Hurricanes are no joke at the best of times, and Helene was most definitely a storm to be taken seriously. Hindsight has made that abundantly clear, though as someone who was sitting here expecting to be hit, I can say I was taking it seriously beforehand.

In Okeechobee, Florida, local officials figured that it was so serious that they did something that has riled a lot of people up.

They banned gun sales for a 24-hour period just before the storm.

From Lee Williams at The Gun Writer:

The City of Okeechobee, Florida adopted an illegal ordinance shortly before Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, which banned the sale of guns and ammunition and prohibited firearm possession in public by anyone other than law enforcement or members of the military.  

Donald C. Hagan, the Chief of the Okeechobee Police Department, signed the illegal ordinance, copies of which quickly rebounded around the internet. Chief Hagan did not immediately return calls or emails seeking his comments for this story.

The City of Okeechobee has a population of 5,432 souls and sits on the north end of a large freshwater lake from which the town draws its name.

Florida Carry, Inc., sent a letter to the Okeechobee city council and Chief Hagan Saturday, warning the recipients they have violated Florida’s powerful preemption statute, which only allows the state legislature to regulate firearms. Any public official who violates the preemption statute can be removed from office and fined up to $5,000, which the statute requires them to pay personally.

This is total BS, but is it a violation of preemption?

Well, no, it doesn't look like it actually is. In fact, despite being compete and utter nonsense, it looks like public officials in Okeechobee are protected because they didn't pass a gun control law. 

The state of Florida did.

The notice references Florida Statute 870.044, which reads exactly the same as the notice in question which I saw posted on Facebook:

So is this illegal? After all, it states the law, which means it's not really a preemption thing.

[Editor's Note: The police chief's order was based on the Okeecheebee City Council's adoption of City Ordinance 1297, which the city now admits contained a "provision prohibiting the sale of firearms and ammunition" that was "inadvertently included" in the text of hte ordinance. So yes, it does appear that the ordinance itself violated the state's firearm preemption law. - Cam]    

However, there are still questions. For example, is it a declared disaster before a hurricane gets there? Was it declared in the proper manner and for the proper reasons?

Plus, why is this even on the books, especially after what we saw in the aftermath of the public health emergency declarations during COVID-19 when gun stores were being shut down throughout the country?

First, let's look at who declared the emergency in the first place. State law says it can only be declared by "the sheriff or designated city official" for this law to go into effect. However, they can't just up and decide to call something an emergency. As Florida Carry's Eric Friday noted, there are criteria that need to be met:

The illegal ordinance, Friday pointed out, was apparently passed pursuant to an unrelated state statute, which allows the governor to suspend firearm and ammunition sales if “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 affected or a part or parts thereof.”

“To my knowledge there were no violent acts, defiance of lawful authority, or any other of these required elements prior to the declaration of emergency to justify its passage,” he wrote. “The denial of a constitutional right cannot stand on conjecture.”

And, sure enough, the law I linked to above does go on to read that the designated official could make the declaration if he "determines that there has been an act of violence or a flagrant and substantial defiance of, or resistance to, a lawful exercise of public authority and that, on account thereof, there is reason to believe that there exists a clear and present danger of a riot or other general public disorder[.]"

In other words, legally, he could do it in the aftermath of a hurricane when there's widespread looting or when there is rioting going on or something like that, but he can't do it preemptively.

So no, it seems it wasn't declared for the proper reasons, and for that, heads should roll.

There were a lot of people who were worried about protecting their families who may not have been able to get the guns or ammo they needed to do so, all because of overzealous officials freaking out that someone might buy a gun in a scary time.

I'd quibble about this being a preemption violation, but there's no question that this is as illegal as it gets. The only disagreement is just what flavor of illegal we're talking about here.