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Just to give an update on this, a few weeks ago I emailed my Texas state representative and state senator from their websites about the need for legislation to be introduced in the next session to protect Texas gun owners who rent their homes and gave the Minnesota statute as an example.

I also put in a call to the NRA ILA and they patched me through to their Texas office where I left a voicemail for someone to call me back regarding this issue. After waiting a week I called them back and they patched me through a second time. Another voicemail.

To date no response from anyone!!! I'm really disappointed at the NRA. Except for a couple of years that I skipped, I've been a member since 1966 and this was the first time I contacted them about anything other than renewing my membership. If I don't receive a callback from the two voicemails I left, I'm really going to have to think hard about renewing again.

The ideal thing for me to do would be to move to a "gun-friendly" apartment complex as some here have suggested. The problem with that is that I'm an older gent with several physical problems that cause me to tire very quickly and the stress of a move to a new place would definitely take its toll. Plus I'm living on a very limited Social Security retirement income which prospective new landlords might find inadequate to meet their income requirements for new tenants. Along that line, the cost of moving, including deposits, for me would be near disastrous. And then what's to stop a new landlord from imposing gun restrictions after I move in, like my current landlord has? I'd be in the same situation I am now, but somewhat poorer from the moving expenses. So moving for me is not the best solution. It might solve MY immediate problem but in no way would it solve the problem that faces ALL Texas legal gun owners who rent.

So for the time being I've removed my Henry lever action from the wall so that it is out of sight. It was more of a decoration than anything else, was always unloaded with the ammunition stored in another room, and being alone now I never have young children in the apartment. My carry pistol is in my night stand, also out of sight. For a landlord to "discover" that I have firearms, they'd have to violate some privacy laws.

I have no intention of giving up my legally owned firearms. Back in the 70's, in the wee hours of the morning, I was driving on an isolated road with a lady friend when some guy in another car came up beside us and liked what he saw (my lady friend). To make a long story short, it ended up in a wild car chase with him shooting at my car with me defenseless. We managed to get away and this person was apprehended by the police about twenty minutes later. He was an escaped mental patient with a revolver on his seat! After that incident I vowed that I would always have the means to defend myself. Then in the 90's I was staying at a cabin in the boondocks when about 3 a.m. I heard someone jiggling the front doorknob. I looked out the window and saw two guys, complete strangers, out there. I went to the door with my Glock, and through the door asked them what they wanted? They did not answer. So I loudly chambered a round and said through the door, "I strongly suggest that you boys leave the property immediately." They did, and very quickly.

So no, I'm not about to get rid of my legal means of self-defense at the whim of some out of state landlord. I'll risk the eviction, even though an eviction on your record makes it very difficult to get a new apartment.

What I did this week was email the NRA-ILA explaining the situation with a suggestion that they contact all Texas state legislators about the need for a statute protecting Texas renters who legally own firearms.

I'm asking everyone here who agrees to take a few minutes and do the same. Legal gun possession in a home should not be a class distinction thing, where homeowners have no problem but those who can't afford to buy a house run into this. Thanks.

PeteCamp wrote:To the OP...I'm surprised someone didn't mention this. If you just act as if nothing has changed the probability is extremely high that whoever owns the property now will not own it at some time in the future. Owning apartments is like gambling - far more losers than winners.

Normally I'd agree with ya, but it seems that this Minnesota-based company is currently in an expansion and growth phase. They have acquired 16 apartment complexes throughout Texas. The irony here is that their own state, Minnesota, has a clear-cut statute (624.714 sub d 17 Posting Trespass (e)) that specifically prohibits landlords from restricting the lawful possession of firearms by tenants or their guests. Unfortunately, Texas presently has no such statute. So what they can't do to tenants in their home state they can impose on tenants here!

Our legislators really need to get on the ball and put a similar statute on the books to nip this in the bud before it spreads. With this housing crisis that we're in, more and more gun-owning Texans are becoming renters as they have to walk away from their houses so these landlord-imposed gun restrictions may start affecting more Texas citizens.

I don't think that property owner rights come into play here because a rented apartment becomes a person's home, and no-one should be able to dictate what legal property a person may or may not have in their home. I mean what's next, carving knife bans?

Jim Beaux wrote:I wouldnt be surprised if the apartment owner/management are gun owners themselves.

I have been a gun owner all my life & fully embrace the constitutional rights for all; but if I owned an apartment complex, I too would send a letter prohibiting firearm possession on the property. Though not legally valid, it would document my effort to maintain a safe and secure facility for the tenants. (You have to admit that idiots also own guns) I would then offer a discounted apartment to a leo with the understanding that he provide a security presence. In today's litigious world it is prudent to practice defensive law.

As a hypothetical tenant in your hypothetical apartment complex, when a hypothetical armed home invader breaks into my apartment at 1 a.m, while your hypothetical leo is either out working his real job or at home sleeping on his couch, and I am severely injured by the hypothetical home invader, I would sue you for denying me the legal means to defend myself against an armed intruder and for not providing adequate security. You see, In a litigious society there is no escape from a lawsuit!

P.S. Also, some tenant who is an idiot driver going 35 m.p.h will most likely run someone over in your hypothetical apartment complex parking lot, so you'll probably get sued for not enforcing the 5 m.p.h. speed limit signs you had put up. So you'd better add a "No Cars Allowed" stipulation to your lease.

I know I said I would not be posting on this topic again, but I found out something that has me fuming, so I'm going to vent here! Hope y'all don't mind. The landlord who bought this Texas rental property, and is imposing this gun ban, is based in Minnesota. Just for the hell of it I looked up Minnesota's gun statutes and found the following dated in 2011.

"Sub d 17 Posting trespass (e) A landlord may not restrict the lawful carry or possession of firearms by tenants or their guests."

So here they are forcing Texans to abide by a rule that is illegal in their own state!!!!!!! I find that amazing (and depressing).

Heartland Patriot wrote:My dad lives in a senior housing apartment complex. Its one of those automatic gated places, run by some out-of-state company (wasn't when he moved in some time back). They're lucky to get maintenance people to come around, but I can easily see some snooping going on if the resident is away. I can understand both the OPs irritation at the new rules and his concern about finding another place. I'm pretty certain that, despite some of the issues he has had where he lives, that my dad doesn't want to move, either.
(Speaking of that, I really need to call him, thanks for the reminder )
This sure puts the OP in a bad position, but I do think moving is the best bet in this case, if able to do so.
I also think it stinks that some out-of-state company can come push Texans around with their hoplophobic, anti-2A rules.

Yep HP, pick up the phone and give your dad a call.

Once you get older and slow down a bit, it takes longer to get things done. Lifting stuff is out of the question for me, so if I decided to tell these folks to take their rule and shove it, moving would be a major chore and moving costs on a small fixed Social Security income would be prohibitive. Like I said, in addition to my carry pistol I've got that lever action rifle hanging on the wall and some of my neighbors, as well as the maintenance guy, have already seen it. Luckily I gave the maintenance folks a nice tip for Christmas so I don't think they'll turn me in. I do take the rifle to the range once in awhile, so now I guess I'll have to sneak it to the car under cover of darkness, maybe put it in my guitar case instead of the carrying case. In any event I'm now going to have to take it off the wall and hide it somewhere out of sight. Who would have thought that in my autumn years, especially in Texas, I'd have to be paranoid about having a couple of legal guns in my place. Hoping my neighbors don't turn me in kind of gives me the feeling of what it must have been like living in Nazi Germany or Communist China (before they went capitalist). Just adds to my feeling that I was lucky enough to have seen America's better days.

P.S. That Social Security I'm gettin' is retirement, not disability. I'm still not anywhere near getting back what I put into the system for 35 years.

I don't think I'll be posting anymore about this problem, so I want to thank everyone who offered their opinions.

The funniest/saddest part about this is that this landlord, according to their rules list, is placing legitimate gun owners in the same eviction category as the following:

-Those who do not pay their rent
-Those who damage the rental property
-Those who use, buy or sell illegal drugs
-Those who maintain their apartment in an unsanitary condition
-Those who threaten employees or anyone on the property
-Those who have more than 2 police visits or 1 police raid
-Those who curse, yell or scream at any staff
-Those who have an unauthorized pet
-Those who don't properly care for their pets

How ludicrous is that? Yeah, I realize I have a choice to either get rid of my guns, or hide them and keep my fingers crossed, or move to a more gun-friendly apartment complex. I'm an elderly gent all by myself and not in the greatest physical condition. Finding a new "gun friendly" place and packing my stuff and then setting up a new place would take its toll on me. Plus this place was "gun-friendly" for the five years I've been here before they were bought out. What's to say the new place wouldn't come up with the same rules after I moved in, maybe be bought out by this same out-of-state landlord? I'm not about to give up my guns for these anti-gun snobs. It's a matter of principle. I guess I'll have to write my Texas representative about getting a law passed to stop landlords from doing this, but I really don't think that will do any good. Let's hope the gun control faction doesn't conduct a campaign targeting all landlords across the country to adopt this rule.

For this out-of-state landlord this could turn out to be a case of "be careful of what you ask for, you just might get it." This being Texas, and based on my knowledge of quite a few of my fellow tenants, I'd make a conservative estimate that 1/3 of the people who rent here have a gun in their apartment. That would be approximately 67 tenants. As it is, this landlord is having problems getting new tenants to fill vacancies. For them to evict 67 tenants would be imbecilic. For them to evict just one or two of the 67 under this rule and not the others would be discriminatory (I think).

JP171 - I looked up Chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code and you are correct, it does specify landlord control of personal property outside the apartment, BUT, does this automatically exclude personal property inside? Unfortunately I can't find where our legislators put anything in that code specifically protecting tenants' rights to legal personal property inside the apartment. Perhaps that's where a new section needs to be added?

What's really bugging me is that last year, in addition to my carry pistol, I purchased a Henry Golden Boy lever action rifle and have it on display in my living room (looks really nice). With this new rule I'm thinking that now I'd better remove it and hide it in the closet. What a revolting development.

apostate wrote:Check your lease. Does it have a clause substantially similar to the following?

COMMUNITY POLICIES OR RULES. You and all guests and
occupants must comply with any written apartment rules and
community policies, including instructions for care of our property.
Our rules are considered part of this Lease Contract. We may make
reasonable changes to written rules, effective immediately, if they
are distributed and applicable to all units in the apartment
community and do not change dollar amounts on page 1 of this
Lease Contract.

Yep, they do have something to that effect in the lease. So I guess my question boils down to, can a Texas landlord make such a rule regarding legal possession of a firearm in your rented apartment?

The Texas apartment complex I live in was bought out by an out-of-state company. Last month a booklet was stuck in our doors stating that the rules included in this booklet are now part of our lease and must be followed. One of the rules is regarding firearms and states that possession of firearms of any kind can cause a tenant to be evicted for "Material Non-Compliance" and/or "Other Good Cause." It goes on to say that it is prohibited for any tenant's guest or visitor to bring firearms onto the property, including storing them in their vehicle while visiting, and that the tenant is responsible for this. These rules were not in the lease when I signed it. Can a landlord of a Texas rental property evict a tenant who legally possesses a firearm, or who has a visitor who is carrying with a valid CHL (or even a visitor without a CHL who has a gun legally stored in their automobile?) There is no 30.06 currently posted on the property. Can they post a 30.06 for rental apartments? Thanks in advance.