ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Florida senator from Orlando says she is not satisfied with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture's own findings into a near year-long lapse in criminal background checks for gun permits.

Florida Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, says she is now pressing Gov. Rick Scott to direct the state’s chief inspector general to conduct a separate, independent investigation. Stewart is also considering pushing the idea to take the responsibility of issuing firearm licenses out of the hands of the Dept. of Agriculture.

"The report that my office has been investigating is flawed, it has misrepresentations in it, and it should never have been approved," Stewart said.

THE INTERNAL REPORT

An inspector general report from June 2017 found that in the year before, an agency employee failed to review federal criminal background data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The reviews are meant to ensure permits are not given to individuals who are not disqualified from having a concealed weapons permit.

At the time, Lisa Wilde served as an operations manager in the department. She told investigators in a recorded interview in April 2017 that it was her responsibility to transfer background check data from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to Department of Agriculture's system.

"I dropped the ball," she told investigators, telling them she failed to review background checks because she could not log into the system. She later admits she did not fully understand how serious of a lapse it was.

"So you didn't know what that information was, or how important it was?" Wilde was asked by an investigator.

"Honestly, I did not, it was not explained to me what I was going out and grabbing, it was just explained to do it and put it in the system," she replied. 

291 GUN LICENSES HAD TO BE REVOKED

 The Dept. of Agriculture says 349,923 concealed weapon license applications were submitted in the time in question, between February 2016 and March 2017. The department says of those, Wilde failed to review 365 applications, of which 291 licenses were revoked.

The agency said in a statement to Spectrum News:“This was a thorough review, and the facts support the findings. Not only did the employee fail to do her job, but she readily admitted her negligence. This Administration took appropriate action in terminating this employee and adopting safeguards to prevent this from happening again."

"They are wrong, this employee in my opinion is a scapegoat," Stewart said. "They should have gone further up the chain and more people involved and the report did not accurately describe what each and every one of them knew."

Senator Stewart says she believes the agency has not been forthcoming.

Of eight employees questioned, Stewart says investigators only recorded interviews with six.

Stewart says she is not confident the agency is continuing to thoroughly screen applicants.

"Background checks are a big part of it, we can't let these things slide by and not check them," Stewart said.

Gov. Rick Scott told Spectrum News during a campaign trip Tuesday in Orlando that his office is now reviewing the request.

"They have to disclose what happened, anything like that happens, you have to be transparent, and I think it's important for the commissioner to tell us how he's held people accountable," Governor Scott said.

Stewart says she believes the role of conducting criminal background checks on permit applicants should be taken away from the Department of Agriculture, and transferred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a matter she says she may pursue during the 2019 Legislative Session.

PLAYING POLITICS, SAYS PUTNAM

Agricultural Commissioner Adam Putnam is currently running as a Republican for Governor.

In a statement to Spectrum News, a Putnam campaign spokeswoman accused critics of the agency’s handling of the situation of being politically motivated:

"Liberal Democrats know that Adam Putnam can defeat them in the general election and they have officially hit a new low by attacking our law enforcement. Inspector Generals are law enforcement officers and conduct independent investigations on behalf of state agencies. It's very clear that Democrats have nothing to offer in terms of actual ideas to lead our state and instead spend their time on the taxpayer's dime engaging in partisan politics."

Stewart rebuffs then notion of partisan politics, saying the lapse in background checks took place during the time of June 12, 2016, when a gunman killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The gunman did pass previous background checks and was employed at the time as an armed security guard.

"I am a Democrat, but I do represent Pulse and many of people on both sides of the aisle want to see gun violence attacked in such a way that we don't have it in Florida, it's not a political thing, but you need to write your reports correctly," Stewart said.