A.G. Gancarski
At a Jacksonville BBQ restaurant on Friday, Gov. Ron DeSantis put Jacksonville’s just-terminated illegal gun registry on a spit.
“Having a gun registry is unlawful and it is a violation of people’s Second Amendment rights; there needs to be consequences for it,” DeSantis said, regarding the list of people carrying guns into government buildings maintained by Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration from July 2023 until just a few weeks ago.
“And I was surprised to see that that would happen, but our laws in Florida are very clear, our Constitution is very clear. Doing these secret gun registries is completely unacceptable,” DeSantis added.
Florida Statutes 790.335 bans registries under threat of criminal and civil penalties, including potential “felony of the third degree” charges and “a fine of not more than $5 million” via a civil action from the Attorney General.
Per the law, a “list, record, or registry of legally owned firearms or law-abiding firearm owners is not a law enforcement tool and can become an instrument for profiling, harassing, or abusing law-abiding citizens,” and “is an instrument that can be used as a means to profile innocent citizens and to harass and abuse American citizens based solely on their choice to own firearms and exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under the United States Constitution.”
The Legislature holds that “law-abiding firearm owners whose names have been illegally recorded in a list, record, or registry are entitled to redress.”
The language suggests that the policy may include a list of gun owners who carry weapons into city buildings like City Hall and the Yates Building, regardless of security concerns.
“No state governmental agency or local government, special district, or other political subdivision or official, agent, or employee of such state or other governmental entity or any other person, public or private, shall knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.”
DeSantis supports probes into the lists kept by private security under Deegan’s watch, an apparent reaction to a law allowing permitless carry that went into effect the day the Democrat took office.
“I know you have Republicans on the city council that are pursuing this, and I know others will likely pursue, but there will need to be accountability, absolutely,” he said.
The City Council has paused its probe at the request of 4th Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson.
Her investigation has seen subpoenas issued to Roy Birbal, former public safety chief Lakeisha Burton, Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling, Steven Long, Pat McCollough, Kelli O’Leary, former acting General Counsel Bob Rhodes, Facilities Manager Mike Soto, and former city lawyer and current City Council lawyer Jason Teal.
The Deegan administration has suggested the policy was formulated under former Mayor Lenny Curry, and produced a draft document from the last day of Curry’s term from a facilities manager, for which neither Curry’s nor Deegan’s teams claims responsibility.
However, the draft language appears to have been finalized during Deegan’s first month in office and was not enforced as policy during the Curry era.
22 comments
Mariele Sturm
May 9, 2025 at 12:20 pm
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the Truth
May 9, 2025 at 12:49 pm
one term Donna, in trouble again
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 8:09 pm
Firearms are the No. 1 cause of death for US kids, 1 to 17.
SuzyQ
May 10, 2025 at 12:44 am
How is your post relevant to this matter in Jacksonville or the Constitution and the rule of law, which this illicit firearms registry violates? Your post is either projection or an impotent attempt to change the subject away from the Constitution and the rule of law to the issue of gun violence.
MH/Duuuval
May 10, 2025 at 10:58 am
2A radicals have conjoined the two issues by enabling the violent prone.
Rich7553
May 10, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Irrelevant. Rights are not subject to their misuse by a few.
MH/Duuuval
May 11, 2025 at 12:22 pm
Victims of gun violence will disagree.
MH/Duuuval
May 9, 2025 at 8:30 pm
I’m waiting for the MAGA cabal on city council to throw open their meetings to those carrying firearms. Ditto the Legislature. After all, having good guys with guns will protect them from bad guys with a gun.
SuzyQ
May 10, 2025 at 12:49 am
Again, your post does not address the issues raised in this article, namely, the City of Jacksonville’s illegal and unconstitutional firearms registry.
Let’s just change the subject to the “MAGA cabal” or anything else that does not address the actual subject of the article?
Intellectual dishonesty? Strike that. There’s nothing intellectual involved, including the author.
MH/Duuuval
May 10, 2025 at 10:53 am
Continue to fiddle fiddle, MAGA acolyte. Here’s a contemporary example of what your defending in today’s Sentinel:
By Angie DiMichele South Florida Sun Sentinel
LOXAHATCHEE — A Palm Beach County man who had an arsenal of weapons and ammunition and allegedly picked seven different places to conduct a mass shooting has been arrested, authorities said.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and Capt. Randy Foley at a news conference said Allen had 12,000 rounds of ammunition and what are believed to be fully automatic guns.
Investigators are still trying to determine if he owned all of the weapons legally, Foley said.
MH/Duuuval
May 10, 2025 at 2:30 pm
“fiddle faddle” was what I typed but the spell check changed it to fiddle fiddle
Rich7553
May 10, 2025 at 2:48 pm
It is legal to carry in both city hall and the state capitol, except for in the room where meetings of a hoverning body is occurring.
MH/Duuuval
May 11, 2025 at 12:28 pm
In 1996 Australia’s conservative party enacted gun reforms. In the previous 18 years, the country had suffered 13 mass shootings (in which five or more people died). Over the following 20 years, there were NONE.
Australians may purchase firearms for hunting, occupational use or target practice, but the law restricts weapons designed for mass destruction.
Multiple studies have shown that these restrictions have significantly reduced Australian gun deaths.
SuzyQ
May 10, 2025 at 12:39 am
The mayor of Jacksonville looks as though she might not finish her elected term in office, if only she hadn’t run afoul of the Constitution and the rule of law.
MH/Duuuval
May 10, 2025 at 10:49 am
Guilty of wishful thinking — or do you imagine that Dee can replace her?
Rich7553
May 10, 2025 at 2:49 pm
He can remove her, under state law.
MH/Duuuval
May 11, 2025 at 12:33 pm
It won’t be so easy this time around, if Dee dares.
Dee had the advantage of novelty when he fired the two SAOs, one of whom was eventually reelected by her constituents and is currently serving in office again.
Now folks know what to expect from the Decider and will be prepared to respond appropriately.
Sick of Republican BS
May 10, 2025 at 7:55 am
Let’s take all the drooling, knuckle-dragging gun nut hillbillies and put them in a dark auditorium with handguns under the seats. Ought to take ‘em about an hour and — problem solved! Maybe some Flatt & Scruggs banjo music to accompany all of ‘em into the afterlife.
MH/Duuuval
May 10, 2025 at 11:00 am
You are blaming only a narrow sliver of those responsible for the mass violence in the US. It’s the suits in government and business who bear the most responsibility.
Rich7553
May 10, 2025 at 2:49 pm
Take your meds.
the Truth
May 10, 2025 at 8:20 pm
Nick Howland or Rory Diamond will replace liberal one term Donna
MH/Duuuval
May 11, 2025 at 12:38 pm
In your dreams, Johnny Reb. I suspect Rory will heading to some soft job sitting in judgment of asylum seekers.
Nick is a lightweight; I look forward to him and Ron Salem and whoever else the MAGAs can dredge up engaging in a classic circular firing squad.