Three months after State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office closed its investigation with no criminal charges, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier plans to initiate civil proceedings against the city of Jacksonville for making a list of people who carried guns into City Hall.
Nelson’s investigation determined that although security guards did violate Florida’s “gun registry” prohibition when they recorded which visitors brought firearms into City Hall and the Yates Building in 2023, lack of oversight was to blame rather than criminal intent.
In a new letter to Nelson, Uthmeier says either city leaders were aware of the list or they “failed to adequately train and supervise their employees” — and bear responsibility either way.
In a statement emailed to Jacksonville Today, Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration dismissed Uthmeier’s pursuit as “politically motivated deflections that waste taxpayer dollars.”