The California Department of Justice is scrambling following the leak of up to hundreds of thousands of gun owners’ private information.
The data breach is far more widespread than initially reported. According to The Guardian, it “temporarily made public the names, birthdates, gender, race, driver’s license numbers, addresses and criminal histories of people who were granted or denied permits to carry concealed weapons between 2011 and 2021.”
The breach occurred during what should have been routine website maintenance to the state’s Firearms Dashboard Portal and nearly coincided with a letter from California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) to law enforcement agencies. (RELATED: California Scheming to Deny Gun Permits to Residents Based on Ideological Views)
In it, Bonta argued Californians without a criminal record could still be denied permits if they fail to prove they’re of “good moral character.” He added that law enforcement agencies retain the exclusive authority to issue licenses. The letter followed a ruling by the Supreme Court that overturned New York’s strict gun permit application process.
Bonta oversees the California DOJ and has ordered an investigation into the unauthorized release, saying he was “deeply disturbed and angered” by the extreme negligence.
But his response isn’t good enough for gun rights advocates.
The National Rifle Association is planning legal action.
Fox News has more on the NRA’s response:
“The actions by the California DOJ are completely despicable and unacceptable. They have placed lives at risk including vulnerable individuals with abusive exes and stalkers,” Dan Reid, the NRA’s western regional director, exclusively told Fox News Digital.
Commenting on the breach, former NRA President David A. Keene warned American Liberty News:
This egregious leak demonstrates once again why gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are leery of state and federal firearms registries. Not only have such registries historically proven in country after country to be precursors or enablers of firearms confiscation, but give criminals two important pieces of information they shouldn’t have.
First, the leak tells those seeking to steal firearms for their own purposes where to find them and the second is that it tells them where to find potential victims who are essentially defenseless.
Fox News continues:
The breach reportedly did not expose Social Security numbers or financial information but did reveal names, date of birth, gender, race, driver’s license number, addresses, and criminal history. The Reload was the first to report on the breach Tuesday and found in the LA County database that about 420 reserve officers and 244 judges were also among those who had their information leaked.
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The leak has meanwhile left gun owners and Second Amendment advocates in California “horrified.” The executive director of the Gun Owners of California, Sam Paredes, told Fox News that California Attorney General Rob Bonta should resign over the leak, saying he “is either massively incompetent, incredibly negligent, or willing to criminally leak information that he does not have the authority to leak.”
“This is so egregious that he should resign. He has placed tens of thousands of abiding citizens in California in harms way. That is not excusable with an ‘I’m sorry,’” Paredes continued.
Others, like NRA Board Member Jay Printz, were more pointed in their criticism. Noting California’s “good moral character” standard used to deny concealed carry permits, Printz said, “Hell, it seems to me Bonita has already proven to lack ‘good moral character’and therefore he should relinquish his job!”
In January, the NRA unsuccessfully sued the state for giving the Firearm Violence Research Center access to gun owners’ information.
READ NEXT: California Gives Academics Access to Gun Owners’ Personal Information >>
Patrick Houck is an avid political enthusiast based out of the Washington, D.C., metro area. His expertise is in campaigns and the use of targeted messaging to persuade voters. When not combing through the latest news, you can find him enjoying the company of family and friends or pursuing his love of photography.
He should be in prison and in a free country, not a communist pos like CA, he would be.
Hope the Rino 14 realize these are the people they got in bed with.
That’s why you never tell te man what weapons you own. That’s also why you never move to a heavy handed Leftist state or city. And that’s why, if you already live in one, you make it a priority to move to more friendly climes. FJB!
ALL 2A Groups should Unite on this & fight
Combine Legal forces
The people are also potential victims of identity theft. Enough information was given to make it easy for a criminal to take over the identity of one or more of the gun owners who were victims of such carelessness – if it was indeed carelessness. It could have been malicious instead.