Florida licensing a closer look

[gporter]

had to be the post number off 1313 bad luck

[Steven E. Wiegner]

Thanks Joe For This Post Thread
Veddy Interessting

Thanks

[James H. Bushart]

Report: Hundreds of Felons Got Gun Permits in Florida


Sunday, January 28, 2007

• E-MAIL STORY
• PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hundreds of criminals were able to obtain concealed weapons permits in Florida because of loopholes, errors and miscommunication, a newspaper reported Sunday.

An analysis of state records show the roughly 410,000 Floridians licensed to carry hidden guns included 1,400 who had pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies, 216 with outstanding warrants, 128 named in active domestic violence injunctions and six registered sex offenders, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

"I had no idea," said Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson, who sits on an advisory panel for the state Division of Licensing, which issues permits for carrying concealed weapons. "I think the system, somewhere down the line, is broken. I guarantee you the ordinary person doesn't know (that) ... and I'd venture to guess that 160 legislators in Florida don't know that, either."

The newspaper obtained the names of people on the state's concealed weapons permit list shortly before state lawmakers sealed it from public scrutiny July 1.

Marion Hammer, a Tallahassee lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, blamed law enforcement gaps, "bleeding-heart, criminal-coddling judges and prosecutors" for missteps that put guns in the hands of criminals.

/**/
Critics, however, say the NRA pressures lawmakers to ignore the problem.

"The people who are intimately familiar with these laws, the people at the NRA, they know exactly what's going on," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the nonprofit Violence Policy Center. Florida's gun lobby and the program's administrators "know they're permitting some bad people, but they don't want the general public to know that."

The newspaper said it found that concealed weapons permits have soared from roughly 25,000 in 1987, the first year carrying a concealed gun was legal in Florida, to more than 410,000.

In Miami-Dade County, the number of licenses jumped from 2,200 to 42,521 as of Dec. 31, and in Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, it went from 25 to 35,884.

"That's an alarming increase," Coral Springs Police Chief Duncan Foster said.



Well, not to worry. A state licensing board administering licenses for home inspectors is certain to be much more efficient than just a bunch of silly cops sitting on a licensing board governing concealed weapon permits....ya think?

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

I kinda doubt the validity of this article, the gun grabbers are vigilant in seeking ways to convince the public that guns should not be in the hands of its citizenry, this most likely is just another attempt to cloud the issue with rumors & half-truths.

The CCW application in Florida is quite tough, you must be fingerprinted and those fingerprints are sent off to the FBI for matching. you are asked about any criminal activity, arrests and pending court dates. Just like NACHI, one has to be willing to perjure themselves to get a permit illegally. My guess is if this did happen there are no more then a few mistakes, remember the right to bear arms was so important to our Founding Fathers that it is written into our Constitution.

[Doug Edwards]

Absolutely! CCW law in FL is and has been well monitored for years. This article would have you believe it is as easy to obtain as a Drivers' License. The fingerprinting alone has to be done through local law enforcement agencies.

[Richard L. Bennett]

Boy talk about thread drift


"That's an alarming increase," If you want to break into someones home or take their car etc.

It seems to me that people want to protect them selves and their family. I would even go so far as to say that the people that filed for permits did so for protection --- like if they were going to do something wrong why would they get a permit??

And by the way the bad boys don't get permits to carry -- they just do it

Where do some of these people get their sense of reality??

rlb