Florida didn't conduct gun background checks for an entire year because an official couldn't log in

It can be a pain to click "forgot your password?" and go through the trouble of resetting your login info — but sometimes, it's really, really important.

After Florida officials had trouble logging into the FBI crime database to determine whether or not to approve concealed weapons permit applications, tens of thousands of applicants were approved to carry firearms without ever receiving a required background check, Tampa Bay Times reported Friday.

Employees in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services stopped using the database for more than a year, an investigation found. During that year, Florida received a record number of concealed carry permit applications — 245,000, compared to 134,000 applications the year before.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Investigators are unsure of how many applicants received a permit when they should have been denied, but the conspicuous lack of denials and appeals during that year is reportedly what finally tipped officials off that something was going wrong in the applications process.

Adam Putnam, Florida's Agriculture commissioner who headed the department, has bragged about the increased number of concealed carry permits, reports the Times. While he ran the office, he also boasted about the donations he's received from the NRA for his support of expanded accessibility to guns.

The employee in charge of accessing the database, Lisa Wilde, acknowledged she "dropped the ball," but said she didn't know why she alone was tasked with the background check process when the office was so inundated with applications. Read more at Tampa Bay Times.