Putnam Says Public Was Not At Risk from Concealed Carry Permitting Errors
June 13th, 2018 by Jake Stofan
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam went face to face with the Capitol Press Corps. for the first time this afternoon following reports his agency failed to conduct background checks on concealed carry applicants.
Initial reports suggested the Department of Agriculture failed to conduct any background checks for an entire year.
The report was wrong.
Just 365 applicants weren’t properly vetted after they were flagged for further review because of the failure of an employee.
“It was a serious enough issue without being exaggerated,” said Putnam. “The fact of the matter is that of the 350,000 applications that came in over that period of time, all received a background check. 365 were not acted upon as they should have and that’s why the employee is no longer with the agency.”
291 of those applicants had their permits revoked once the problem was recognized.
Putnam says there was no threat to the public, noting the department would have been alerted if any of those applicants had committed a crime after incorrectly being granted a license.
“We have done that. We know that there were no flags on the 291,” said Putnam. “We have not received information on any of the 291 having been arrested.”
Putnam also added, the individuals improperly awarded licenses wouldn’t have been able to legally purchase a gun in the state, as they would have still been subject to further background checks at the point of purchase.
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