Gun-Lock Ordinance Shot Down

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Gun-Lock Ordinance Shot DownNRA gets victory at DCABy Matthew Haggman Miami Daily Business ReviewIn a stinging defeat for gun control advocates, a panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal sided with the National Rifle Association and unanimously ruled that the South Miami ordinance requiring trigger locks on all guns stored within reach of children is null and void. "This decision proves the power of politics over the right to protect innocent people," said South Miami Mayor Julio Robaina, who vowed to fight on. The ordinance, which would penalize handgun owners who did not use a gun lock with a $250 fine for an initial violation and $500 for any violation thereafter, was enacted two years ago when gun safety became a major issue following several shooting accidents involving children. After its enactment in June 2000 the law was immediately challenged by the NRA, which filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The decision of the three-judge panel illuminates the sweeping power of the Legislature in controlling the regulation of firearms in every corner of the state. The state firearms law says that "the Legislature hereby declares that it is occupying the whole field of regulation of firearms and ammunition." It was used last year to strike down a lawsuit by Miami-Dade County against gun manufacturers, in which the county sought to hold them accountable for the cost of treating shooting victims. In its ruling, the 3rd DCA in Miami used the state law as the grounds for invalidating South Miami's trigger-lock requirement. "The state law is clear and on point. The law says that the state regulates this area," said Carlos Velasquez of Montero Finizio Velasquez & Reyes in Fort Lauderdale who represented the NRA along with a solo practitioner from Fairfax, Va., Stephen F. Halbrook. The ruling specifically invalidates the South Miami ordinance but it is not clear whether a similar Miami-Dade ordinance is also now void. "This ruling shows why state preemption laws are not in the public interest," said Dennis Henigan, legal director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control group in Washington, D.C. "Gun violence problems are different in Miami than they are in the Panhandle. Why is the interest in uniform firearms laws greater than the interest of having laws that protect children?" According to Henigan, the main legislative strategy of groups opposed to gun control laws has been to enact state preemption laws. "The gun lobby's strategy is to preclude local action by state law," said Henigan. "Urban jurisdictions should be demanding that this law be repealed." Robaina, who said he is a member of the NRA, said attorneys for the city will regroup and meet immediately. He said they will attempt to draft a law that will pass muster under appellate review. "It's not over," Mayor Robaina said. At trial, South Miami prevailed on summary judgment. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas "Tam" S. Wilson Jr. rejected the NRA suit last summer on grounds that it was not yet ripe for determination because there was no individual filing suit. The 3rd DCA reversed by holding that judgment would not be premature and went a step further, nullifying the city's ordinance. Judge John G. Fletcher, who wrote the 3rd DCA opinion in 2001 tossing out Miami-Dade's suit against gun manufacturers, authored the ruling invalidating South Miami's ordinance. Earlier, South Miami had been bolstered by an advisory opinion by the state attorney general's office, which said the city's trigger-lock ordinance is not preempted by state law. In the July 2000 advisory opinion Attorney General Bob Butterworth wrote: "A requirement that gun owners secure their firearms with a gun lock would not appear to interfere with [state law]." In the attorney general's view, the state statute was designed to prevent local regulations that interfere with an individual's right to bear arms but not to "store" arms. The 3rd DCA, however, found otherwise. Robaina said a decision to appeal the ruling has not been made. Date Received: March 25, 2002 http://www5.law.com/lawcom/displayid.cfm?statename=FL&docnum=117443&table=news&flag=full