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Hillsborough official packs a gun - or two or three

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED AND BILL VARIAN
Published December 8, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT Former City Council member Kevin White is now a county commissioner. [Times photo: Daniel Wallace] Decals at the entrance of the Frederick B. Karl County Center at 601 E Kennedy Blvd. note that weapons and smoking are prohibited.

TAMPA - Freshman Hillsborough County Commission member Kevin White says he carries a gun "99 percent" of the time.

"Sometimes two or three," he said, laughing in his office Wednesday after attending his first regular commission meeting in the County Center building.

A former Tampa police officer, White has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

But he declined repeatedly during the interview to say whether he was armed at that time, or had been during the commission meeting.

"I'm not going to answer your question," he said.

County policy bars guns on government property. And state regulations on concealed weapons permits forbid carrying a gun in "any meeting of the governing body of a county, public school district, municipality, or special district."

Violating that prohibition is a second-degree misdemeanor.

White won the District 3 County Commission seat after serving most of a term on the Tampa City Council.

In a later telephone interview, White said he did not remember whether he had taken off his guns before City Council meetings.

"That was a whole different building," he said.

White said he learned of the county's firearm restrictions soon after he was elected to the commission.

"Put it this way: I have not violated policy since they told me all the rules," he said.

The County Center's glass doors bear a warning against bringing in weapons, though the building lacks metal detectors.

White said he needs a gun to protect himself.

"I've put a lot of people in this town in jail, and I've had several threats against my life," he said.

In his argument for carrying a gun in self-defense, White also cited the 2003 shooting of New York City Council member James Davis by a constituent in the council's chambers.

White is not the only commissioner with a concealed-carry permit.

Rose Ferlita, who also left the City Council and won a commission seat in November, owns more than one gun, which she has said is for protection while working at her pharmacy.

She said she never brought it to council or commission chambers.

"You can't do that in a governmental facility. The statute says that when you apply for it," she said, referring to the concealed weapons permit.

Several of White's former and current colleagues contacted by the Times, including Ferlita, said they had never seen him with a gun during a government meeting.

"I seem to remember him joking about it," said council member Linda Saul-Sena, but she never thought he actually had one.

"It would have scared me to death," she said.

Times staff writer Jeff Testerman contributed to this report. Michael A. Mohammed can be reached at mmohammed@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.

[Last modified December 8, 2006, 00:24:40]