Guns in your rental property?
according to Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence, every day in our country about 289 people are shot, some deliberately and some by accident. If you manage a rental home with a gun, the likelihood of it being used to kill or injure someone in a domestic murder, suicide, or accident is 22 times higher than the gun being than used in self-defense.
Given these troubling statistics, many landlords and property managers are wondering if their property rights can let them to limit gun ownership in their rental properties. However, these property rights are in direct conflict with the owners right to bear arms as part of the Second Amendment. The answer is a yes. The Second Amendment is in fact a limitation of government power over private citizen. So, as a private citizen if a landlord wants to ban guns in his or her rental properties, there is no Second Amendment violation.
Gun owners can not get protections from Fair Housing laws either since they are not a protected class under this law. However, implementing a limit on gun ownership or prohibiting fire arms in your rental properties could very difficult.
In fact, proving that your tenant has a gun on site is near impossible since you would be violating the California’s privacy laws by insisting on such inspections that would allow you to locate the gun. And what if you suspect your tenants are keeping a firearms in a rental unit, in violation of your established policy? However, if you have positive proof of a violation, and your tenants have previously agreed in the lease to abide by your policy, then you have the right to evict such a tenant or request a remedy for the gun to be removed from the premise.
Contact Us if you need help crafting the langauge to prohibit guns in your rental properties.