Gun advocates want Tallahassee officials fined

Gun rights advocates on Thursday called on a 2nd Circuit judge to fine Tallahassee city officials for their failure to repeal local firearms laws that contradict a state statute.

The lawsuit, filed by the Washington-state based Second Amendment Foundation and Florida Carry, names then Mayor John Marks and three city commissioners and stems from a February City Commission meeting when a vote was tabled on whether to repeal local gun laws barring the discharge of firearms in public parks and urban spaces.

The two separate city ordinances were passed in 1988 and 1957 respectively and have been continually printed in municipal codes since then despite not being actively enforced by law enforcement for a number of years.

At the same commission meeting, Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo recommended the repeal of the ordinances since they were unenforceable, according to court records.

They violate state law in putting restraints on where firearms are allowed, Florida Carry attorneys Lesley McKinney and Eric Friday argued on Thursday. But by not voting on the issue, commissioners put aside their duty to remove a law that could result in arrests preempted by state statutes.

“The citizens of Tallahassee have the right to know that this law will not be enforced,” Friday said in court.

Continuing to publish them in the public record poses problems if someone is stopped by a police officer, he continued.

“It does lead citizens to think it’s an enforceable law,” he said.

They are looking to levy individual fines of $5,000 against Marks and city commissioners Gil Ziffer, Nancy Miller and former commissioner Andrew Gillum, who succeeded Marks as mayor.

The suit also claims that Marks and Gillum engaged in civil disobedience toward state law by refusing to vote on the ordinances. Commissioner Scott Maddox, who was the only vote against tabling the item, said he could not support a violation of state law.

Assistant City Attorney Louis Norvell said there is no reasonable cause to seek fines against the individual commissioners because they were not involved in enacting the ordinances, which would violate the state law.

“We don’t think it is lawful for the Legislature to try to fine elected officials because of their status as local elected officials,” Norvell said.

The city’s co-counsel Marc Fagel said fining the city officials opens the door to penalizing local officials across the state. Forcing them into a vote is also troubling, he said.

“This is an individual penalty on commissioners based on the way they vote,” Fagel said. “Without removing that there is a cloud over elected officials.”

Circuit Judge George Reynolds instructed the two sides to file proposals for final judgments in the case by Aug. 28. A ruling could be issued next month.