Florida Is Suing One Of Its Own Cities, Claims It Illegally Tracks Gun Owners

Although the Sunshine State might be a fairly reliable red state as a whole, that doesn’t mean its big cities are immune to far-left policies.

Jacksonville is a prime example, as evidenced by the latest lawsuit being filed against its leaders by the state’s attorney general.

As the Daily Caller reported, the case centers on allegations that the city has been maintaining an illegal registry of gun owners:

The alleged registry, first revealed by a Republican city council member in May 2025 to WJAX, a Jacksonville-area TV station, reportedly listed about 100 people who had entered city buildings while armed. Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the legal action in a Tuesday afternoon post on X, concluding a probe he launched in January. 

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“Today we are suing the city of Jacksonville for knowingly maintaining an illegal gun registry in violation of Florida law,” Uthmeier said. “In July 2023, after Mayor [Donna] Deegan took office, Jacksonville City management approved and implemented a logbook, a gun registry that required security officers to screen visitors and record the visitor’s name, age, state-issued ID number and the weapon type of anyone found to be carrying a firearm.”

“Jacksonville continued this practice until April 2025 when an individual attempted to enter a city building while legally carrying a firearm. The individual was unlawfully denied entry by security officers on duty when he would not provide the requested information,” Uthmeier continued. “Florida law prohibits government entities from keeping a registry of privately owned firearms or their owners. The city’s logbooks maintained with city management’s knowledge and approval constitute such a registry.”

The news quickly sparked social media discussion:

Whoever was behind this should be prosecuted criminally, not sued civilly. When a civil servant intentionally violates a person’s constitutional rights it should be a criminal offense of Official Misconduct!

— HavocActual (@havocactual311) May 14, 2026

If officials knowingly ignored state law to track lawful gun owners, that raises serious questions about government overreach and accountability.

— Lawrence (@Lawrencewout) May 14, 2026

Florida AG James Uthmeier just dropped the hammer and is suing Jacksonville for keeping an illegal gun registry.

The Free State of Florida is not messing around 😂🏛️#FloridaAG #JacksonvilleGunRegistry #AGUthmeier #IllegalGunRegistry #FloridaVsJacksonville https://t.co/3IUGjUtkbe

— Greg Madden (@GregMaddenUSMC) May 13, 2026

WOKV provided reactions from some Jacksonville officials:

“I think a lawsuit at this time is at best premature,” said Councilman Rahman Johnson.

“I just don’t think it’s fair; I don’t think it’s proportional,” said Councilman Matt Carlucci.

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Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the 11-page lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville Tuesday in a video posted to X.

“We are requesting judgement against the city of Jacksonville for $5 million,” he said in the video.

Here’s additional coverage of the latest developments: