Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 462
       
       
        
       By Senator Book
       
       
       
       
       
       32-00663-20                                            2020462__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public records; amending s.
    3         790.065, F.S.; providing an exemption from public
    4         records requirements for records containing certain
    5         information pertaining to a buyer or transferee who is
    6         not found to be prohibited from receipt or transfer of
    7         ammunition; providing for future legislative review
    8         and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of
    9         public necessity; providing a contingent effective
   10         date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (4) of section
   15  790.065, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   16         790.065 Sale and delivery of firearms.—
   17         (4)(a) Any records containing any of the information set
   18  forth in subsection (1) pertaining to a buyer or transferee who
   19  is not found to be prohibited from receipt or transfer of a
   20  firearm or ammunition by reason of Florida and federal law which
   21  records are created by the Department of Law Enforcement to
   22  conduct the criminal history record check shall be confidential
   23  and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and may not be
   24  disclosed by the Department of Law Enforcement or any officer or
   25  employee thereof to any person or to another agency. The
   26  Department of Law Enforcement shall destroy any such records
   27  forthwith after it communicates the approval and nonapproval
   28  numbers to the licensee and, in any event, such records shall be
   29  destroyed within 48 hours after the day of the response to the
   30  licensee’s request.
   31         Section 2. The amendments to s. 790.065(4)(a), Florida
   32  Statutes, made by this act are subject to the Open Government
   33  Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, Florida
   34  Statutes, and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2025, and the
   35  text of this paragraph shall revert to that in existence on July
   36  1, 2020, except that any amendments to such text enacted other
   37  than by this act shall be preserved and continue to operate to
   38  the extent that such amendments are not dependent upon the
   39  portions of text which expire pursuant to this section, unless
   40  reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
   41  Legislature.
   42         Section 3. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   43  necessity that the information pertaining to an individual who
   44  is a buyer or transferee who is not found to be prohibited from
   45  receipt or transfer of ammunition under s. 790.065, Florida
   46  Statutes, be made confidential and exempt from public records
   47  requirements under s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a),
   48  Article I of the State Constitution. The knowledge that someone
   49  has purchased ammunition can easily lead to the conclusion that
   50  the applicant or licensee has in fact armed himself or herself.
   51  The Legislature has found in prior legislative sessions and has
   52  expressed in s. 790.335(1)(a)3., Florida Statutes, that a list,
   53  record, or registry of legally owned firearms or law-abiding
   54  firearm owners is “an instrument that can be used as a means to
   55  profile innocent citizens and to harass and abuse American
   56  citizens based solely on their choice to own firearms and
   57  exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as
   58  guaranteed under the United States Constitution.” Release of
   59  personal identifying information of an individual who has
   60  purchased ammunition could be used to harass an innocent person
   61  based solely on that person’s exercised right to own a firearm.
   62  Therefore, the Legislature finds that such information must be
   63  held confidential and exempt from public records requirements.
   64         Section 4. This act shall take effect on the same date that
   65  SB ____ or similar legislation takes effect, if such legislation
   66  is adopted in the same legislative session or an extension
   67  thereof and becomes a law.