Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against the City of Jacksonville, alleging the city knowingly maintained an illegal registry of gun owners in violation of state law for nearly two years.
Uthmeier announced the legal action in a video posted on X, saying the city’s security logbooks constitute a prohibited “list, record, or registry” of privately owned firearms. The lawsuit seeks $5 million in civil penalties and “any other relief the court deems appropriate.”
“Today we are suing the city of Jacksonville for knowingly maintaining an illegal gun registry in violation of Florida law,” Uthmeier said. “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and we will use all power of this office to protect the rights of Floridians.”
The logbooks were maintained from July 2023 to April 2025, according to the AG’s office. They contained more than 140 entries recording the names, birthdates, state-issued ID numbers, and weapon types of over 100 individuals who entered city buildings while legally armed.
The practice began shortly after Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan took office in July 2023, in the months following Florida’s passage of its constitutional carry law. A public works manager created the logs, according to a report by the Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, to track how many people were entering city buildings while armed.
The logbook policy was never submitted to the city’s Office of General Counsel for legal review. The state attorney’s investigation concluded there was “no evidence of criminal intent” and declined to file criminal charges.
Uthmeier rejected that outcome. “Jacksonville continued this practice until April 2025 when an individual attempted to enter a city building while legally carrying a firearm,” he said. “The individual was unlawfully denied entry by security officers on duty when he would not provide the requested information.”
Florida Statute 790.335(2)(a) bars any local government or government employee from keeping “any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.” Uthmeier wrote in an earlier letter that ignorance of the law is not a defense, and that the statute only requires a person intended to keep the log and knew it documented privately owned firearms.
