As Hurricane Helene was churning its way toward the Gulf Coast, Okeechobee, Florida Police Chief Donald Hagan declared a state of emergency for the city... including a ban on gun sales and public carrying of firearms. Hagan's declaration was based on the Okeechobee City Council's passage of an emergency ordinance, which included the language prohibiting firearm sales and lawful carry. 

After Hagan was called out by groups like Florida Carry and the Firearms Policy Coalition for trying to suspend the right to keep and bear arms, a spokesman for the city's police department now says the chief's order was a mistake. 

“This is something that was mistakenly enacted. Once we learned that the emergency order was not the order that we intended to declare, we immediately terminated it,” Det. Jarret Romanello, Public Information Officer for the Okeechobee City Police Department, told CBS12 News on Monday. 

Calls and emails started pouring in, despite the termination of the order.

“He’s not here today because he was subject to personal attacks all day from all over this country,” Romanello said, referring to Chief Hagan. “Most of the noise is coming from people that live outside the city of Okeechobee.”

Considering there are only about 5,000 residents in Okeechobee, that doesn't surprise me. But honestly, is Romanello (or Hagan) surprised by the response around the country to Hagan's unlawful edict, even if was issued in error? Though much of the blame might lie with the city council for adopting an ordinance that ran afoul of Florida's preemption law, he still essentially declared the Second Amendment null and void in the town during the declared state of emergency. He shouldn't be shocked to learn that doesn't sit well with gun owners, both inside and beyond the city limits. 

City gun stores, including Wild Side Pawn and Gun in Okeechobee, told CBS12 News they were not impacted by the order.

“At no time did any Okeechobee City Police Department officers take any enforcement action pursuant to the declaration. No guns were seized. No businesses were approached or told to take down their firearms. We very much support our Second Amendment,” Romanello said. "The Okeechobee City Police Department values the civil liberties of all our citizens, and we value the rights of our citizens, including the right to bear arms."

Well, that's all fine and good, but how did such a boneheaded "mistake" get made in the first place? Romanello says officials are "currently reviewing that matter" and "look forward to providing more answers as soon as that review is complete." I'm looking forward to seeing what the city comes up with as an excuse, given that it was their ordinance that led to Hagan's declaration.

The Firearms Policy Coalition says it spoke to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's office, which informed the group that it "addressed the error with the police chief". In fact, according to FPC DeSantis is now on board with repealing the statute cited by the city council and police chief, which states:

Whenever the public official declares that a state of emergency exists, pursuant to s. 870.043, the following acts shall be prohibited during the period of said emergency throughout the jurisdiction:

(1) The sale of, or offer to sell, with or without consideration, any ammunition or gun or other firearm of any size or description.

(2) The intentional display, after the emergency is declared, by or in any store or shop of any ammunition or gun or other firearm of any size or description.

(3) The intentional possession in a public place of a firearm by any person, except a duly authorized law enforcement official or person in military service acting in the official performance of her or his duty.

That state of emergency, however, isn't based on a natural disaster. Rather, it's an emergency declared after "an act of violence or a flagrant and substantial defiance of, or resistance to, a lawful exercise of public authority" where there is "reason to believe that there exists a clear and present danger of a riot or other general public disorder, widespread disobedience of the law, and substantial injury to persons or to property, all of which constitute an imminent threat to public peace or order and to the general welfare of the jurisdiction." 

Our right to keep and bear arms is even more important during times of crisis, and using the threat of civil unrest to suspend or curtail that right in any way only puts the public at risk. Frankly, it should have been repealed long ago, but if the actions of Okeechobee officials spur the governor and lawmakers to act, then some good will have come from their mistake.