\n<\/p>\n
The five-member Okeechobee, Florida city council and Police Chief Donald Hagan may each be forced to pay $5,000 personally \u2013 without using taxpayer dollars \u2013 for violating Florida\u2019s powerful preemption statute, which only allows the state legislature to regulate firearms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As previously reported<\/a>, the city adopted an illegal ordinance shortly before Hurricane Helene made landfall, which banned the sale of guns and ammunition and prohibited firearm possession in public by anyone other than law enforcement or members of the military. \u00a0<\/p>\n After learning of the civil rights violation,\u00a0Florida Carry, Inc.<\/a>\u00a0sent a\u00a0demand letter\u00a0titled\u00a0Written Notice of Preemption Violation and Offer of Settlement<\/a>, to the city council and Chief Hagan, warning the recipients they have violated Florida\u2019s preemption statute.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0letter<\/a>, which was written by Florida Carry, Inc. General Counsel\u00a0Eric J. Friday<\/a>, spelled out that the pro-gun group has sufficient standing to bring a lawsuit if the ordinance is not repealed within 30 days, and demanded the payment of $30,000 in damages and attorneys\u2019 fees to \u201cresolve this matter prior to initiation of litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Okeechobee City Attorney John J. Fumero,\u00a0in a response<\/a>\u00a0sent Wednesday, claimed that the city\u2019s Second Amendment violation was merely an \u201cinadvertent mistake<\/a> in using an outdated emergency ordinance form that, legally and factually, did not apply to the circumstances at hand regarding Hurricane Helene.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides. Fumero wrote, no one ever enforced the illegal ordinance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt no time did the City, or the Police Chief, contemplate, nor take any action, to prohibit, confiscate or otherwise regulate firearms or ammunition in any fashion or manner. This was never the intention of the City. This was never implemented by the City. Moreover, to ensure this never happens again, the City has developed and implemented a new emergency ordinance form and process,\u201d the city attorney wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fumero\u2019s boss, Okeechobee Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr. and police spokesman Detective Jarret Romanello, gave numerous interviews to local media claiming city officials were reviewing the entire incident to determine how the \u201cmistake\u201d occurred. Romanello also claimed he looked forward to \u201cproviding more answers as soon as the review is complete.\u201d<\/p>\n In his\u00a0response<\/a>, Fumero also balked at Florida Carry\u2019s monetary demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe see no legal, factual or public policy basis for your organization demanding payment of taxpayer dollars to satisfy your assertion of \u2018damages and attorneys\u2019 fees. The City is a rural small town that fundamentally believes in gun rights and the Second Amendment. From any standpoint, for Florida Carry, Inc. to take legal action against the City, under the circumstances described herein, is patently inappropriate and unjustified,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n In an email reply to Fumero, Friday advised the city attorney to re-read\u00a0Florida statute Sec. 790.33<\/a>, which does not require actual enforcement of a preemption violation, since enactment itself is enough to prove liability.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cInadvertence and ignorance of the law by government is no more of an excuse for violating civil rights than when a citizen \u2018inadvertently\u2019 violates the law and is arrested and prosecuted,\u201d Friday wrote. \u201cI will begin drafting my Complaint seeking relief, including personal fines against the city officials under whose jurisdiction this knowing and willful enactment occurred. You may want to inform the relevant officials that they are not allowed to use tax dollars to defend themselves from such liability, and that any fine assessed will be personally payable by them, to alleviate your concerns about tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee Williams is a board member of Florida Carry, Inc.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n This story is courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation\u2019s Investigative Journalism Project. Click\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
![<\/a>Okeechobee City Council members: David McAuley, Vice Mayor Monica Clark, Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Noel Chandler, and Bob Jarriel. (Photo courtesy City of Okeechobee).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe five-member Okeechobee, Florida city council and Police Chief Donald Hagan may each be forced to pay $5,000 personally \u2013 without using taxpayer dollars \u2013 for violating Florida\u2019s powerful preemption statute, which only allows the state legislature to regulate firearms.\u00a0<\/p>\nAs previously reported<\/a>, the city adopted an illegal ordinance shortly before Hurricane Helene made landfall, which banned the sale of guns and ammunition and prohibited firearm possession in public by anyone other than law enforcement or members of the military. \u00a0<\/p>\nAfter learning of the civil rights violation,\u00a0Florida Carry, Inc.<\/a>\u00a0sent a\u00a0demand letter\u00a0titled\u00a0Written Notice of Preemption Violation and Offer of Settlement<\/a>, to the city council and Chief Hagan, warning the recipients they have violated Florida\u2019s preemption statute.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe\u00a0letter<\/a>, which was written by Florida Carry, Inc. General Counsel\u00a0Eric J. Friday<\/a>, spelled out that the pro-gun group has sufficient standing to bring a lawsuit if the ordinance is not repealed within 30 days, and demanded the payment of $30,000 in damages and attorneys\u2019 fees to \u201cresolve this matter prior to initiation of litigation.\u201d<\/p>\nOkeechobee City Attorney John J. Fumero,\u00a0in a response<\/a>\u00a0sent Wednesday, claimed that the city\u2019s Second Amendment violation was merely an \u201cinadvertent mistake<\/a> in using an outdated emergency ordinance form that, legally and factually, did not apply to the circumstances at hand regarding Hurricane Helene.\u201d<\/p>\nBesides. Fumero wrote, no one ever enforced the illegal ordinance.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cAt no time did the City, or the Police Chief, contemplate, nor take any action, to prohibit, confiscate or otherwise regulate firearms or ammunition in any fashion or manner. This was never the intention of the City. This was never implemented by the City. Moreover, to ensure this never happens again, the City has developed and implemented a new emergency ordinance form and process,\u201d the city attorney wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\nFumero\u2019s boss, Okeechobee Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr. and police spokesman Detective Jarret Romanello, gave numerous interviews to local media claiming city officials were reviewing the entire incident to determine how the \u201cmistake\u201d occurred. Romanello also claimed he looked forward to \u201cproviding more answers as soon as the review is complete.\u201d<\/p>\nIn his\u00a0response<\/a>, Fumero also balked at Florida Carry\u2019s monetary demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWe see no legal, factual or public policy basis for your organization demanding payment of taxpayer dollars to satisfy your assertion of \u2018damages and attorneys\u2019 fees. The City is a rural small town that fundamentally believes in gun rights and the Second Amendment. From any standpoint, for Florida Carry, Inc. to take legal action against the City, under the circumstances described herein, is patently inappropriate and unjustified,\u201d he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\nIn an email reply to Fumero, Friday advised the city attorney to re-read\u00a0Florida statute Sec. 790.33<\/a>, which does not require actual enforcement of a preemption violation, since enactment itself is enough to prove liability.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cInadvertence and ignorance of the law by government is no more of an excuse for violating civil rights than when a citizen \u2018inadvertently\u2019 violates the law and is arrested and prosecuted,\u201d Friday wrote. \u201cI will begin drafting my Complaint seeking relief, including personal fines against the city officials under whose jurisdiction this knowing and willful enactment occurred. You may want to inform the relevant officials that they are not allowed to use tax dollars to defend themselves from such liability, and that any fine assessed will be personally payable by them, to alleviate your concerns about tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\nLee Williams is a board member of Florida Carry, Inc.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nThis story is courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation\u2019s Investigative Journalism Project. Click\u00a0<\/em>here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Okeechobee City Council members: David McAuley, Vice Mayor Monica Clark, Mayor Dowling R. Watford, Jr., Noel Chandler, and Bob Jarriel. (Photo courtesy City of Okeechobee). The five-member Okeechobee, Florida city council and Police Chief Donald Hagan may each be forced to pay $5,000 personally \u2013 without using taxpayer dollars \u2013 for violating Florida\u2019s powerful preemption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Okeechobee-Officials.jpeg\"){kind=link}