Well, would you look at that. Another Florida city tried to play games with our Second Amendment rights, and our Attorney General told them to cut it out. That's exactly what should happen.
Winter Garden, a city in west Orange County, had a sign up at the Tucker Ranch Recreation and Nature Preserve since 2018 telling people they couldn't bring guns into the park. Here's the thing though - nobody ever got cited, trespassed, or arrested for violating that sign. Because it's a feel-good measure that does absolutely nothing to stop criminals, but it does tell law-abiding gun owners they can't exercise their rights in a public space.
Enter Attorney General James Uthmeier. The guy has been absolutely killing it lately when it comes to standing up for gun rights. He sent the city a letter calling that sign "null and void" and gave them until August 15th to confirm it was gone. He also made it clear that if they had any other anti-gun signage hiding around, that needed to go too.
Now, I'm skeptical that this was some innocent "oversight" like the city manager is claiming. Someone put that sign up in 2018, and it stayed there for eight years. That's not an accident - that's a deliberate attempt to infringe on our rights. But you know what? They backed down quick when the AG got involved. The sign was down before they even formally received the letter. Smart move on their part, because under Florida law, cities that try to regulate firearms in violation of state preemption can face fines and officials can even be removed from office.
This is why we need strong preemption laws and attorneys general who actually enforce them. Local governments all across this country constantly try to chip away at our rights with these feel-good gun-free zone signs, as if criminals actually pay attention to them. The only people who follow those signs are the ones who'd never hurt anyone anyway.
Kudos to AG Uthmeier for staying on top of this. Florida continues to show the rest of the country what it looks like when the government actually protects our constitutional rights instead of trying to undermine them.