In an unfortunate mishap by the California Attorney General’s office Wednesday, the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Golden State gun owners — including names and addresses — was made available to the public through an AG web site. It’s almost as if governments can’t be trusted with sensitive personal information, particularly the information of those with whom it disagrees.
The data dump accidental disclosure surely had nothing at all to do with the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision that was handed down just a few days prior and nuked California’s “may issue” concealed carry licensing process that gave the state the power to decide whether or not citizens are sufficiently worthy of fully exercising their constitutional rights.
For his part, the Attorney General is awfully distraught about the whole thing. According to the AP, Bonta . . .
…said he was “deeply disturbed and angered” by the failure to protect the information his department is entrusted to keep. He ordered an investigation and promised to fix any problems.
“This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department,” he said.
Don’t hold your breath on the results of an internal investigation in which a law-breaking law enforcement agency investigates its own wrongdoing.
In the mean time, the National Association for Gun Rights has filed a class action lawsuit against Bonta, so maybe the discovery process will prove more enlightening than the AG’s kabuki investigation.
As the NAGR lawsuit makes clear, Bonta’s ruthless, vindictive doxxing regrettable leak was not only illegal, but it put Californians — both those who own firearms and those who don’t — in actual danger, making them targets of criminals and harassers.
As the lawsuit makes clear for the court . . .
This unlawful release of Californians’ sensitive private information to the public in violation of California and federal law provides criminals with a road map of who owns a firearm and where those firearms may be located, and information from which those same criminals can infer which homes are not likely defended by armed homeowners. Considering the contentious issue of gun ownership, it also needlessly subjects lawful gun owners to harassment and discrimination.
California’s wrongful disclosure of this sensitive private information has caused great harm and placed the safety of hundreds of thousands of Californians at risk and is precisely why the state should not keep such information on law abiding gun owners. Further, the possession of this information is an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and is unconstitutional under New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen . . .
Oh, and . . .
California’s wrongful collection, maintenance, and release of that data has a chilling effect on Californians’ exercise of their right to keep and bear arms. The wrongful release of this sensitive personal information, which is protected from unauthorized public release or publication by both California and federal law, has and will have a chilling effect on Californians and their right to keep and bear arms. Californians will be less likely to submit such information to the state in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms, thus they will face the Hobson’s choice of providing such information to California, or not exercising their right to keep and bear arms.
As a direct and proximate result of California’s wrongful collection, maintenance, and disclosure of this sensitive personal data in order to comply with its onerous and unconstitutional restrictions on the right of Californians to keep and bear arms, the Plaintiffs have been harmed and now legitimately fear for their privacy and physical safety.
Yes, well that was the whole point, wasn’t it? The lawsuit seeks un-specified monetary damages as well as . . .
An injunction enjoining Defendants from collecting, maintaining, or disclosing Plaintiffs’ sensitive personal information in connection with the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution…
We look forward to watching this play out.
Does anyone really expect a CA judge to let the lawsuit go forward? I don’t. The “investigation” will quietly disappear just like the SCOTUS leak investigation.
Yes.
https://dev.thetruthaboutguns.com/?s=benitez
It is a straightforward, explicit violation of CA statutes regarding personal information. Good luck keeping the lid on it.
And, if the State doesn’t want to play, then I’m sure they can re-file as a federal lawsuit, given that the State of CA clearly deprived the rights of an entire class of its citizens, under color of law.
They’ll find some low level clerk accidentally misinterpreted an instruction which resulted in the leak. The clerk will at least be “transferred”, if not fired, and the managers will receive promotions for their good work.
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The judges got screwed in this deal. The hard part will be to find a judge who is NOT royally pissed off over this mass doxxing.
Damn it, now I gotta do another popcorn order.
Meanwhile; women in California that purchased a gun and were on that “accidentally released” list will be living in fear that their abusive ex’s they were hiding from now have their addresses and know where to find them.
“thus they will face the Hobson’s choice of providing such information to California, or not exercising their right to keep and bear arms”. I think the latter was the whole point of them releasing it. Instill more fear to keep your tyrannical machine oiled, and rolling along. The other aspect is that the victims of this crime committed by those sworn to protect the citizens of California is that they don’t even know exactly which information has been released. How many guns, what type, etc? But the criminals do…
I hope the sick pervert bonta gets his gutless lowlife behind handed to him in court…The case has merit.
What can one expect from the minions of the Left Coast.
Nothing but what happened! Its just funny that every blue state hasnty already done the same? I know im doing my best to get out of hell(N.J.) and move to the most red state i can find ot live out my days if i have many left? I sold my home in this shi*hole state and pray i can find some land in W.V. or maybe easter K.Y. or T.N.? Once i get the land i wwill be building some kind of safe place? Something under ground or into the side of a mountain! I plan to have a place my entire family can get away from these traitorous ,evil people! Nobody is arresting the leaders of these blue states or even trying to make them abide by our Constitution? Its time WE THE PEOPLE did or run for the hills! Since i see nobody at the gates of the white house ,demanding Biden be removed as well as most of Congress and the Senate!?! They are just doing what ever they want because our law enforcement and military are “not” abiding by their sworn oath!!! The same oath i took when i went into the military ,which clearly states we proptect and defend our Constitution and Bill Of Rights ,NOT the corrupt politicians and military/law enforcement officials telling them what to do!!! I will never submit to the left and plan to do all i can to ensure my family(children/grandchildren) live in a free country and are as safe as i can make them! Or die!!!%
“In an unfortunate mishap by the California Attorney General’s office Wednesday, the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Golden State gun owners — including names and addresses — was made available to the public through an AG web site.”
On the off chance that the above comment was not tongue-in-cheek dark humor, my very strong opinion is that California published that personal information intentionally and with malice-aforethought.
Every time I see this I think of Randy Marsh on Wheel Of Fortune.
He’s going to investigate? Whoa! He should be fired being an incompetent douche bag. Yeah I said that.
I agree with the firing but the man sho9uld also have every last thing he owns taken away and his lifed ruined! Before he go’s to prison for treason!!! I just cant believe that people are just talking about being fired and or transfered? These people like Cali’s. leadership and state government all should be rounded up and imprisoned! Along with every other last state that has done what Cali’s has!! Why in the hell isnt anyone talking about the other “Communist” states? N.Y. did the same as well as N.J. and many other states!!! The communist party leaders of all these states deserve way more then just a firing! Hang them!!! WTF? They will imprison or put to death any person that defies them! So with all the illegals and corrupt politicians its time WE THE PEOPLE stood together and stopped the left from taking away our country! HELLO?
Watch out! NAGR doing something more than fundraising and sending ¼-lb mailers of drivel. Competition is good – have to try to keep up with SAF and GOA.
GOA is awesome! I wouldnt spit in the NRA and the one thing that sucks about that is 100% of my “blue” states gun clubs and hunting clubs demand you have at least a 3yr membership to the NRA! An organization that dose NOTHING for the people! Other organizations do way more then funnel money to their CEO’s and politicians! The politicians that want to use that money alopng with “our” own tax dollars to take away “our” rights! The politicians have already stolen so much from our SSI fund that they keep claiming we will have ot do away with it!!! So those that have dipped into it ,dont have ot pay it back! Since nobody has been mmade to pay it back to date it makes sense to just do away with SSI so our seniors can starve and die off ,rather then drain our countries supplies. Who cares if they paid into it all their lives like i have and as im just a few years from retirement age ,we hear more and more then SSI will be a thing of the past! So i expect to have to feed my self when i retire since i wont get any of my own money back, which the “left” has stolen! When i say the left i dont mean the DemonRat party but all politicians as they “all” have stolen from us!!! Those on the left are in both parties as we see our 2A rights shrinking even more and soon to be done away with and cause this great nation a lot of deaths! Its so very sad!!! May “only” GOD have mercy on our souls!!!
Bonta wanted to stir sht without getting any on him.
He’s pissed all right. Whichever lower or mid level IT staffer did this mass doxxing didn’t think it through and included judges and correctional officers. The judges in particular are going to be beyond furious and it may actually change how they rule in gun cases.
So yeah, I’ll bet you he’s mad as hell. Not over OUR right to privacy getting stomped on…
Yeah, I’m betting the AG himself is the guilty culprit that pushed “Enter” on his keyboard.
The Judges All have CCW’s Too, Was their Info Breeched Too ?
How would one become a member of the law suit against the DOJ ? I received a letter from the State Attorney General stating my name had been released.