Open carry ruling raises new issues for Jacksonville gun registry

A 4th Circuit State Attorney’s investigation of Jacksonville’s decision to force people carrying guns to sign a registry in city buildings is still hanging in suspense. But a new appellate ruling offers more indication that attitudes on guns are changing.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and others have pilloried the gun registry as a violation of constitutional rights. The list of people carrying guns into government buildings was maintained by Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration from July 2023 until just a few months ago.

Now, a new decision by Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal that seemingly would allow open carry despite the Legislature not having approved a change in law throws the registry into sharp relief.

Even before the open carry decision, the list was on shaky legal grounds.

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 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.”

The State Attorney’s Office issued subpoenas 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 governing document apparently was drafted without the current Mayor’s intent or knowledge.

The “Check Points and Perimeter Security” memo from Facility Manager Mike Soto was drafted June 30, 2023, during the transition between the outgoing Lenny Curry administration and Donna Deegan’s incoming group.

“It never made it to me,” Deegan said in May.

Yet revision was made July 24, 2023, long after Deegan was sworn in, raising questions about why her administration wouldn’t be aware of the practice.

The practice has since been terminated.

We have reached out to the 4th Circuit State Attorney’s Office to get updates on the status of the registry probe, and will update the piece when we know more.

But in a world where open carry is the law of Florida, given Attorney General James Uthmeier supports the court decision, gun advocates can argue that the Deegan administration is out of step with the zeitgeist and the law alike.

While the state has yet to fulfill DeSantis’ wishes and pass an open carry law, it did pass a “permitless carry” bill that eliminated a requirement to obtain a license for concealed carry of a weapon.

The legislation the Governor signed in 2023 was the reason for the registry in the first place.