NRA appeals ruling over anonymous teens in lawsuit against Florida

The National Rifle Association is appealing a federal judge’s refusal to keep the identity of a 19-year-old Alachua County woman secret in a challenge to a state law that raised the age to purchase rifles and other long guns.

The case was placed on hold Friday pending a decision regarding “Jane Doe” from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to court documents.

The gun-rights group filed the appeal after U.S. District Judge Mark Walker this week decided that previous court rulings forced him to reject the request to keep the identity of “Jane Doe” private.

The NRA requested the use of the pseudonym for Jane Doe and “John Doe,” another 19-year-old who is part of the case. The request was based largely on a declaration filed by the group’s Florida lobbyist, Marion Hammer, who detailed threatening emails she had received featuring derogatory words for parts of the female anatomy.

“It’s time somebody stood up for the First Amendment right to go into court to fight to protect our Second Amendment right without being victimized by hatemongers who threaten you and your family,” Hammer, a onetime president of the national gun-rights organization, told The News Service of Florida on Friday.

The debate over the pseudonyms came in a lawsuit filed March 9 by the NRA, just hours after Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a sweeping school-safety measure that included new gun-related restrictions. The legislation was a rapid response to the Feb. 14 shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas