No discipline for identifying gun permit holders to lobby against open-carry law
Ignorance of the law helped clear Sheriff Jerry Demings' political lobbyist of wrongdoing for handing out gun owners' restricted driver's license photos last year in Tallahassee to lobby against an open-carry law, Orange County sheriff's records show.Capt. Mike Fewless set off a statewide controversy in a April by distributing eight photos from a secret intelligence file that he claimed were outlaw bikers with valid state Carry Concealed Weapon permits.
The lobbying was part of an effort by the Florida Sheriff's Association to persuade legislators that tourists would avoid Florida if gun owners were allowed to openly display their firearms.
Critics of the outlaw biker ploy included former NRA President Marion Hammer, Florida Carry.Org founder Sean Carrana and others representing the state's 900,000 gun owners with concealed weapon permits.
The agency cleared Fewless, because he said he hadn't known the pictures were restricted driver's license photos or that state law prohibited identifying anyone with a CCW permit. The federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994 also prohibits releasing personal information, including a motorist's license photograph, records show.
"The fact that nobody from the (Florida Sheriff's Association) meeting indicated it was bad idea to show photographs of (the bikers) that had CCF (firearm permits) indicates that nobody was aware of the law prohibiting it," said Fewless, who heads the Professional Standards unit enforcing agency policy.
Fewless blamed the incident on Agent John McMahon, the agency's motorcycle gang expert, for sending him the photos after a late-night telephone request. He said McMahon should have told him the pictures came from confidential files, records state..
The agency cleared Fewless and gave McMahon a written reprimand. Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves said privacy restrictions involving the driver's license database is "something we have tried to hammer home" in the wake of what happened.
"When you or I do something we're told 'ignorance of the law is no excuse,'"said Hammer, who believes Fewless' actions might become a campaign issue in the fall election for Orange County's 42,000 residents with concealed weapon licenses. "I don't have a crystal ball but people don't like it when certain people are above the law."
The eight motorcyclists have retained Tarpon Springs attorney Jerry Theophilopoulos.
"The Sheriff's intent was to discredit the NRA with back door, underhanded tactics and…now they have egg on their faces," Theophilopoulos wrote the Sentinel. "If the public cannot trust the Sheriff and his staff to follow the law then who do they look to for guidance?"
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/os-bikers-with-guns-sheriff-lobbyist-exonerated-20120208,0,4117978.story
"When you or I do something we're told 'ignorance of the law is no excuse,'"said Hammer, who believes Fewless' actions might become a campaign issue in the fall election for Orange County's 42,000 residents with concealed weapon licenses. "I don't have a crystal ball but people don't like it when certain people are above the law."
The eight motorcyclists have retained Tarpon Springs attorney Jerry Theophilopoulos.
"The Sheriff's intent was to discredit the NRA with back door, underhanded tactics and…now they have egg on their faces," Theophilopoulos wrote the Sentinel. "If the public cannot trust the Sheriff and his staff to follow the law then who do they look to for guidance?"
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/os-bikers-with-guns-sheriff-lobbyist-exonerated-20120208,0,4117978.story
