California gun owners data leak blasted by firearms policy advocates Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00)
California’s Firearms Dashboard Portal, meant to be a tool for transparency, yanked offline just 24 hours after it launched. The state’s Department Of Justice confirms it wrongly made public names, addresses, birth dates, and other personal information of a number of people who applied for a concealed and carry weapons permit. In the past 10 years.

Matthew Larosiere: (00:26)
These people have gone through flaming hoops to be able to get these permits.

Speaker 1: (00:31)
Matthew Larosiere with the Firearms Policy Coalition says it’s more than a data breach. It’s a breach of trust.

Matthew Larosiere: (00:38)
Why should you be exposing them to these additional risks? It doesn’t make any sense. The only way forward, in my opinion, stop holding lists of gun owners.

Speaker 1: (00:48)
The advocacy group focus on the right to bear arms, says it’ll continue to fight government policies that allow personal data leaks to happen.

Matthew Larosiere: (00:57)
We do not believe that the government can be trusted with lists of … with any lists of people and especially not gun owners.

Speaker 1: (01:06)
Attorney General, Rob Bonis says he’s deeply disturbed and angered, launching an investigation into how the breach happened. In a statement saying, “This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department.” Under state law, the agency will notify people impacted in the coming days.

Speaker 1: (01:29)
It will also provide them credit monitoring services. California Sheriff’s Association President, Corey Honney says the risk of identity fraud is bad enough, but gun ownership adds an extra layer of sensitivity. Some applicants exposed included judges and reserve peace officers.

Corey Honney: (01:48)
It also alerts people who might wish to do them harm where they’re located.

Speaker 1: (01:53)
Beyond that, he says any gun owner could be a target for theft, posing a risk to public safety.

Corey Honney: (02:00)
If this information falls into the wrong hands, people who might be inclined to break into someone’s home and look for firearms to steal, have an address now that they could target.

Speaker 4: (02:13)
And the sheriff says if you fear you have been impacted, monitor your credit for identity fraud. The Association as it continues to monitor the situation, as an investigation is now underway.