Should Tenants in Subsidized Housing Have the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?

Should landlords who accept government housing vouchers be allowed to bar these tenants from keeping guns on their property?

Even people in subsidized housing have the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, so say legislators in Maine. Opponents contend that private property owners’ rights take precedence over gun rights. Proponents disagree.

The state’s Republican-led Senate and the Democratic-led House voted to approve the measure. From WGME:

The bill arose out of an incident last year, when 67-year-old Harvey Lembo of Rockland shot and wounded a man he said had broken into his residence to steal his prescription painkillers. After the Aug. 31 shooting at the Park Place Apartments, the management company for the property owner sent Lembo a notice that he could not possess a gun on the property if he wanted to continue living there.
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The proposed bill would prohibit landlords who receive federal subsidies from barring tenants possessing guns. The bill was amended to provide immunity to landlords in the event of a shooting in which someone is injured or killed. The immunity does not cover willful, reckless or grossly negligent actions by the landlord in regard to gun possession, according to the bill.

CURE and BCN believe protecting the Second Amendment saves lives. Star Parker wrote:

“Law-abiding black citizens live under siege in crime-ridden urban centers. Somehow, they are supposed to buy the logic that they’ll be better off if more power is given to those in law enforcement (who already are charged with maintaining order, but don’t), while freedoms are stripped from those who obey the law.”

Photo credit: MMR Dad (Creative Commons) – All Rights Reserved