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Your Landlord Resource Podcast
Your Landlord Resource Podcast
Can Landlords Restrict Guns in Their Rentals?
As landlords, navigating sensitive topics like firearms in rental properties can feel overwhelming. In this episode of the Your Landlord Resource Podcast, Kevin and I tackle the complex issue of whether landlords can legally restrict tenants from having guns on their rental property.
We break down state-specific laws, highlight Supreme Court cases like Heller and McDonald, and share real landlord liability case examples. Whether you manage single-family homes or multifamily buildings, it’s crucial to understand how your lease language, state laws, and liability insurance all play a role in your decision.
We also talk through practical lease clause options—from restricting weapons in common areas to setting storage requirements inside units. Plus, we share feedback from real tenants (hello Reddit thread!) on how they feel about gun restrictions in rentals.
If you’ve ever wondered how to balance tenant rights, safety, and your own liability, this episode is for you.
✅ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- Which states allow or restrict landlords from banning firearms
- How federal cases, like Heller and McDonald, influence tenant gun rights
- The pros and cons of restricting guns in your rentals
- Example lease clause language you can use
- Real-world landlord liability risks (and how to protect yourself)
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You cannot, as a landlord, inspect someone's unit looking for weapons, and you cannot demand that they open a safe to see if there are guns in there. All you can do is make sure that you have a lease clause that is clearly written and consistently applied. This means that if you do prohibit firearms and you find or are given evidence that a gun is in fact in your unit, then you are prepared to enforce the lease violation through eviction. Or if you do allow them, and it's reported to you, that the tenant is always walking around with their gun out in the open, you have to move forward with an eviction. If a landlord is aware of a tenant's erratic behavior that might pose a safety risk, they have the responsibility to address a situation. Potentially including restrictions on firearms if they're allowed to on the property, but you need to be prepared to evict.
Welcome to Your Landlord Resource podcast. Many moons ago when I started as a landlord, I was as green as it gets. I may have had my real estate license, but I lack confidence and the hands-on experience needed when it came to dealing with tenants, leases, maintenance, and bookkeeping after many failed attempts. Fast forward to today, Kevin and I have doubled our doors and created an organized. Professionally operated rental property business. Want to go from overwhelm to confident if you're an ambitious landlord or maybe one in the making. Join us as we provide strategies and teach actionable steps to help you reach your goals and the lifestyle you desire. All well building is streamlined and profitable rental property business. This is Your Landlord Resource Podcast.
Stacie:Hello, hello landlords and welcome to the Your Landlord Resource Podcast. I'm your host, Stacie Casella, and I'm here with Kevin Kilroy, who is my co-host and happens to also be my husband.
Kevin:Hey there landlords. Thanks so much for tuning in.
Stacie:So we have been talking on here a lot about leases and addendums and all the clauses and conditions and whatever you wanna call the sections and wording that makes up your lease. And we posted an article about this subject in our newsletter several months ago and actually got some, we will say opinions, about whether a landlord can legally tell a tenant they are not allowed to have a gun while living in their rental property. Shameless plug. We have a biweekly newsletter where we email landlords interesting articles about subjects that we think you may need to know more about or pay attention to. We also have a letter included in that newsletter where we discuss what we've been up to. Some of it's personal, mostly things that have come up that we had to deal with at our rentals. And that's where I dropped some tips and tricks on how we do things. There's a link to this podcast as well as links to our own blogs that we've written. If you're interested in signing up for that, you can go to your landlord resource.com/subscribe or the link is in our podcast show notes as well. Let's get back to today's subject about whether you can legally restrict firearms in your rental property.
Kevin:I think the first thing we want to clarify is that this is not about us being pro or anti-gun. This is about risk management, liability and landlord rights. Now, I didn't grow up with guns. No one in my family owned them. But Stacie on the other hand, grew up around a lot of hunters, her grandfather, father, and her brother. Also her late husband would hunt with his dad and now kid two and even her nephews on both sides of the family all hunt, mostly waterfowl. Kids one and three have shot guns, but are not avid hunters as their brother is. And the first time I ever shot a gun was when Stacie and I took Kid two to a sporting clays course.
Stacie:Yeah. And the funny thing is he kicked butt there. I mean, he hit a lot more clays than I did.
Kevin:Well that was definitely beginning's luck for sure. The point is the younger generation in her family hunt and they own rifles. If they live in a rental, can you as a landlord, tell them they're not allowed to have that rifle on your property? Now, today we are not gonna tell you yes or no. What we are gonna do is, as we hope we do with all of our episodes, is provide you with information so you are able to make a decision on how you'd like to handle it, should this issue arise for you? Because every single landlord and their rental may have a different take on this. It may depend on the size of your rental. Do you own single family home rentals, or do you own multi-family sized rentals? Where are the rentals located because that could contribute to how you make your decision as well. Bottom line, we are here to help landlords make an informed, lawful and practical decision about gun policies in their lease agreements.
Stacie:Okay, so let's take a minute to talk about landlord rights versus tenant rights. Tenants have rights under the second amendment to bear arms, which means the government says that they can have a gun should they so choose. But as private property owners, landlords generally have the right to regulate activities within their properties, including gun possession. Now I will say that there has been some quote unquote discussion, and these discussions are not official legal counsel's talking. These are everyday people like you and I who feel that because the second amendment allows them the right to bear arms that any landlord who goes against that is discriminating. So, the Fair Housing Act does not protect gun rights, meaning landlords are essentially allowed to discriminate,"discriminate" against their rental applicants based on their possession of firearms. Many states have not specifically addressed the issue of gun control in rental properties, which gives landlords more leeway to include such clauses. But there are four states that have addressed this specifically at a state level. In Minnesota, landlords cannot restrict lawful possession, and I assume this means that they have laws about licensing and permits to own guns, and in order to fall into the protected category the possession must be in accordance to their law. In Virginia, landlords cannot restrict gun possession, but this applies to public housing only. And specifically Virginia law prohibits public housing agreements from restricting lawful gun possession in individual units unless it's required by federal law. We assume this means private landlords generally can prevent tenants from possessing firearms within their apartments or homes. The Virginia law only applies to public housing. Tennessee landlords can prohibit tenants from possessing firearms in their rental properties, but this must be explicitly stated in the lease agreement. If the lease does not include such a clause, then the landlord cannot generally restrict gun ownership by the tenant. And you guys, for the most part, for all states, we are talking about the specific confines of the unit. Common spaces like walkways, hallways, stairs, yards, et cetera, can and generally do have a gun restriction in place. Because think about if you have a duplex property or something with more units in it, or if your rental is a condo and a complex with many other units. Tenants can't be hanging out with their gun while watching their kids play in the yard or while getting fresh air while sitting on the stoop. Now in Wisconsin, the law is on the side of the landlord saying they absolutely have the right to prohibit guns in their rental property. Okay? No big deal. However, in Wisconsin, tenants are allowed to keep their guns in their car that is parked in the private property parking lot or driveway, whatever of that rental property. So the big legal question that seems to come up in Wisconsin is are they violating the law when they walk in the property common space with their gun to take it to their car? You know, there's a whole document on Wisconsin's carrying concealed weapon law. That's a CCW law. We'll link it in the show notes if anybody is needing to know more about Wisconsin so they can check it out. You know, it's not a new law by any means, but this document has several different scenarios that it just makes the law confusing to follow. So that's where I'm gonna leave it.
Kevin:Yeah, it's kind of complex and situational in Wisconsin, and it seems the state has a highly complex maze of where a weapon can and can't be possessed. So for the most part, other than those four states, Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin, for the most part, all other states are generally silent on what landlords can and cannot restrict, which gives landlords a wide latitude. Specifically California, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington are six states that have not enacted any laws one way or the other, on whether landlords can or cannot restrict possession of firearms in their rentals. Other states may have laws that address the private property aspect, not addressing landlord tenants or rentals specifically. If anything, laws that are in place have to do with land owned by a government entity, like a state agency or public housing, or if a landlord receives public funding for rental assistance on their property. Now, in that case, for the most part, the second amendment is unlikely to apply, except of course in Virginia where they do allow firearms in public housing. Now there have been Supreme Court cases that leave legal gray areas and federal precedent when it comes to the second and the 14th amendments. There was an article recently published by the Rental Housing Journal where Denny Dobbins, general Legal Counsel and Vice President of Crimshield and Rent Perfect was interviewed, and he had this to say."There have been a lot of debates over time as to what the Second Amendment means because it has a phrase in it regarding militias, and it also talks about the people's right as opposed to the person's right. There's been this idea that the ability or right to bear arms is not a personal right, rather that it is a right of the people for a prepared militia. This issue came up in a case in the Supreme Court in 2008. It's called the Heller case. It dealt with individual rights to possess weapons. The Heller case made it very clear that there is an individual right to possess weapons as opposed to just the right of the people for the purposes of maintaining a militia. Heller goes on to say that the government can impose some possession restrictions, such as when dealing with felons or the mentally ill. Such people have no personal rights because those rights are stripped for the mentally ill and felons. But there still remains a question after Heller, which was, well, that's great, but what about the states? How does the federal law impact state laws on the subject?" Now Dobbins continued with,"in 2010, the McDonald case went before the Supreme Court and that dealt with the 14th Amendment, which forbid states from passing rules to the contrary of federal law. There were basically four elements in McDonald that they dealt with. Whether there could be a state prohibition against handgun ownership. Whether a state could force an annual gun registration, and impose a fee for annual registration. Whether it could be required that guns be registered prior to acquisition. And finally, whether a gun could be forever unable to be registered if the registration lapsed.""Those state laws were all struck down in the McDonald case." He closes with,"basically the opinion stated that the 14th amendment applies as to the individual right to possess guns, and that states cannot pass laws that infringe upon that federal constitutional right." Okay, so what does this all mean for us Landlords? Private landlords who do not allow tenants living in their property to possess firearms could be challenged by those tenants for violating their second and 14th amendment rights. Those cases, the Heller and the McDonald cases, make possessing a weapon a right. Now, does that mean that tenants or people in general who own guns are a protected class? It definitely could be fought in court that they are.
Stacie:Now those cases did not directly address landlord and tenant circumstances or positions, but the courts, if tenants challenged landlords on it, could eventually apply these rights to tenant living spaces. And I think what you wanna ask yourself as a landlord is, do you wanna be that test case? Find yourself in a costly court battle fighting for your right to forbid that firearm possession over the right of the tenant to have it? Probably not. So let's talk about the liability and the insurance risks of allowing firearms on your property. Or not specifically disallowing them is what I should say. If your tenant has a gun and hurts someone on your property, that injured party can sue you as the property owner. Much like aggressive dogs. You allow that dog, or in this case, the gun to live there and someone gets hurt because you allowed it, you may be liable. Think about this. If someone is cleaning their gun and the gun accidentally goes off and that bullet shoots a tenant next door, sitting on their couch watching tv. Let's say shoots'em in their leg, no need to kill people in this example. If that person is out of work for a prolonged period of time or doesn't have health insurance to cover the massive medical bills. Because they had to take an ambulance and then have surgery and then spent three days in the hospital. And if the tenant who owns a gun has minimal renter's insurance, that doesn't scratch the surface of paying what that other injured tenant needs. Who do you think they're gonna go after to get the rest of their money? You, because you allowed that neighboring tenant to possess the gun and reduce the safety of the injured tenant. Now, here's a counter example to that potential case. What if you prohibit guns from being on your rental property? And your tenant's family is at home and a bad guy comes along and forces their way into the rental, killing everyone but the tenant who happened to be at work.
Kevin:Okay? So you didn't wanna kill off the neighbor just shot him in the leg. But here you wipe out an entire family? Man!
Stacie:I need drama to make my point.
Kevin:Okay.
Stacie:Okay. All right, you guys. It's a tragic, tragic situation. Sorry, I'm not laughing at that. I shouldn't laugh at that. It's a tragic situation and that tenant wants something for their loss, so they decide to sue you because you quote unquote denied their family to have proper protection in their unit, which could have saved their lives. Now, I know that's an extreme example, but all it takes is for someone to fear their life and not be able to protect themselves because your lease said they could not possess a firearm.
Kevin:There actually are a couple cases which aren't exactly the same, but brings the point of the owner or management's responsibility for all tenant safety. There was a case many years ago, Lozano versus AWI property management. And the long and short of it was, there was a multifamily property where for several months, one tenant complained to management about the emotional instability of another tenant and said that they did not feel safe because the other tenant would yell at them at one point, held a stick in a swinging position, making them feel threatened. After some time there ended up being a shootout between the two where someone died and the others were injured. Management took the position that the animosity was between the two tenants, and because they had not witnessed the events, they felt it was a civil matter, not a matter for them to decide who was right or wrong in this scenario. The plaintiff, or injured tenant, felt because management had failed to take preventative measures, such as evicting the other tenant, threatening to evict him, investigating his behavior further, or contacting authorities that the management company was liable for the wrongful death of their family member and the personal injury sustained. In the end, it was ruled that an apartment manager has a duty to evict a tenant only in cases where his behavior made violence toward neighbors highly foreseeable. The court held that none of the defendant tenants reported conduct before the shooting, such as yelling at the plaintiffs while holding a stick in a ready to swing position, supported the required level of foreseeability. The court of appeal also agreed with the argument that management was not obligated to undertake less burdensome measures because there was no evidence that any of the measures the plaintiffs proposed would have prevented the violent conduct. If that manager knew the angry tenant possessed a gun, and had that angry tenant been holding a gun and threatening the other tenant before this happened, then yes, they would've been able to evict, and yes, the plaintiff would've had a case. The next case, Thompson versus Tuggle. In their lease, the landlord expressly gave the tenant of a single family rental right to sole possession of the premises. Prohibited any member of the household from engaging in any illegal activity on or near the premises and prohibited the unlawful discharge or unauthorized possession of firearms. Unfortunately the tenant minor child accidentally discharged a loaded gun killing a visitor. The tenant and the landlord were sued for damages. But the court indicated that because there was a landlord tenant relationship where the landlord had no control over the property, the landlord was found not liable. In both cases it was found the landlord or the property management team were not liable. But I'm sure you can see that there is really no clear black and white or right or wrong way to look at whether landlords should or should not allow firearms in their units.
Stacie:So what this does mean though, as we have said many, many times, that you need to make sure your lease is solid. You need to release yourself of liability where you can, especially when it comes to firearms. Because you cannot, as a landlord, inspect someone's unit looking for weapons, and you cannot demand that they open a safe to see if there are guns in there. All you can do is make sure that you have a lease clause that is clearly written and consistently applied. This means that if you do prohibit firearms and you find or are given evidence that a gun is in fact in your unit, then you are prepared to enforce the lease violation through eviction. Or if you do allow them, and it's reported to you, that the tenant is always walking around with their gun out in the open, you have to move forward with an eviction. If a landlord is aware of a tenant's erratic behavior that might pose a safety risk, they have the responsibility to address a situation. Potentially including restrictions on firearms if they're allowed to on the property, but you need to be prepared to evict. My take on it, and this is my opinion, you are all entitled to your own thoughts and concerns, is that landlords who own private property rentals should focus more on the safety side of owning firearms than forbidding it all together. Do everything you can to make sure that tenants are not sitting around outside cleaning their rifle with kids running around. Maybe require that all firearms and related paraphernalia is kept in a locked gun safe unless removing it from the property. If you own a multifamily property, consider putting up signs restricting brandishing and showing firearms or weapons of any matter in your common areas. And of course, you wanna include verbiage in your lease that protects you should any harm come to others. Here's some clauses that we found that others have used that might give you some insight on what to include in your lease. And again, we are not lawyers, we are not legal or law professionals, and we advise you to seek advice from your legal counsel to determine if the verbiage in your lease will protect you properly. Okay, one person stated that their lease read: if you have any firearms, you must keep your weapons inside your unit at all times and out of view of open windows and doors, absent legitimate self-defense or the defense of others. Another landlord stated that their lease read. If you openly bring a firearm onto the common areas, you will be evicted. You must keep your weapon to yourself, safely tucked away in the private confines of your apartment unit or home, and not visible to other tenants, neighbors or staff. And this is one that Denny Dobson stated in the article that was very detailed. He said, I have a section called Weapons for the Lease, and it says. Weapons of any kind, including but not limited to: dart guns, air guns, BB guns, slingshots, handguns, rifles, or any mechanism that could be used to propel an object that could cause harm to a person or property are not allowed in the common areas, are not allowed in the office, are not allowed anywhere on the premise outside of the actual unit. And are not allowed to be displayed, shown, exposed, demonstrated, or exhibited anywhere in the community premises except in case of self-defense or the need for imminent and immediate protection of resident life or property, or for self-defense, or immediate and imminent protection of resident, residents occupants, guests, invitees life or property. It goes on to say, if a resident desires to possess a legal weapon in residence unit, in that case, the resident must safely and inconspicuously carry said legal weapon to and from the resident's unit in a manner that resident ensures other residents and staff do not see said weapon. Illegal weapons are never allowed visibly on the property outside of the unit. If resident or residents occupants do possess a legal weapon in the unit, resident shall be responsible, for the proper and safe possession, handling, and storage of said weapon. Landlord is not and shall not be responsible in any way to resident, occupants, guests or invitees for any accidental, negligent, or intentional act involving a weapon or discharge thereof on near or off the property. Holy moly, that was long.
Kevin:Wow. That was a good one though. And I think that last sentence is the key part. And like we said earlier, you must release yourself from liability and responsibility should you allow guns in your rental property. Long yeah, but very detailed.
Stacie:Yeah. It covers a lot of ground and it doesn't take away tenant's rights, yet to make sure that tenants understand and in the common areas especially, if they brandish or show a weapon that they're gonna be evicted. It's so detailed and clear on who responsibility falls on and the consequences should the tenant violate that clause in their lease. And, and that's the bottom line. Your lease, regardless of the clause, needs to clearly state who is liable and what the expectations are. And again, as we have mentioned many times, and actually just experience with kid two setting up his first rental property. Is that EZ Landlord Forms makes creating state specific leases super easy. Now, I'm not gonna mislead you here. They give you the basics. It's up to you to add clauses and use their addendums to really make your lease complete. As for if they cover firearms in their lease, they touch on it. Essentially, under the addendum for criminal activity, they say something along the lines of if a firearm is discharged illegally, that that would be grounds for eviction. And I did add a line that illegal firearms and related paraphernalia are not allowed on the premises. But their leases give you a great start and the groundwork to cover yourself if you have nothing else to use. Well we'll link'em in the show notes if you'd like to learn more.
Kevin:Yeah well, at the end of the day, your lease needs to reflect what you're comfortable with, what's legal, what's realistic to enforce, and what aligns with how you wanna run your property. And if I'm correct, kid's two lease was what, around 80 pages.
Stacie:Yeah, I, I use most, all of the addendums that were available and it came out to 79 pages. You know, which is a lot, but man, when you're working to cover yourself and your asset, it, it just, it was necessary.
Kevin:Yeah. Right. But all of that was available on EZ landlords, right?
Stacie:Yeah, like I said, they give you the foundation and then I use some language from our leases to fill in the areas that I felt needed more clarity. And if you sign up for a pro account, you're not only gonna get the leases, but they also have rent collection as well, which is kind of a good point. Now, kid two preferred Turbo Tenant for the overall electronic management of his rental. He was able to upload the completed EZ Landlord lease to his profile on Turbo Tenant, and then he used their free electronic signature feature and was able to collect money owed for the prorated rent fees and the security deposit. And once they sent over their renter's insurance information, that was uploaded as well. So everything about that unit is in one spot for both kid two and the tenants to access from their portal. He paid a little bit more, but he gets now he gets everything that he needs between those two apps. Again, we'll link EZ Landlord Forms and Turbo Tenant in the show notes. And also if you belong to a local real estate association, often they have state specific leases that you can access as part of their benefits. So use any resources that are available to you.
Kevin:I wanna reiterate, as Stacie mentioned, consult with an attorney to check over your lease. Or have them write it if you do not have one that is already written by a legal team that is familiar with your properety's local and state landlord tenant laws. Another thing is you should also check with your insurance broker on coverage specifics because some policies do not cover certain liability, like should you allow firearms to be kept in the unit. And as you have heard from us a bunch of times, renter's insurance is a must. And see if that tenant's policy can include coverage for the storage and use of that weapon. Do anything and everything you can to remove the responsibility from yourself and place it on the tenant. I want to quickly talk about what tenants feel about whether they should be allowed to have firearms in the unit they're renting or not. When we were researching information for this episode, Stacie came across a Reddit thread where tenants were discussing the subject. And it was interesting to see how they feel about being told no guns. I mean, many flat out said they just ignored the no guns clause. Others asked if they could get the clause removed or amended before signing the lease. There was a long portion of the thread about their constitutional rights, so don't think for a minute that a tenant won't challenge or flat out ignore your clause stating guns and firearms are prohibited. This one comment was interesting. It read, private property owners can enforce their preference as they own the land. In all but two states there is a legal precedent for it. Don't bitch and moan about it, just straight up don't give them your business. I don't understand the whole goal of being subversive and sneaky. Why would you want to give that person your money and live in a place that's known for not being armed? Now that was just a summary of the hundreds of comments on that thread. And if you think that guns are not an important issue in rental properties, you better think again. Just remember, enforceability only matters if you're ready to follow through.
Stacie:Yep, exactly. Whatever your choice, make sure that it's in writing and cannot be misunderstood. Have something in your lease on the subject and make it crystal clear. Now let me do a quick recap of this episode. Bottom line, yes, in most cases, landlords can restrict firearms. But it is a complicated mix of legality, practicality, and liability. Based on your property type, location, and tenant base, think about what works best when it comes to allowing or prohibiting guns and firearms in your unit. For multifamily, we recommend strict common area rules and maybe use signage to reinforce those rules. For single family homes, consider more tenant autonomy. If you prohibit guns from your rental property be prepared for a tenant to fight for their second and 14th amendment rights. If you allow guns, make sure your lease is abundantly clear that you do not hold responsibility or liability should an issue arise from that authorized firearm. Consult legal counsel who is clear on landlord tenant laws on the local and state level of your rental property, should you have questions about your rights as a rental property owner and what they would advise you to do. And do not forget to document everything. Guns or no guns, any complaint, any report of a violation, and all correspondence with tenants and authorities. You wanna make sure you document, document, document. And check with your insurance company to make sure that they are not also removing themselves from coverage and your liability regarding allowing firearms to be kept in the property that they insure. And as Rent Perfect’s Denny Dobbins also mentioned. There are no easy answers to what private landlords should do about whether or not they allow tenants to possess legal firearms in their own apartment unit or home in the face of constitutional rights, liability issues, insurance coverage, and individual feelings about weapon possession. So all Kevin and I can say is allowing or disallowing firearms in your rental property is a subject that needs deep thought and consultation with legal professionals. All right, you guys that is it for today's podcast. You know, we hope you got some good information from us today. We know that we certainly learned a few things that we were not aware of when we were researching this subject. If you enjoyed our podcast, would you do us a favor and leave us a kind review so that other landlords will find us as well. If you wanna hear more, follow or subscribe to the podcast so that each week the episodes are downloaded right to your favorite podcast platform. And we'd love to stay in touch with you. If you have a question or you wanna suggest a subject for us to discuss, you can text us at 6 5 0 4 8 9 4 4 4 7 or email us at stacie@yourlandlordresource.com. That's Stacie with an IE or kevin@yourlandlordresource.com, and we'll link all that in the show notes as well. Also in the show notes, you can find links to all the downloads that we offer, ways to sign up for our free newsletter, and links to our private Facebook group that's just for landlords. Of course, the show notes also include links to our social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, where we share very informative and detailed tips and tricks for landlords, so go check those out. I think that's about it. Thanks again for tuning in, and until next time, you've got this landlords.
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