GOA Sues Jacksonville Over Gun Bans

Gun Owners of America just took Jacksonville, Florida to court for running gun-free zones the state legislature never authorized.

What happened: GOA, Gun Owners Foundation, Florida Carry, and several individual plaintiffs filed suit (Case No. 16-2026-CA-006676-AXXX-MA) against the City of Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters, and Mayor Donna Deegan. The complaint argues that firearm restrictions enforced at city-owned venues go well beyond what Florida's firearms-preemption statute allows local governments to impose.

Zoom in: The lawsuit points to specific incidents at four venues — the Moran Theater, Florida Theatre, Jacksonville Fairgrounds, and EverBank Stadium — where lawfully armed concealed carriers were told to disarm or leave. One of those carriers was GOA's own Florida State Director, Luis Valdes, who is named as a plaintiff.

"Jacksonville does not get to invent its own gun laws. Florida law is clear that it preempts localities from imposing stricter gun control. I was lawfully carrying at a city-owned venue that wasn't a gun-free zone when a JSO officer told me to disarm or be trespassed." — Luis Valdes, GOA Florida State Director

The legal question: Florida's preemption law is one of the strongest in the country — it bars cities and counties from writing their own gun rules and even allows for damages against officials who enforce illegal local restrictions. The plaintiffs argue Jacksonville sidestepped that framework by treating city-owned venues as de facto gun-free zones without any statutory carve-out permitting it.

This isn't a novel theory in Florida. State preemption fights have hit cities and counties before, usually ending with local governments backing down once the legal exposure — including personal liability for officials — becomes clear. What makes this case notable is the venue list: a sports stadium, two theaters, and a fairgrounds complex, all places where thousands of Floridians pass through Second Amendment rights checkpoints they may not even realize are illegal.

What's next: The suit seeks to strike down the venue restrictions and stop Jacksonville police from continuing to disarm or trespass lawful carriers. GOA says it's making spokesmen available for interviews as the case moves forward, signaling this is likely to stay a public pressure campaign as much as a courtroom fight.

The bottom line: If a city can quietly gun-free-zone a stadium or a theater without state authorization, preemption laws in every state with one just got a lot weaker on paper — this case is about whether that paper still means anything.