May a Private Rental Owner Restrict Tenants and Guests Rights to Wear Gang Colors?
I recently gave a talk to a group of Fresno City Police Officers regarding the landlord s right to control what goes on within the bounds of the owner s property. The topic came up when someone asked about limiting who can come upon the landlord s property. I commented that as long as the property is privately owned, the landlord has the right to keep out anyone not specifically invited on the property by a tenant. Even then the visitor could not loiter. I stated that the owner is not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and therefore the owner could deny tenants the right to free speech, the right to keep fire arms and perhaps the landlord could even have the right to forbid smoking. A police officer asked if a landlord could forbid the display of “gang colors.” I was stumped. The reason for this article is that I recently read a case that suggests that a landlord could forbid the display gang colors on the apartment grounds. It is this case that I would
