Florida Carry is a Florida-based gun rights group who recently filed an ethics complaint against ten university police chiefs who headed to the state capital to speak out against legislation that would allow guns on college campuses as reported by Sunshine State News.

According to Florida statutes, any person employed by the state community college or university seeking to encourage the passage, defeat or modification of proposed legislation must first register as a lobbyist. The complaint filed alleges the police chiefs were not registered to lobby even though they clearly marked their cards that they were lobbying against the bill.

It is also said the police officers made trips to the Capital while they were on duty and they used state funds to compensate themselves for the trip to lobby against the bills.

The officers came from the following universities: University of Florida, Florida A&M University, Florida State University, Florida Polytechnic University, University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University.

Florida Carry Executive Director Sean Caranna had the following to say about the ordeal:

For or against, if you’re as state employee . . . and you want to go in and [give] your personal views to the Legislature, you can absolutely do that, but you can’t do it with the state footing the bill.

Former National Rifle Association President and lobbyist Marion Hammer commented about the officers conduct as well:

My concern was the use of tax dollars to come and lobby against restoring Second Amendment rights of law-abiding license holders. If they wanted to come on their own time in civilian clothes . . . they have every right to do that, but when they come [to the Capitol] when they’re supposed to be on duty, they’ve got no business lobbying against constitutional issues.