Recently, a Florida man was stripped of his gun rights. His concealed handgun permit was revoked because the state said he committed domestic violence.

Now, granted, that’s one of those things that few dispute. Even most vehement Second Amendment advocates find themselves hardpressed to defend the gun rights of a wife-beater. However, where things broke down is that the man in question wasn’t actually accused of having done anything wrong.

He just had the same name as the accused.

Despite this, the man had to go about proving his own innocence, something one shouldn’t be required to do under our legal system. Nevertheless, he had to.

Luckily, he has been vindicated and has his rights restored. Thankfully.

Hank Strange, who brought the story to AmmoLand, started advocating for Carpenter on his show. A sympathetic Captain in the police department decided to help out the Marine veteran. He took it upon himself to take a picture of Carpenter and had another officer bring it to the woman who took out the restraining order.

The woman confirmed to the police that they had the wrong Jonathan Edward Carpenter. The Sheriff’s Department quickly was able to get the restraining order removed from the father and husband.

The Sheriff’s Department was apologetic towards Carpenter. He told AmmoLand that the Sheriff owned up to the mistake and was quick to fix the issue. He thanked the Sheriff’s Department for fixing the problem with the restraining order.

His guns were safe from confiscation, but the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs still had his concealed handgun permit suspended. They told Carpenter it would take up to eight weeks to get his permit restored. They were able to suspend the permit immediately but claimed it would take two months to restore his rights.

The Captain contacted the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs to try to push the restoration of the permit through the system. AmmoLand also contacted the Department to find out how the mistake happened and how they were going to prevent mistakes like this from happening in the future.

Of course, as AmmoLand notes, that department is under Democratic leadership. More than that, under anti-gun Democratic leadership. It’s unlikely that Carpenter’s carry permit will ever be considered particularly important by that office.

Still, Carpenter can at least keep hold of his firearms. That’s good news. Further, his permit will be reinstated.

However, AmmoLand asks a valid question. Why can the permit be suspended immediately but reinstatement could take up to two months? The process shouldn’t be that different. It’s also not a new permit, but Carpenter’s permit simply being rendered as valid once again and allowed to serve him until the previous expiration date.

So what is the holdup?

The answer to that likely lies in the fact that the Department of Agriculture, under Democrat Nikkie Fried, simply doesn’t care enough to expedite the correction. She doesn’t like guns and doesn’t think people should carry them, so there’s no reason in her mind to worry about it.

I doubt she’ll say that, of course. Florida is a pro-gun state and she probably realizes her hold on her office is tenuous at best. However, her past positions make her opinions clear.

If she wants to change that perception, then she would be advised to get Carpenter his permit back quickly and perhaps apologize to him for the trouble. Just don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.