Colorado Apartment Building Tells Tenants They Have to Get Rid of Their Guns — or Leave

The Blaze ^ | 8/7/13 | Madeleine Morgenstern

[MissTed]

An apartment complex in Colorado has news for tenants: get rid of your guns, or get out. Colorado Apartment Building Tells Tenants They Have to Get Rid of Their Guns or Leave

Art Dorsch said he’ll either have to give up his guns or move out of his apartment. (Image source: KUSA-TV)

The Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock, Colo. sent notice to residents last week of a new provision banning all “firearms and weapons” from the premises, KUSA-TV reported. Tenants have until Oct. 1 to comply.

Art Dorsch, a 77-year-old retired Marine Corps veteran, told KUSA he’s afraid he’ll lose his home if he doesn’t go along with the new rule. He’s a hunter and has a concealed carry permit.

Dorsch, who’s living on a fixed income, said managers told him he has three options: get rid of his guns and stay, keep his guns and move out voluntarily, or keep his guns and be forced out.

“It upsets me very much,” Dorsch told the station.

He said he keeps his guns secured in a safe and that having them makes him feel secure in his home.

“They want to take them all away from me, they say I can’t live here,” he said. Colorado Apartment Building Tells Tenants They Have to Get Rid of Their Guns or Leave

The Oakwood Apartments in Colorado sent notice to residents last week. (Image source: KUSA-TV)

KUSA legal analyst Scott Robinson said courts have generally supported landlords’ rights to impose “reasonable regulations” on their tenants.

“The question is: is an outright ban of firearms reasonable in light of the U.S. Constitution?” Robinson told KUSA.

The Ross Management Group, which manages the Oakwood Apartments, declined to comment to KUSA. Castle Rock is just south of Denver.

As the debate over gun control raged through the country, Colorado this year passed controversial new legislation limiting ammunition magazines and imposing universal background checks on all gun buyers.

July 20 marked the one-year anniversary since a shooter massacred 12 people and injured 70 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

[gdani]

OK, so you're going to keep digging, I guess.

The Bill of Rights does not, either by intent or precedent, apply solely to Congress.

By intent, it most certainly does apply only to Congress. Try reading the Federalist Papers or, really, any history of the Bill of Rights. Or even just Google the subject.

That it expands to all levels of government was done via the 14th Amendment, as far as the courts are concerned. And that (basically) did not start until the early 20th century.

Even where amendments are explicitly limited to Congress, the courts have historically expanded the scope of constitutional protections beyond their original boundaries.

That is true, as I demonstrated above. But no court has ever applied the Bill of Rights to require a private citizen or entity to provide those same protections. Not once.

And for good reason. It's not what the Bill of Rights was designed to do.

[hattend]

How will they know guns are on property?

After an intruder has been shot...at that point, who cares?

[SpeakerToAnimals]

Do you need a permit in CO to simply have a gun in your home?

Until this summer the answer was no. The state nuthouse had a Democrat wet dream session. Rotten SOB's put several hundred new laws on the books. It is hard to say now.

For example no private firearms transactions are legal without a background check by FBI/CBI. The law is so vague no FFL will conduct the background check. Worse yet, if the potential buyer fails, the current owner must pass a new background check to take his weapon home.

Colorado is so screwed.

[GeronL]

That is insane

[billyboy15]

We have a summer home on Cape Cod on a quiet cul de sac of 5 homes, 2 of which 2 are owned by police officers. Also there are 4 mpre policemen who live within 2 blocks.

No trouble in this neighborhood.

[SunkenCiv]

What the internet needs is a site that gives all the details about places and buildings with firearm bans, along with directions on how to get there.

Thanks MissTed.

[PapaBear3625]

I don’t think their rule would pass muster. They might be able to regulate shooting, carrying weapons in common areas, but once a lease is signed, that domicile becomes personal property, a home. If I had an existing lease with them, I’d tell them to go f@ck themselves.

I agree. The lease defines the contract between landlord and tenant. They can add new conditions to lease renewals, but not unilaterally change things during the lease.

[Red in Blue PA]

Better yet, put that on a billboard next to the closest highway.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

I agree. That is what drove the recalls of Senate President Morse and Senator Giron. I hope the army of demons from Bloomberg and Chicago can’t steal this recall.

[Red in Blue PA]

Can the apartment holder say you have no freedom of speech, assembly or religion?

No? Then why would it be okay to trample on the 2A?

[IronJack]

The Bill of Rights was added to enumerate the rights of freeborn men, the very rights the Declaration of Independence says are "endowed by our Creator." Yes, it restricts the power of government to usurp or ignore those rights, but it is not intended solely as a bulwark against government. Otherwise, why is the First Amendment the only one to specifically impose its defense against Congress?

And even if I concede that the original intent may have been to limit the power of government, that scope has been considerably expanded by incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment and precedent.

Do you seriously think that a property owner could credibly post a sign saying "All crimes committed on these premises will be adjudicated by the owner's brother-in-law, and anyone found herein forfeits his right to a jury trial"? Said sign would have no legal weight because the Bill of Rights protects individuals from individuals as well as government.

[ilgipper]

Private companies cannot infringe on the individual freedoms.

[familyop]

"I hope they like their new Section 8 tenants."

Most likely, they'll get more tenants from the anti-Second-Amendment constituency instead (those who want to disarm the cheap rabble). At least most of the expensive neighborhoods--especially around the resorts (all of 'em)--were bristling with Obama signs in 2008. Most of the rentals around the Denver area, by the way, require prospective renters to pay for having credit checks done on themselves before being considered as tenants. Castle Rock is not cheap, either, BTW.

[familyop]

When renters pay for possession of a property, they have possession of that property for the duration of the lease. A landlady can’t properly have renters pay her mortgage payments and more while retaining control of the property and the renters. And yes, the Constitution applies to everyone. No one is allowed to violate the civil rights of others. But that doesn’t allow the government to violate Zimmerman’s Fifth Amendment right. The Amendment is very clear and applies to the whole country and everyone in it, as the other rights do. Our Constitution was not written for the Mafia, which only started to ooze in during the later half of the 1800s.

[dynachrome]

The landlord can change the terms of the lease when it expires. Hope the landlord in this case meets some gang members on a dark nite.

[dynachrome]

In case you feel like contacting the landlord:

You can email them at:

debi@ross-management.com

(Deborah Ross-Weseloh president)

stacie@ross-management.com

(Stacie Packard vice president)

brooke@ross-management.com

(Brooke Young regional manager)

303-860-7885
4251 Kipling St., Suite 405
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

[wastedyears]

Where in the Bill of Rights and Constitution does it say that?

[Tigercap]

Ross Management Group (fascists) were forced to over-turn their attempted discrimination against legal gun owners.

They refused to explain their motives (cowards).

http://www.9news.com/news/article/349123/339/Apartments-firearm-policy-thrown-out

[Billthedrill]

Thanks for the link. Certain issues speculated on earlier in the thread appear to have been settled:

The private property issue: The Douglas County Housing partnership owns Oakwood Apartments in Castle Rock. It was purchased with federal funds and is supported by local, state, and federal tax dollars.

The lease issue: There is no gun language in the lease Dorsch signed earlier this year.

The Denver Housing Authority issue: "It's unconstitutional to prohibit the legal possession of a gun or a firearm on public housing property," a DHA spokesperson said.

And - well, we all knew the answer to this one anyway: The company's owner, Debi Ross, and her husband have given $9,000, only to Democrats, since 2006.

[rolling_stone]

I bet she doesn’t own a gun I hope no one publishes her residence address../s