Calif. AG’s Firearms Dashboard Portal Leaked Legal Gun Owners’ Personal Information

On Monday, the same day he told the state’s law enforcers how to circumvent last week’s pro-Second Amendment ruling, California’s Attorney General announced the launch of a new online database, which ended up leaking the personal information of thousands of the state’s owners of legal gun owners and concealed carry permits.

The California Department of Justice’s new 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal leaked a variety of details about gun owners and their permits, KPVI reports:

“The leaked info included people’s full names, home addresses, dates of birth, and permit issue dates, as confirmed by a lawyer for the California Rifle and Pistol Association that obtained a copy of the data.”

….

“Additionally, the data revealed the type of permit one holds and whether the person holding the permit is a judge or a member of law enforcement.”

“[T]his information was available to download on the website by downloading the background information behind the graphics,” KPVI explains.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Ron Bonta released a statement expressing his disappointment with the portal, The Wall Street Journal reports:

“’This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department,’ Mr. Bonta said in a statement. ’We acknowledge the stress this may cause those individuals whose information was exposed. I am deeply disturbed and angered.’”

Ironically, in Monday’s release, Attorney General Bonta claimed the new Firearms Dashboard Portal would be “key to increasing public trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve.”

The release even claimed the portal would protect “identifying information” from being accessed:

“DOJ seeks to balance its duties to provide gun violence and firearms data to support research efforts while protecting the personal identifying information in the data the Department collects and maintains.”

The story broke on Tuesday, when The Reload reported the results of its investigation of the new portal:

“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, race, 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 Los 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.”

As of Wednesday, the link to the portal has produced a “Website temporarily unavailable” and a “please try again in a few minutes” message. “We are working to bring the site back online as soon as possible,” the message reassures.

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