’s more of a
right to bring your gun into the clubhouse, then there is to
drink a beer or say a prayer. I can’t see a Florida Court ever
taking the position that the ban of weapons from the clubhouse
is somehow an unreasonable rule. So, if a Board says “no Guns”
then “no Guns” it is.
