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

The Process

FDLE Firearm Purchase Program

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)

Name-Based Check

FCIC – Florida Crime Information Center

NCIC – National Crime Information CenterWants and Warrants

Protection Orders

Probation Status Files

Criminal History – RAP Sheets

Record of Arrests and Prosecutions

NICS Index

Disqualifying Records that are not available in the other systems

ICE – Immigration and Customs Enforcement

• 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

NICS Index

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

Enter Mental Health Records

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.

MECOM

Auditor General – Operational Audit

Reporting Requirements

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

Finding 1: Mental Competency Application Records

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

Reporting RequirementsCondition 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.

• 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.

Petition for Relief from Firearm Disability

Court Records - Appeals790.065 (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

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 Home 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

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”.

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.

Court Order DetailsProvides the format for

how UCN/Case No. should

be entered.

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

• 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.

Common Errors 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 EnforcementFirearm Eligibility Bureau - Eligibility Research Unit

MECOM@fdle.state.fl.us850-410-8136

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