JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Despite State Attorney Melissa Nelson declining to file charges in response to an illegal list of gun owners created by the city of Jacksonville, Florida\u2019s Attorney General has confirmed his office is now investigating the matter.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s Office concluded that poor communication and a directive from a mid-level city employee were to blame<\/a> for the creation of a policy that documented the names and personal information of more than 100 gun owners who entered city buildings while carrying concealed over a two-year period.<\/p>\n Her office\u2019s report, which was released on New Year\u2019s Eve, determined charges against that city employee were not warranted, as there was no evidence of \u201cdeliberate misconduct\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis office\u2019s jurisdiction is limited to determining whether a criminal violation occurred. Under Florida law, that requires proof of knowing and willful conduct,\u201d a spokesperson for the state attorney\u2019s office told Action News Jax in an emailed statement. \u201cOur comprehensive investigation established the complete and true facts and concluded the logbook practice was implemented for innocent reasons, not with criminal intent.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision not to press charges drew the ire of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who posted on social media<\/a> declaring \u201cthis isn\u2019t over\u201d.<\/p>\n Uthmeier has now confirmed his office is officially investigating the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cMost everybody knows that ignorance of the law is not typically a defense. So, I do believe what happened was wrong and unlawful. We\u2019re taking a hard look at it,\u201d said Uthmeier on Monday.<\/p>\n State law prohibits the collection of any list of gun owners, and penalties range from a third-degree felony for individuals who violate the gun registry ban to a $5 million fine for government entities found to be complicit in the creation of such a list.<\/p>\n The power to levy that fine rests with the Attorney General, but is conditioned on a court finding the list was made with the \u201cknowledge or complicity of the management of the governmental entity\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was some clear lack of oversight with that policy. The fact that it was implemented. The fact that it was followed for so long,\u201d said Council President Kevin Carrico (R-District 4).<\/p>\n Carrico said he respects the Attorney General\u2019s authority to investigate the situation, but is concerned about the potential consequences for the city.<\/p>\n \u201cOur citizens work hard. They pay their taxes and expect the city government to be able to take care of their needs,\u201d said Carrico. \u201cAnd to possibly have to lose $5 million out of our budget because of neglect on behalf of the administration, I think it\u2019s a tragedy, and hopefully it doesn\u2019t come down to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the AG\u2019s claim, both the mayor\u2019s office and the state attorney\u2019s office indicated they are unaware of any ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n The mayor\u2019s office told Action News Jax that, as far as it\u2019s concerned, the gun registry issue was closed following the conclusion of the State Attorney\u2019s eight-month investigation. <\/p>\n The State Attorney\u2019s Office issued a statement noting it has provided the AG\u2019s office with its legal analysis and offered its investigative file as well, but added, \u201cTo date, we have not received any request from that office\u201d.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Despite State Attorney Melissa Nelson declining to file charges in response to an illegal list…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,9024,28,62060,348,65235,116,351,118,117,349,350,346,345],"class_list":{"0":"post-132746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-cbs47","10":"tag-city-of-jacksonville","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-florida-ag","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-gun-owners","15":"tag-jacksonville","16":"tag-jacksonville-fl","17":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","18":"tag-jacksonville-news","19":"tag-northeast-florida","20":"tag-southeast-georgia","21":"tag-wfox","22":"tag-wjax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}