Thus reads the small (it looks less than a foot square) metal sign on a pole at one of the two entrances to my apartment complex.
I wonder whether this applies to having firearms ANYWHERE in the complex - including inside of the apartments - or simply to carrying them around outside/in the office/etc (as carrying a gun on one’s person is not uncommon in Texas).
I’ve read the lease several times, and there is no mention of anything regarding firearms or anything similar anywhere in the entire document.
Does the sign mean I would get in trouble if I kept a hunting rifle locked in my closet? Or would the fact that it’s only on the sign, not in the lease, and was never mentioned to me by the managers be mitigating? I’m not sure how to interpret the sign.
I realize that the best way to get an answer to this question would be to ask my landlord, but they have inconvenient-for-me office hours (9-5 weekdays, no weekends; I work 9-6) and don’t respond to email.
Since it isn’t on the lease agreement I would think that it announces to non-residents that firearms of any type are not allowed.
IANAL, but I am from Texas and have checked a bit on these types of signs - like the one you saw, the handgun-in-a-circle-with-a-line-through-it, etc.
I haven’t found any cases where this constitutes a legal notice of any sort, or changes in any way the status of whether it’s permitted to have a firearm. If it’s not in the lease, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Would a lease that prohibited tenants from keeping firearms at home be enforceable under Texas law?
In Minnesota those signs became necessary when the state expanded the conceal/carry law. The law said that if you did not want people to carry concealed weapons into your building, you had to post the notice. (Quite the controversy when people figured out this included churches. I think schools are automatically exempt from allowing concealed weapons.) It does not apply to guns being legally transported (unloaded and in cases) or stored.
Of course, this is for Minnesota and not Texas, so your local laws will probably vary. (So why did I post this? Sorry, I’ll stop now…)