West Palm Beach revises rule: Guns OK on 1st floor of city hall - Palm Beach Post
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 8:55 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011
Posted: 8:49 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011
WEST PALM BEACH — It's take three for Mayor Jeri Muoio as she tries to come up with an executive order on guns that meets her city hall safety concerns but goes no further than new state gun rights provisions allow.
On Thursday, Muoio announced the latest plan, to take effect Saturday:
Citizens with a concealed weapons permit will be allowed to enter city hall with a gun. However, the gun owner will only be allowed to remain on the first floor, and a police officer will be stationed by the elevators for enforcement.
Muoio holstered her initial executive order, which banned guns in city hall, after it was deemed incompatible with state law. Under state law, guns have been allowed in city halls since 1987, but West Palm Beach and many other municipalities enacted more-restrictive rules.
But a new state law that takes effect Saturday solidifies the state's right to supersede any local laws on weapons and calls for a $5,000 fine, and possible removal from office, for public officials who don't abide by it.
Last week, Muoio said she would revise her first executive order so that citizens with a concealed weapons permit could enter city hall with a gun, but would have to be escorted by a police officer while conducting business in the building.
The city received numerous complaints from gun rights activists, who argued that a police escort is unlawful detention.
The latest revision has all people visiting city hall, including employees and commissioners, entering through the front doors and walking through a metal detector. Police officers will have the option to check for permits of anyone who wants to carry a gun in the building, and that person will not be allowed to leave the first floor.
"The first floor is the public area. Everything else is non-public," City Attorney Claudia McKenna said at Thursday's agenda review meeting.
But floors 2 through 5, including the commissioners' and mayor's offices, are "business offices," not public spaces required to be open to gun-holders, she said.
State law doesn't allow guns in meetings with a governing body, so guns will be banned from the commission auditorium during city meetings. A city spokesman would not say whether officers will be stationed outside the auditorium or by the staircase that leads to the second floor, to keep anyone from violating the rule.
At the city library, also part of the City Center complex that houses city hall, guns will be allowed, but "we are taking additional security measures in the library which will not be disclosed," city spokesman Chase Scott said.
Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell expressed concern that some public meetings, such as agenda review, are held on the 2nd floor, which McKenna now says it not a public floor. McKenna said moving all public meetings to the first floor is a possible solution.
"The whole area leading into the mayor's conference room (on the second floor) is open to the public," Mitchell said.
"I believe that administration is trying to get to the right answer. This will have to be a work in progress to figure out. I'm not a gun fan but I'm a really big fan of the constitution."
Muoio said she expects people to test the new laws for the first couple of days, "but after that it will not be a big deal."
"We're not going to hassle anyone," Muoio said. "Anyone is welcomed into city hall, and we will comply with state law."
30 Sep, 2011--
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