The gun control debate continues to intensify in the United States as the Senate just voted to pass a gun control bill that would provide funding for so-called Red Flag Laws and to expand background checks for people over the age of 21.
California, a state with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, “accidentally” released concealed carry holder’s private information today in what was reportedly a data breach.
The state disabled access to the website hosting the data, but the information still was very likely copied and saved.
The Department of Justice claimed to be taking the breach seriously, saying that “any unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable.”
The breach is not the first time that gun owners information has been leaked.
In 2012, a newspaper put the names and addresses of all handgun permit owners on a map.
The Hill Reports–
The names, addresses, and license types of every Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permit holder in California were exposed as part of a data breach suffered by the state Department of Justice, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials say the California State Sheriff’s Association informed the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office about the data breach impacting those with a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which followed the publication of the state’s 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal on Monday. At the time, state officials described it as improving “transparency and information sharing for firearms-related data.”
Sheriff’s Office officials say the information released included the CCW holders’ name, age, address, Criminal Identification Index (CII) number and license type (Standard, Judicial, Reserve and Custodial). The information included every CCW holder in the state.
In response to the information being released, Fresno County officials say the state disabled access to the website hosting the data — but there are concerns that the information was copied and remains in circulation on social media and other parts of the internet.
