BROWARD PROSECUTORS SEEK SURRENDER OF GUN PERMITS IN DRUG, FELONY CASES

Prosecutors in Broward County Will Ask Judges to Order People Accused
of Violent Crimes to Surrender Their Concealed Weapon Licenses

"We agree it's a good idea," said Jeff Marcus, chief of felonies for
the Broward State Attorney's Office.

The office is beginning to run criminal history checks on defendants
to learn whether they have gun permits and, if so, to prepare motions
for their surrender. The licenses will be relinquished to the Clerk of Court.

"We have notified the chief judge just so that they know we'll be
filing these motions," Marcus said. "What actions the judges take
will be up to them individually."

The moves follow similar steps in Miami-Dade County.

Prosecutors in Palm Beach County, meanwhile, have asked that circuit
court's chief judge, Kathleen Kroll, to provide direction on how to
enact comparable procedures there.

The growing concern is in response to a South Florida Sun-Sentinel
investigation this year that found serious flaws in Florida's gun
licensing system. The newspaper discovered that more than 1,400
people had valid concealed weapon licenses despite pleading guilty or
no contest to felonies such as assault, child abuse, burglary and
even manslaughter. The individuals were not formally convicted under
plea deals but commonly served probation. Under a loophole in the
law, they could obtain licenses to carry guns three years after
serving their sentences.

The Sun-Sentinel also found that the Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services, which oversees the licensing, did not always
suspend or revoke licenses, because of human error or
miscommunication with police and courts. At the time of the
newspaper's review, 128 people with active domestic violence
restraining orders had valid gun licenses.

The state's own rules do not allow it to suspend licenses for
warrants. That meant a pizza delivery driver wanted for shooting a
teenager to death over a stolen order of chicken wings kept his gun
license. So did individuals convicted of crimes the state does not
consider violent, such as shooting into the air on the Fourth of July.

Broward prosecutors will ask judges to order the surrender of the gun
licenses for felonies, violent misdemeanors, drug crimes, certain DUI
offenses and domestic violence crimes, Marcus said. The Agriculture
Department will be notified that the licenses were turned over to the court.

In recent weeks, prosecutors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have
raised concerns about licenses being used to avoid waiting periods
when buying handguns from firearm dealers. In Broward, Miami-Dade and
Palm Beach counties, the "cooling off" period is five days.

Dealers do not check with the Agriculture Department to determine
whether licenses are valid.

If an arrest isn't immediately entered into the state's criminal
justice information system, a dealer may be given the go-ahead to
sell a gun before the problem is resolved.

State officials have told the Sun-Sentinel they do not have the
resources to confiscate concealed weapon licenses when they are
suspended or revoked. Instead, Agriculture officials send letters
requesting that the permits be mailed in.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced last
week that her office is asking the courts to order the surrender the
licenses as soon as possible in felonies and serious misdemeanors.

Judge Amy Karan, head of Miami-Dade's Domestic Violence Court, also
changed that court's forms to require the surrender of the licenses
for restraining orders or misdemeanor abuse cases.

Broward officials are considering a similar move.

The Sun-Sentinel found that the state repeatedly suspends and
reinstates gun licenses as domestic violence injunctions are imposed,
lifted and reinstated. One man the paper profiled had his gun license
returned five times.