TALLAHASSEE - A military spouse has sued the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture for halting online applications for concealed weapon licenses.
On March 23, the commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried decided to indefinitely halt online applications solely for concealed weapon licenses, but not for other licenses obtained through the department, according to the lawsuit.
The commissioner “subjectively, arbitrarily, and capriciously denied the rights of honest, law-abiding persons,” by making it more difficult to obtain the licenses, according to the complaint. It was filed by Cliff Christopher Maloney, whose wife is based at Eglin Air Force Base and deployed in the Middle East.
The department used the COVID-19 pandemic as a “veiled excuse,” to halt online applications “until further notice,” the complaint alleges.
“The Department and the Commissioner did not do the same thing for the Department’s other online application portals,” said the lawsuit which seeks a court order lifting the suspension.
“This is a blatant disregard for the rule of law, and I will not idly sit by while Nikki Fried uses this crisis to enact her gun-grabbing agenda,” Cliff Maloney, president of gun-rights group, Young Americans for Liberty, told the Florida Record. “ I encourage all Americans to join this fight for our rights. We either believe in liberty in times of crisis or we do not believe in liberty at all.”
In an April 22 letter to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Fried said the the closing of many state offices during the pandemic “has rendered our department unable to take fingerprints for concealed weapons license permits at this time.”
Under Florida law, permit applications will be rejected if applicants don’t submit fingerprints within 90 days, she said.
The department suspended online applications “to prevent frustration from applicants submitting online applications but unable to obtain fingerprints,” Fried wrote. Also, the state has no mechanism to refund application fees for applications that are rejected for lack of fingerprints.
Fried issued emergency orders extending expiring licenses by 90 days, the letter said.
Maloney v. Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit for Leon County, 107225219