The Florida Senate

250.44  Military equipment regulations; penalties.--

(1)  Any person who shall sell, or offer for sale, barter or exchange, pledge, loan or give away, secrete, or retain after demand made by civil or military officers of the state, any clothing, arms, military outfits or accouterments, furnished by or through the state to any member of the militia, or who shall receive by purchase, barter, exchange, pledge, loan or gift, any such clothing, arms, military outfits or accouterments, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(2)  All personnel in the military service of the Florida National Guard, to whom shall have been entrusted any military property by reason of their being in such military service, shall account for the same to the proper military authority in accordance with the rules and regulations or special orders made by superior authority in reference to the same, and such military property shall not be removed beyond the limits of the county in which the post is located without authority of the Adjutant General, and any person, whether in the military service or not, or whether the person's enlistment or appointment shall have expired or not, who shall fail to account for or return to proper military authority any property which shall have come into the person's possession to which the state military authorities may be entitled, or who shall conceal or convert the same to the person's own use, or remove the same from the county in which the same came into the person's possession, commits a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. Any prosecution had under the provisions of this section may be abated upon full satisfaction being made for such property to the military authorities of the state and the payment of all court costs accruing by reason of the institution of any such prosecution.

(3)  The clothing, arms, military outfits and accouterments, furnished by or through the state to any member of the militia, shall not be sold, bartered, loaned, exchanged, pledged or given away, and no person not a member of the military forces of this state or the United States, or duly authorized agent of this state or the United States, who has possession of such clothing, arms, military outfits, or accouterments so furnished, and which have been subject to any such unlawful disposition, shall have any right, title or interest therein, but the same shall be seized and taken wherever found by any civil or military officer of the state, and shall thereupon be delivered to any commanding officer, or other officer authorized to receive the same, who shall make an immediate report to the Adjutant General. The possession of any such clothing, arms, military outfits or accouterments by any person not a member of the military forces of this state, or any other state, or of the United States, shall be presumptive evidence of such sale, barter, loan, exchange, pledge or gift.

History.--ss. 61, 62, ch. 8502, 1921; s. 9, ch. 12089, 1927; CGL 2072, 8128; s. 1, ch. 25112, 1949; s. 147, ch. 71-136; s. 8, ch. 91-139.

Note.--Former ss. 250.68, 250.69.