Was it in relation to the Supreme Court ruling on gun rights or just incompetence? Either way, it's not good. California's gun owners are now more well-known, thanks to the state's attorney general's office leaking their personal information.
"In addition to making judges and cops vulnerable, the personal information leaked by California could imperil minority gun owners. Race is included alongside full names and addresses on many of the CCW records I reviewed," Stephen Gutowski of The Reload tweeted. He has more of course:
The California Department of Justice’s 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal went live on Monday with publicly-accessible files that include identifying information for those who have concealed carry permits. The leaked information includes the person’s full name, home address, date of birth, and date their permit was issued. The data also shows the type of permit issued, indicating if the permit holder is a member of law enforcement or a judge.
The Reload reviewed a copy of the Lost Angeles County database and found 244 judge permits listed in the database. The files included the home addresses, full names, and dates of birth for all of them. The same was true for seven custodial officers, 63 people with a place of employment permit, and 420 reserve officers.
2,891 people in Los Angeles County with standard licenses also had their information compromised by the leak, though the database appears to include some duplicate entries as well.
A video reviewed by The Reload shows the databases with detailed information were initially available for download via a button on the website’s mapping feature. They appeared to have been removed from public access by Tuesday afternoon and replaced with spreadsheets without the individualized identifying information.
The office of Attorney General Rob Bonta (D.) did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) slammed the leak and said it was looking into potential legal action against the state.
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
In addition to making judges and cops vulnerable, the personal information leaked by California could imperil minority gun owners. Race is included alongside full names and addresses on many of the CCW records I reviewed. https://t.co/uiooUyFv5A
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) June 28, 2022
While the information can no longer be viewed by the public, the damage is done. Gutowski noted that a lot of people were able to download the list when the floodgates were open. It's an egregious breach of privacy. It should warrant an investigation. What the hell happened here?
At the same time, for those who want to cause trouble, the people whose information you have are armed homeowners. Not sure going after them is a good idea, but if you want to roll the dice—feel free. If you get shot dead, I will laugh, however.
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