ORLANDO, Fla. — The State of Florida denied or revoked more than a 1,000 concealed weapons licenses in the last three months, but how many of those people legally bought guns that they could not legally carry?
9 Investigates reporter Janine Reyes uncovered that no one really knows how many people have legally bought guns, but could not legally carry the weapon. Reyes found out the state agency that approves a person's license to carry is a different agency than the one that authorizes people to buy gun, and that the two agencies do not communicate with one another.
Reyes found out first-hand that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement may approve people to purchase a gun, even when the Department of Agriculture says people can’t carry the weapon.
Phil Alberts has received firearms as gifts, and for the first time, he told Eyewitness News that he planned on purchasing a firearm for himself.
After filling out paperwork, he said he had to pass a background check through FDLE. The background check took nine minutes and 17 seconds to complete.
Once approved, Alberts was able to take home a handgun after a three day waiting period.
Alberts' working to get his concealed weapons license. That process runs the same checks, only the Department of Agriculture and not FDLE will run the check. The only difference is the Department of Agriculture will use fingerprints to run the checks.
“There are people that can buy a gun, no problem, pass a background check, but then whenever they try to do a CWL, they get denied, or the process is slowed,” said Jennifer Webber, a manager at Oak Ridge Gun Range.
Reyes went through the process and found that it was easier for her to pass two background checks with the FDLE and buy firearms than it was for her to pass a Department of Agriculture background check to get a license to carry them.
Reyes’ license was delayed because of a 2006 speeding ticket in Alabama. She missed her court date and was charged with failure to appear. That charge was later dropped. The Department of Agriculture found the charge that the FDLE check did not pick up on.
While being temporarily denied her CWL, she was able to purchase and take home two handguns.
9 Investigates pulled the numbers for July through September 2016 and learned the Department of Agriculture approved 118,370 licenses and denied, revoked, or suspended 2,175 licenses.
The FDLE, on the other hand, approved almost twice the amount of gun purchases in the same time-frame. Numbers obtained by 9 Investigates showed 229,656 approvals and 12,753 denials, or conditional denials.
If the FDLE cannot find cause on those conditional denials in a five-day period, the gun goes home. Of the denials tracked over that three-month period, 10,079 were conditional. When a gun is released after a conditional denial, the gun shop owner takes the purchaser's name and address so the FDLE can later retrieve the gun if they find cause to do so.
9 Investigates learned that not everyone purchasing a gun will apply for a CWL. Some may already have a license, others may just plan to keep their weapons at home.
Alberts found it much easier to buy a gun than to get his license.
“If you wanted to do something, a concealed carry permit is not stopping you from being a lunatic with the two guns,” Alberts said.
9 Investigates found out that Pulse gunman Omar Mateen legally bought his guns from a Port St. Lucie Gun Shop.
9 Investigates doesn’t know if he had an active Concealed Weapons License, because that information is not public. But, 9 Investigates did find that he had an expired license to carry in his home after authorities raided it.
The license allows you to bypass the three-day waiting period once you pass a FDLE background check in the store.
Authorized dealers are the only ones required to run a background check. Individuals selling their personal guns to the public do not have verify a potential buyer’s ability to own or carry a weapon, and they don’t have to mandate a three-day waiting period.
Cox Media Group
