Just when you think gun control advocates can’t do anything more to lose the trust of gun owners, they find a way.
After multiple warnings from gun owners, and from this editorial page, California accidentally posted its entire database of concealed carry permit holders and their personal information when the state launched its new online firearms portal Monday, per the Reload.
The website was allegedly designed to allow citizens to see how many people had obtained such firearm-related items as concealed carry permits or firearms safety certificates in each county. But instead of posting anonymous county-level data, the website posted the specific private data of everyone who had firearm-related information entrusted to the state. This included the names, addresses, and job titles of 244 judges and 420 reserve law enforcement officials.
The database was taken offline by Tuesday afternoon, but the damage was already done. Like seeds thrown to the winds, the data cannot be recovered and made private or confidential ever again.
It is possible that this was just an innocent error, but it would be quite a coincidence given the history of the debate over the data and the portal in question. As we wrote last October about this very information in this very state:
We do not claim any supernatural ability to see the future. This was simply a matter of the inevitable occurring.
Gun rights advocates saw this coming too, issuing all the appropriate warnings. Now, they have every reason to believe that this was deliberate retribution for the Supreme Court’s recent related decision upholding the right to bear arms outside the home in New York.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has subsequently released a statement deploring his own agency’s leak. We will believe he is sorry when those responsible are identified, fired, and prosecuted. We are not holding our breath.
This action is a threat to public safety. As we noted last fall, it will alert burglars and other criminals to where there are guns that can be stolen for the commission of other crimes. It is especially dangerous for law enforcement officials and state judges who hold permits, as their status and home addresses were included in the now-public database.
Californians now have even less reason to trust their state government and its institutions than they did before. State officials refuse to prosecute hardened criminals, clean up homeless encampments, or keep schools open, but they sure know how to leak your personal data the moment they have access to it. Is it any wonder that people have been fleeing the Golden State’s preternatural beauty to live in the deserts of Idaho and the sweltering heat of East Texas and Florida?
