A divided appeals court Wednesday revived a lawsuit that alleges a South Florida city’s zoning restrictions on where a gun shop could operate violated a state law that prevents local regulation of firearms.
A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a circuit judge’s ruling in favor of Dania Beach and said a jury should decide whether the city’s zoning ordinances were designed to restrict the sale of firearms.
The case involves a decades-old gun regulation law
The case involves a decades-old law that largely gives the state control over gun regulations and prevents local governments from passing their own measures. The law includes an exception for zoning ordinances that “encompass firearms businesses along with other businesses” — but those ordinances cannot be designed to restrict or bar sales of guns.
Florida Custom Guns, LLC., a gun shop that does business as Affluent Arms, and the gun-rights group Florida Carry, Inc., filed the lawsuit after city code-enforcement officials cited the shop for operating in a zoning district where such businesses were prohibited, according to Wednesday’s ruling. The city said gun shops were allowed in two other zoning districts reserved for businesses such as thrift shops, liquor stores and warehouses…