Reported by Troy Kinsey
TALLAHASSEE - Get set for a mountain of paperwork if you want to adopt a child.
You'll have to go through a rigorous screening process.
It's aimed at giving kids the best parents possible.
Florida's gun rights advocates say it's gotten way too personal.
Ron And Fran Fahs went through stacks of paperwork and hours of interviews to make this a complete picture.
One of the questions many parents have to answer: Do you own a gun?
The Fahs aren't necessarily gun supporters, but they do think the question goes too far.
"Let's just stay with responsible parenting and issues that are involved in that, and not get down to specifics like, 'do you have sharp nails in the house', or, you know, "are your knives all put up above children's reach," the Fahs said.
The issue's got the adoption agencies staring down the barrel of a powerful political weapon, the National Rifle Association.
The group's already pulled the trigger on what could be a potent debate here at the capitol.
Marion Hammer heads the Florida chapter of the NRA pushing for a law.
"This is almost a profiling of adoptive parents," Hammer said. "They don't want to be profiled, they don't want to be treated differently because they choose to exercise a constitutional right."
The Fahs say they agree with the NRA and support the passage of a law banning the gun question.
"Plenty of people have guns, are responsible about how they store them, and those type of things, so i wouldn't want it to be a take-or-break type of issue," Ron Fahs said.
Making it easier for gun owners to become parents...well, that's well within the *scope* of compromise.
At least one of the adoption agencies, the Children's Home Society, tells us they've temporarily stopped asking about gun ownership.
An agency spokesperson says they're waiting on clarification from the department of children and families about whether the question is legal.
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