If we’ve learned one thing from gun control proponents, it’s that gun owners are extremely dangerous. And as long as gun owners are out there in society with the unarmed, people’s lives are at risk.
And in California, it’s apparently gun the gun owners’ lives who are at risk:
NEW: Massive Trove of Gun Owners’ Private Information Leaked by California Attorney General https://t.co/idtZC7vNqW
— The Reload (@TheReloadSite) June 28, 2022
Concerned? You should be.
This is really bad. https://t.co/GNnqrSaTbv
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
That’s actually an understatement.
California appears to have leaked the names, addresses, and ages of every person in the state who holds a concealed carry permit. That includes judges, cops, and regular civilians.
I was able to review the Los Angeles data and it's extensive. https://t.co/uiooUyFv5A
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
I haven't been able to review it all. But there are many social media posts that claim the leak extends to the dealer record of sales database and the "assault weapons" registry too. https://t.co/uiooUyFv5A
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
More from The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski:
The Reload is not publishing the leaked data in order to protect the privacy of those affected by the leaks. However, posts across social media indicate many others were able to obtain the documents during the time they were live on the state’s website. There are also several social media posts that indicate similar identifying information from the state’s dealer record of sales database and its “assault weapons” registry were part of the leak, though The Reload was unable to review copies of those databases.
The leak comes just over a year after California moved to provide detailed personal information of all gun owners in the state to educational institutions across the country despite objections over concerns about data security and individual privacy. It also comes as a similar policy to California’s restrictive gun carry law was invalidated by the Supreme Court, which will likely result in many more Californians being added to the same database the state just leaked.
In a press release announcing the leaky dashboard, Bonta said the goal was “increasing public trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve.” He said the dashboard was about ensuring transparency to “better understand the role and potential dangers of firearms.”
Instead, the leaked private information of gun owners is likely to increase the risk criminals will target their homes for burglaries–something the state’s dashboard reports happened 145,377 times in 2020 alone.
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The detailed private information appears to no longer be accessible via the state's dashboard. However, it appears a lot of people were able to download it while the files were publicly available. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has not responded to my requests for comment.
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
Maybe AG Bonta can address it at today’s press conference:
Will you address the huge leak of gun owners' personal data from your new firearms dashboard, Attorney General Bonta? https://t.co/uiooUyFv5A https://t.co/He7w910s9f
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
We won’t hold our breath. Except maybe for a garbage excuse.
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