Houston Church and Business Challenge Texas’ Onerous Signage Restrictions for Keeping Guns off Private Property
Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, et al. v. Paxton, et al.
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A Houston church and a local business brought a legal challenge to a state law making it burdensome to prohibit firearms from private Texas properties, arguing that the state’s onerous and costly signage requirements for private properties seeking to prohibit guns infringe on their First Amendment right to free speech. Everytown Law and the law firm Jones Day represented the plaintiffs
“The intent of the Texas signage law is to punish people who have a certain viewpoint, and that is not allowed under the U.S. Constitution,” said Alla Lefkowitz, Senior Director of Affirmative Litigation at Everytown Law. “There is absolutely no evidence that requiring property owners to put up multiple large signs on the front of their property announcing that they do not allow guns–each required to meet a myriad of arbitrary standards–is tied to any legitimate governmental need. The goal of this law is to be as burdensome as possible.”
On March 16, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed the complaint, finding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the law.
On April 9, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed this decision, remanding the case back to the district court and allowing the case to proceed to a ruling on the merits.
On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the panel opinion and granted rehearing en banc.
On July 31, 2026, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing, affirming the district court’s dismissal of the lawsuit.
