The Process Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Conducts required background checks for Federal Firearm Licensees to determine the potential transferee s eligibility to receive the firearm. Ten federal disqualifiers United States Code Section 922 State Law defines state disqualifiers Florida Statute 790.065
The Process Customer and FFL ATF Form 4473 Name, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Sex, Race, Social, Country of Citizenship, State of Residence Demographic Check: FCIC NCIC Florida Criminal History National Criminal History NICS Index ICE (if non-citizen) FDLE Firearm Purchase Program
Name-Based Check FCIC Florida Crime Information Center NCIC National Crime Information Center Wants and Warrants Protection Orders Probation Status Files Criminal History RAP Sheets Record of Arrests and Prosecutions ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement NICS Index Disqualifying Records that are not available in the other systems
NICS Index Records containing information that a subject is disqualified by federal or state law are placed into the NICS Index. It is especially important to enter records into NICS that do not fit or cannot be entered into one of the other data resources (FCIC, NCIC, or RAP sheets). Mental Health Records Federal Prohibition - USC 922 (g)(4) Adjudicated Mentally Defective Committed to a mental institution
Enter Mental Health Records Includes records with a judicial finding: Danger to self or others; or Lacks mental capacity to contract or manage own affairs; or Found not guilty by reason of insanity; or Found guilty but mentally ill by a court in a criminal case; or Found incompetent to proceed in a criminal process Committed to mental health treatment involuntarily Inpatient or Outpatient Length of treatment is not a consideration Includes mental illness/treatment for drug or alcohol abuse Does NOT Include: Physician s finding/diagnosis (must have adjudication by court) Incompetent to handle household affairs or minority age Persons held for observation only
MECOM Mental Competency (MECOM) Database Established in 2007 to receive and store mental health court orders that are firearms disqualifying. Information is uploaded to National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to share with FBI and other states ACCESS IS STRICTLY LIMITED for firearm related background checks. Shared with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for the issuance and retention of concealed weapon licenses.
Reporting Requirements Auditor General Operational Audit Finding 1: Mental Competency Application Records Recommendation: We recommend that Department management establish procedures to monitor the timeliness of entries into the MECOM application and continue to work with the Clerks to ensure that mental defectiveness adjudication and court-ordered mental institution commitment records are timely entered into the MECOM application as required by State law. In addition, we recommend that Department contacts with, and responses from, Clerks in counties for which no records are entered into the MECOM application are adequately documented. Planned Activities: Educate Clerks on tools (reports) within MECOM to provide the tools needed to monitor and ensure records are being submitted within required time frames Review and update user guide to emphasize statutory requirement F.S. 790.065(2)(a)4b(II)(D) Reduce duplicate entry by building a web interface with CCIS Letters to Clerks in counties with no entries
Reporting Requirements F.S. 790.065 (2)(a) Requires FDLE to compile and maintain an automated database. Requires the Clerks of Court to submit records within specified time frames. 30 days Involuntary / Adjudicated 24 hours Involuntary to Voluntary Transfers Defines who should be entered into MECOM. Requires at a minimum the reporting of name (along with alias or former name), sex, and date of birth of subject.
Reporting Requirements Demographics: Required by law Name, Alias, Sex and DOB Extremely Useful Race, Social Security # Helpful Address, Relatives, Driver s License Number, any other information available Required by FBI - All information available must be entered into the record. Comments field may be used. Having more information helps to correctly identify the subject of the order and prevent misidentification of persons with same or similar names.
Reporting Requirements Statute 790.065 amended in 2013 to require reporting of very specific situations that start as an involuntary examination where the patient is permitted by physician to transfer to voluntary care. Requires these records to be submitted within 24 hours of adjudication.
Reporting Requirements Condition A Examining physician finds the person is an imminent danger to self or others; Condition B Examining physician certifies that if the person had not agreed to transfer from involuntary to voluntary treatment a petition for involuntary treatment (has been or) will be filed; Condition C The patient received written notice that he or she may be prohibited from purchasing a firearm and may not be eligible to apply for or retain a concealed weapon license and acknowledged that notice in writing. Condition D A judge or magistrate has reviewed and ordered such record be submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Restoration of Rights Relief of Firearm Disability Clerks are encouraged to develop a packet to include: Petition Notice of Hearing To complete relief, petition must be filed in each county where there is a disabling court order. Copy of petition and notice of hearing must be provided to the State Attorney.
Petition for Relief from Firearm Disability Evidentiary hearing Record of hearing by Court Reporter or other court approved electronic means. Final order issued by the Court based on Petitioner s reputation; Mental health record; Circumstances surrounding firearm disability and any other evidence; Petitioner not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.
Petition for Relief from Firearm Disability Firearm disability relief granted: Forward order to FDLE and the record(s) are deleted from the MECOM database. Firearm disability relief denied: Petitioner may not petition for relief again for one year. Petitioner may seek judicial review from the District Court of Appeals.
Court Records - Appeals 790.065 (2)(a)4.f. The department is authorized to disclose data collected pursuant to this subparagraph to agencies of the Federal Government and other states for use exclusively in determining the lawfulness of a firearm sale or transfer. The department is also authorized to disclose this data to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for purposes of determining eligibility for issuance of a concealed weapons or concealed firearms license and for determining whether a basis exists for revoking or suspending a previously issued license pursuant to s. 790.06(10). When a potential buyer or transferee appeals a non-approval based on these records, the clerks of court and mental institutions shall, upon request by the department, provide information to help determine whether the potential buyer or transferee is the same person as the subject of the record. Photographs and any other data that could confirm or negate identity must be made available to the department for such purposes, notwithstanding any other provision of state law to the contrary. Any such information that is made confidential or exempt from disclosure by law shall retain such confidential or exempt status when transferred to the department.
Florida Mental Competency Application The Florida Mental Competency Application (MECOM) is an official application built and maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The purpose is to receive and store information from the Clerks of Court in Florida s 67 counties. The information MECOM stores pertains to persons that have been adjudicated mentally defective, committed to a mental institution by a court order, or have a judicial finding of incapacity. MECOM was updated in 2015 to provide access to all Clerks of Court in Florida; through the CJNET (Florida Criminal Justice Network) and the Internet. The application can be accessed through CJNET at https://mecom.flcjn.net or through the Internet at https://mecom.fdle.state.fl.us
MECOM Home Page Prospective users must click this link, complete the form that will pop up in a new window, and submit it to FDLE s MECOM unit before gaining access. A DETAILED user guide can be accessed through this link.
MECOM Home Page You can click this link if you forgot your password; on the next page it will ask you for your username in order to reset it. Contact information for any questions or log in issues.
MECOM Search Page This page allows you to search for people (including alias) or cases already entered in the system. Also, allows you to create a new person if no prior record exists.
MECOM Search Page Before creating a new MECOM entry, you MUST search by full last name and first few letters of the first name to determine if there a matching person record already in the system. If there is a matching person record, DO NOT create a new person but instead add the court order to the existing person. If no matching person exists, you can create a new person and add the court order.
Adding a Court Order If you are certain that the person you searched is a match to someone currently in the database you would select edit to add the court case to the existing person record.
Adding a Court Order At this time you would select Add Court Action to add the court order to the existing person record. This should only be done if they are a match.
Demographic Information for a New Person
Demographic Information for a New Person MECOM requires users to, at a minimum: enter name, race, gender, and DOB in order for a MECOM record to be complete. HOWEVER, since this information is shared with NICS (National Instant Background Check System) the FBI mandates that if you have more information, it must be entered. Examples: social security number, driver s license number, or place of birth. If there is not a field where the supplemental information can be added then it should be entered in the NICS comments field. (Last 4 of SSN, height, weight, eye color, tattoos, etc.)
MECOM Messages MECOM is designed to be user friendly and assist operators by alerting them of potential errors or discrepancies that can cause issues through warning and error messages. The message here shows that there is a match based on demographics to the person being entered.
MECOM Messages The message that appears here is notifying you that the person you are entering is under 12 years of age so you can verify the DOB before continuing.
MECOM Messages MECOM will prevent you from continuing to the next step if required information is missing. Remember that name, race, sex and DOB must be entered. Race may be entered as unknown.
Provides the format for how UCN/Case No. should be entered. Court Order Details Details of the court order are input here. Required information include: date of order, statute code, county, and case number. Supplemental information includes address of the person and any comments a MECOM user wishes to add.
Relative Information This information is optional and is sometimes useful when identity is questioned.
Confirmation Page This page allows you to review the information you provided and grants the opportunity to correct any errors before submitting the MECOM entry. MECOM entries are shared with NICS at near real-time (within seconds).
MECOM Quality Assurance To continuously meet the requirements of F.S. 790.065 it is important that MECOM records are monitored for ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, and TIMELY ENTRY. Accuracy all information such as demographic or court action details are correct and match the record. Completeness all available information including supplemental data has been entered. Timely Entry records are entered as soon as possible but no less than 30 days beyond the court adjudication or 24 hours for voluntary commitment records that meet the criteria outlined in 790.065.
MECOM Quality Assurance There are several reports that you can run as a county user that assists in meeting the standards of F.S. 790.065 and NICS. Some of the most useful ones include: User Productivity Report Date of Birth Report Court Action Detail Report Court Action Entry Report
User Productivity Report This report allows you to check how many entries your county is submitting during specific dates or time frames. It also allows to view the total amount of entries of specific users in your county.
This report will assist with managing the timely entry of records by allowing you to view how many records are being entered based on a date range. Users may view their own statistics, administrators may view individual user statistics or statistics for all users within their office.
Other Reports Format Reports include a detailed account of entries which may include: NRI Number (NICS Index Number) FDLE Tracking Number (MECOM Number) Full Name Suffix Supplemental data DOB SSN Gender Race Date of order UCN County Statute Date the entry was created User entry was created by User who last updated the record
Common Errors in MECOM Incorrect date of births Incorrect court order dates Mismatching case numbers/ucns Incorrect statutes Not entering cases by the allotted time period under F.S. 790.065. These errors or issues can be resolved and managed by running reports that are accessible to you in MECOM.
Date of Birth Report This assessment helps confirm that date of births are being entered correctly for your county by identifying how many records are entered in your county for a selected range of date.
Court Action Detail Report Running this report will show you all the specifics of court actions during the selected time frame. You will be able to see the demographics, case information, and who created it.
Court Action Entry Date Report This report allows you to view the entry date of court orders on specific statutes to help verify that orders are being entered in the allotted period allowed under F.S. 790.065(2)(a). Also, that the court order dates are correct for each case.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Firearm Eligibility Bureau - Eligibility Research Unit MECOM@fdle.state.fl.us 850-410-8136 Samantha Chahin Criminal Justice Customer Support Specialist samanthachahin@fdle.state.fl.us Phillip Suber Operations Management Consultant Manager phillipsuber@fdle.state.fl.us Denita Lamar Brun Senior Management Analyst Supervisor denitalamar@fdle.state.fl.us Robin Sparkman Bureau Chief robinsparkman@fdle.state.fl.us