Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam promised that his office will never again fail to perform a background check.
Putnam pledged to dedicate “extra eyeballs” to the matter at a press conference on Saturday, days after it was revealed his office skipped background checks for concealed carry applications for more than a year.
The lapse occurred from February 2016 to November 2017 and reportedly took place because the employee in charge of conducting the checks misplaced the login credentials to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, an FBI crime database that flags applicants that have disqualifying history in other states.
Putnam noted that the employee in question failed to conduct followup inquiries for 365 applicants. The state has retroactively revoked 291 concealed carry licenses and fired the negligent employee.
Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., — one of Putnam’s opponents in the 2018 Florida gubernatorial election — slammed the commissioner during a Saturday campaign event.
“Adam has spent years campaigning for governor, basically, in this position and the report was very concerning because it seemed like he wasn’t minding the store when we needed him to be there,” he told supporters. “I also want to know why, if this report was done a year ago, why are we just now finding out about this?”
