(GunReports.com) — 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.
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.
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