Gun rights activist and YouTuber Colion Noir says a Florida homeowners association created a serious fight over carry rights after it tried to ban firearms in shared community spaces by sending residents a letter.
In a video about the dispute, Noir said the situation unfolded in Tradition, a large planned community in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where about 10,000 people live. According to Noir’s report, residents opened their mailboxes and found a notice saying firearms, whether open or concealed, would no longer be allowed in common areas.
Those areas included parks, walking trails, Town Hall, Town Square, the gazebo, the splash pad, and the dog park, according to a CBS 12 News clip included in Noir’s video.
Noir said the move was not just another annoying HOA rule about trash cans or paint colors. In his view, it was an attempt to remove a major right from daily community life without a real public fight first.
“They slid a right out from under you in an envelope and hoped you wouldn’t read past the part about the lawn,” Noir said.
A Letter Sparked The Backlash
Noir said the way the rule was announced made the situation worse.
He argued that residents were not given a real discussion, town hall meeting, or vote before the association sent out the letter. Instead, the rule appeared as a community notice telling people that firearms were no longer welcome in shared spaces.
The CBS 12 News segment included in the video reported that people living in Tradition received a letter saying firearms, whether open or concealed, were no longer allowed in common areas.
Noir mocked the idea that the association felt it needed to disarm residents at places like the splash pad and gazebo, but beneath the joke was a serious complaint. He said those shared outdoor areas are exactly the kinds of places where people can feel most exposed.
“Every single place they disarmed you, the parks, the trails, the open square, those are the exact spots where you’re the most exposed,” Noir said.
That is what makes the story so interesting. For supporters of the rule, common areas may feel like places where guns do not belong. But for gun owners, those same places may be where they most want the ability to defend themselves, especially if they are walking alone, with children, or at night.
Residents Said The Move Felt Subversive
A Tradition resident named Taylor Welsh appeared in the CBS 12 News footage included in Noir’s report and said she was concerned by the policy.
Welsh, described in the clip as a resident of The Estates at Tradition, said the community is safe overall, but there had been an uptick in incidents nearby. She said she would personally feel better if she could still carry around parks and walking trails.
Noir seized on that point, arguing that if residents are seeing more incidents, the answer should not be to make law-abiding people the only ones left unarmed.
“The criminal causing the uptick, he didn’t get the letter,” Noir said.
Welsh also said that, as gun owners, she and others felt the move was “subversive” because it seemed to happen behind everyone’s backs, with no prior notice.
Noir agreed with that word and said the process showed how rights can be chipped away quietly through rules and paperwork rather than loud public battles.
That point is worth sitting with, even for people who do not live in an HOA. Big political fights get attention, but local boards, associations, and private rulebooks can sometimes shape daily life more directly than state laws do. A person may have a right in theory, but then face a policy that limits where they can actually exercise it.
The Legal Question Is Not Simple
Noir said the first reaction many gun owners may have is that the HOA’s rule must be illegal, especially in Florida.
But he warned that the legal answer is more complicated.
CBS 12 News spoke with Danny Weber, a board-certified condominium and planned development attorney, who said association property is private property. According to Weber, state laws about concealed or open carry generally apply to public property, while a private association can regulate conduct on its own property.
Weber compared it to a private business or a private home, saying an association can regulate behavior on association property, including whether people can carry firearms there.
Noir said that is the uncomfortable part of the dispute. The Second Amendment limits the government, not every private entity.
“It is not a force field that follows you onto somebody else’s private property,” Noir said.
He said an HOA is technically a private contractual association, and residents agree to its rules when they buy into the community. Because of that, an HOA may have more room to regulate common areas than a city or county would.
Noir made clear he dislikes that reality, but he did not pretend the fight was an easy legal win.
That kind of honesty makes the issue more useful to examine. It would be simple to call the policy unconstitutional and stop there, but the private-property angle creates a gray area. The harder question is whether an HOA’s control over shared property should be allowed to reach far enough to restrict lawful carry by residents.
Florida’s Attorney General Steps In
The dispute changed when Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier got involved.
In another CBS 12 News clip included in Noir’s video, anchor Jamilka Gibson reported that Uthmeier issued a warning to the Tradition Community Association, calling the firearms ban unenforceable and saying it had no lawful basis under Florida law.
Noir said the attorney general publicly put the association on notice.
According to Noir, Uthmeier warned that enforcement of what he called a discriminatory policy against anyone exercising the constitutional right to keep and bear arms would be met with legal action from his office.
Noir praised that response, saying, “That is how you use the office.”
Still, he also described the attorney general’s argument as “more creative than airtight.” Noir said Uthmeier was not relying directly on the Second Amendment because the HOA is a private entity. Instead, he said the attorney general appeared to be using a Florida statute that limits private employers from punishing employees or expelling customers or invitees for lawfully exercising the right to keep and bear arms.
Noir explained that the attorney general’s approach seems to treat the association as a private employer and residents or visitors as invitees. That could bring the HOA’s policy under the law’s protection.
But Noir said that argument may be untested.
“It’s clever and I love the aggression, but I’m not going to pretend it’s a slam dunk,” he said.
Police Said They Would Not Enforce The HOA Rule
Noir also noted that the Port St. Lucie Police Department responded quickly and said it would not enforce HOA rules or community policies like this.
A CBS 12 News clip in the video reported that the department enforces state law, not HOA rules.
That left the association in a complicated position. According to Noir, police would not enforce the rule, the attorney general was threatening possible legal action, and the HOA was sitting in a gray area it may not have expected anyone to challenge.
Noir called it a “partial win,” not a full one.
That distinction matters. If police will not enforce the policy, residents may feel some relief. But if the HOA can still try to fine people, suspend privileges, or take civil action through community rules, the fight may not be over.
This is also where the story becomes bigger than one Florida neighborhood. Many Americans live under private rules written by boards, associations, landlords, or corporate property owners. Those rules can sometimes do what local government cannot, or at least try to.
Noir Warns Gun Owners Not To Get Comfortable
Noir’s larger warning was that gun owners should not assume their rights are safe just because they live in a pro-gun state.
He said people often hear that “nobody is coming for your guns,” yet here was an HOA in Florida trying to ban lawful carry across common areas by letter.
“If a neighborhood board feels entitled to do that with a stack of envelopes, what exactly do you think the people with actual government powers are dreaming about?” Noir asked.
He argued that states can change, boards can change, and local cultures can drift. His message was that gun owners need to read community notices, attend meetings, and watch what happens close to home.
“Reputation doesn’t protect the right,” Noir said. “Vigilance does.”
Whether people agree with Noir’s full view or not, the Tradition dispute shows how quickly a community rule can become a rights fight. A simple letter turned into local backlash, news coverage, a police response, and a warning from Florida’s attorney general.
For Noir, that is the real lesson.
An HOA tried to erase carry rights in shared spaces, residents pushed back, and state officials stepped in before the policy could quietly become the new normal. In his view, the warning is not just that the rule existed, but that it was attempted in the first place.
Raised in a small Arizona town, Kevin grew up surrounded by rugged desert landscapes and a family of hunters. His background in competitive shooting and firearms training has made him an authority on self-defense and gun safety. A certified firearms instructor, Kevin teaches others how to properly handle and maintain their weapons, whether for hunting, home defense, or survival situations. His writing focuses on responsible gun ownership, marksmanship, and the role of firearms in personal preparedness.
