These folks just don't like concealed carry and are trying to find anything to discredit the program.
Audit criticizes Florida's concealed weapons program
By Megan O'Matz
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 22, 2007
State workers have moved too slowly in rescinding the gun licenses of people arrested or convicted of crimes in many cases sampled by outside auditors, according to a critical review of Florida's concealed weapons program.
As a result, the newly released report by Florida's Auditor General states that there is "an increased risk that unqualified persons may remain licensed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm."
The report raises questions about how effective the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has been in administering Florida's system of licensing people to carry handguns and other weapons, concealed for self-defense purposes. More than 468,000 people hold such licenses.
"It should give us grave concern to look further, to do a thorough inquiry into whether or not this problem exists and whether it is widespread. And then fix it," said Jeff Gorley, a leading force behind the Regional Community Collaboration on Violence, a South Florida advocacy group dedicated to reducing gun violence.
In its official response to the audit, the department blamed the "accuracy and timeliness issues" on staffing shortages and said it has taken steps to retrain its workers, improve its computer system and reform its reports. The Department has six months to show the state Legislative Auditing Committee how it has corrected the problems.
In a series of investigative stories in January, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that the state failed to suspend or revoke the licenses of hundreds of people with active domestic violence injunctions and arrest warrants, including a Tampa pizza delivery person wanted for shooting a 15-year-old boy to death over a stolen order of chicken wings.
The newspaper reported that the law permitted another 1,400 people to obtain concealed weapons licenses even though they had pleaded guilty or no contest to crimes — including assaults, burglaries, drug possession, child molestation and homicide — because courts had given them breaks and "withheld" formal convictions.
The audit released this month recommends that the Agriculture Department develop a pilot program to obtain information from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on people with outstanding warrants on serious charges.
Agriculture Department officials resisted the suggestion earlier this year in response to the Sun-Sentinel stories, saying warrants are too fluid and may be issued for a person only wanted for questioning.
In response to the audit, the department now says it is exploring how to use warrant information in its ongoing screening of licensees.
"We're now talking with FDLE about instituting a system in which that warrant information could be provided to us," said Terence McElroy, department spokesman.
Since 1987, the department has issued more than 1.2 million concealed weapons licenses. The agency is responsible not only for issuing and renewing licenses but also for suspending or revoking the permits when a licensee is accused or convicted of a felony, certain misdemeanors and domestic violence.
Working out of Tallahassee, program administrators learn about crimes and restraining orders from data provided by FDLE and the state Department of Corrections. Workers have 20 days from the time they learn of a violation to act to revoke or suspend a license.
Auditors found that in 16 of 36 cases reviewed, state workers misdated some documents, making it appear as though they were acting on reported crimes within the required 20 days when they were not. The delays ranged from an additional 14 to 100 days. Without accurate dates on the records, "the public has less assurance that concealed weapon and firearm licenses are held only by individuals who meet the statutory qualifications," the audit states.
Reviewers also found that in another eight of 34 instances the department did not suspend, revoke or deny a license within the required 20-day time frame.
In one case auditors found it took the department 52 days to suspend the license of a person arrested for resisting an officer without violence, using a firearm while under the influence and openly carrying a weapon.
It took 143 days to revoke the license of a person found responsible in court for a felony battery of a child, although the license had been suspended in the appropriate time.
McElroy said the department places a higher priority on suspending licenses than revoking them, because of staffing shortages.
Auditors also found that the department wasted time and resources by sending multiple letters to the wrong addresses of licensees accused of crimes.
. Just too many rhyming words, I couldn't resist.
