June 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 36

LAW REVIEW

ing the renewal of the FGS license
agreement, but he was aware of
comments on this subject that had
been made by members of the commission and others.
The city manager acknowledged
that one of his reasons for not renewing the FGS license was his
subjective characterization of gun
shows as not " family-oriented entertainment. " As understood by
the city manager, " activities at the
WMA should be consistent with
those of a park; i.e., events to which
one could send an unaccompanied
13- or 15-year-old. " While " family-oriented entertainment " was not
a requirement for activities at the
WMA, the city manager viewed it
as a " philosophy or part of a business plan. " He admitted, however,
that licenses had been issued to
FGS and its predecessor every year
prior to 2018.
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Parks & Recreation

According to the city manager,
his understanding of what activities
were considered family friendly had
changed over time. While his formulation was a general definition,
it primarily applied to the Fort Lauderdale community, and was influenced by community reaction to the
mass shootings in Parkland, Florida, and at the Fort Lauderdale airport. After these incidents, the city
manager found that the number of
negative public comments about the
gun shows increased. Before that
time, the city manager did not believe the City would have supported
banning gun shows at the WMA.
The city manager claimed he was
not aware that gun shows were being held at the WMA until 2012. In
2013 and 2014, some parents in the
community expressed their concerns about the City's role in " promoting an activity which was not

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in keeping with other activities in
the park. " While the city manager
admitted he knew of no illegal gun
sales at FGS events, he thought
" the emphasis at gun shows has
changed in recent years from recreational gun use to self-defense. "
Moreover, the city manager believed " the showcasing of militarized weapons was a factor in
transforming gun shows into an
activity which does not belong in
a municipal park that is supported
by taxpayers' dollars. " Further, the
city manager noted the City had
bought back 100-200 guns from its
citizens in 2018. In his opinion, " a
municipality which is buying guns
back from people should not, at the
same time, be engaged in putting
guns back on the street. "
In deciding not to renew the FGS
license agreement, the city manager admitted he did not consider
any analytical data concerning
whether weapons sold at the FGS
gun shows had been used in any
crimes. Moreover, he did not know
how many fewer guns or knives
would be sold as a result of eliminating the gun shows. Nevertheless, the city manager did not want
the City to contribute to gun and
knife violence and believed sales of
weapons at least might be slowed
by canceling the shows.
The city manager had visited
some FGS shows for 10 or 15 minutes and did not recall seeing any
children at the shows. He did not
interview anyone prior to making
the decision not to renew the FGS
license agreement.

Preliminary Injunction
Requirements
This case was considered, and the
opinion was issued by a federal

June 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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