Jacksonville, FL Taxpayers Could Be on the Hook for $5 Million Thanks to Mayor’s Gun Registry
The Democrat former news anchor appears to have violated state law.
Former news anchor Donna Deegan sold her 2023 campaign for Jacksonville mayor as a “change for good.” Deegan, a progressive Democrat who pledged “transparency” as a core component of her administration, enacted a local gun registry days after her inauguration—a direct violation of Florida law and one that she has yet to claim accountability for.
Following a narrow victory to the Mayor’s office in May 2023, Deegan’s transition team crafted a policy which required city officials to record a “gun logbook” with the name, age, ID number, and type of weapon carried by gun owners entering city buildings. The policy approved by Deegan’s administration took effect July 24, 2023 – three weeks after Deegan’s inauguration and was enforced until April 2025 when the State Attorney’s office opened an investigation into the policy that blatantly violated Florida’s ‘no registry’ laws.
Deegan emerged into the political arena in 2018 as a surrogate for failed gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, citing his lawsuits with the NRA and gun lobby associations as her “inspiration” for civic engagement. You'll remember Gillum from the aftermath of his run for governor. Police found the former mayor of Tallahassee passed out from a drug overdose in a Miami hotel room with two other men in 2020.
For her part, Deegan frequently took to social media slamming Florida gun laws and mocked Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis—who defeated Gillum in 2018—for his defense of Second Amendment rights. Deegan argued there should be limits to the second amendment and promised to file legislation reducing high-capacity magazine rounds in a failed 2020 challenge to Republican Congressman John Rutherford. Deegan campaigned across Northeast Florida advocating for universal background checks and red flag laws, with an ambition to get “weapons of war off of our streets.”
(READ MORE: Radical Gun Control Group Pours $600,000 Into Wisconsin Supreme Court Race)
Deegan’s Dilemma
Deegan, who was at the White House in September 2023 when President Biden launched the "Office of Gun Violence Prevention," claimed her administration was unaware of the illegal gun registry until April 2025. In an attempt to shift blame, Deegan accused her predecessor, former Mayor Lenny Curry (R), of instituting the illegal gun registry – a narrative debunked by Curry and internal communications from her administration. Moreover, a Deegan zealot, Councilman Jimmy Peluso (D), argued before a Council Rules Committee meeting on May 5, 2025 “Many of us knew exactly about what city hall was doing”—adding “We learned about this registry in 2023” before advised not to self-incriminate by Deegan’s General Counsel.
The City of Jacksonville hired the defense firm of Hanke Coxe—father-in-law of Deegan’s General Counsel, Michael Fackler—as the State Attorney’s office issued subpoenas for several members of the administration.
Duval County taxpayers face a potential $5 million fine for Deegan’s illegal gun registry. The governor's office and the Republican-led city council have demanded accountability from the inept Donna Deegan, who continues to operate as if she's done nothing wrong.
(READ MORE: Inside the Left's Failed Anti-Gun Crusade & the Coming 2A Golden Age)
