It is alleged that the Charlotte County, Florida Sheriff’s Department has been illegally holding gun owners’ personal information, according to Florida Carry.

As reported by thegunwriter.com, Florida Carry sent a letter to Attorney General Ashley Moody demanding that she launches a statewide investigation into law enforcement’s “illegal abuse, misuse, and general operation of the FINDER database including the compilation of lists of gun owners, and illegal retention of records.”

Florida Carry is alleging that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department has committed a felony by unlawfully storing gun owner’s information. According to Florida Statute 790.335, No government agency can “knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.”…

Florida Carry sees this as a violation of the Sunshine State’s Statute against using this information to create records of firearms owners. The Florida based gun rights organization isn’t the only group that finds this practice disturbing. Matthew Patterson, Director of State and Local Affairs for Gun Owners of America, stands behind Florida Carry and their concerns…

“Gun Owners of America share the concerns brought to light by Florida Carry, Inc. over the blatant mishandling and abuse of this data by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff Bill Prummell, in clear violation of Florida Statute,” Patterson told AmmoLand. “This is not only unlawful and unethical but also demonstrates that law enforcement and other government agencies are more than willing to use data and information on gun owners to make a working registry, even if that means breaking the law themselves.”

“This is a prime example of why Gun Owners of America is against any system that collects and stores information on gun owners, including Universal Background Checks. It is unknown whether other sheriffs’ agencies in Florida are maintaining similar records; however, we at Gun Owners of America stand behind Florida Carry, Inc. in their calls for an investigation into these illegal activities.”

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