OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
The shooting in Uvalde, Texas on May 24th triggered calls for gun control measures and outright bans from many on the left.
In an effort to advance gun control legislation opposed by the NRA, 14 Republicans joined Senate Democrats in June. The vote was 64-34.
Following Senate approval, the bill passed the House 234-193 and included incentives to encourage states to pass red flag laws, which allow groups to seek legal removal of weapons from people deemed a threat. President Biden signed the bill into law two days later.
Now Biden’s FBI wants to go after firearm owners in a new assault on our Second Amendment rights.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said that “he had been told that FBI agents planned to visit several county sheriffs departments in August to audit concealed carry weapons permits,” according to KRCG 13.
“The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division holds the largest collection of such data that’s shared by the nation’s law enforcement agencies, according to an FBI spokesperson,.” NewsPress Now reported.
This information is used to set policy and for security purposes. The FBI is responsible for ensuring compliance through a routine auditing program of all participating agencies which has been in place for years. The planned Missouri audit is to make sure there is no misuse of the system.
“We’re audited on a variety of criminal history records but I never have seen anything on (concealed carry permits),” said Buchanan County Sheriff Bill Puett.
“(Criminal history records) are audited to make sure that we’re not inappropriately releasing criminal history information,” he said.
The FBI states that at no point would the auditors require access to state-approved concealed carry permit holders or retain information beyond what is necessary to address compliance concerns.
Schmitt said that FBI agents will not be allowed to perform audits of concealed carry permits held by Missouri county sheriffs at all, though.
Schmitt sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray stating that Missouri law prohibits sheriff departments from sharing confidential list data with anyone, including federal, state, or private agencies.
Additionally, he argued that federal agents should not have access to permit records as that would violate the Second Amendment.
The concealed carry law that passed while he was a state senator contained a provision stating that only elected county sheriffs could access permits as lawmakers “Want to leave no doubt that the citizens of Missouri have a right to bear arms, and the federal government has no business poking around to find out their identities.”
“In 2013, the Legislature passed a gun law that included a provision transferring responsibility for issuing identification cards for concealed gun permits from driver’s license clerks to local sheriffs after revelations that state agencies provided permit records to federal employees investigating fraud, according to KRCG.
The law states “An applicant’s status as a holder of a concealed carry permit, provisional permit, or a concealed carry endorsement issued prior to August 28, 2013, shall not be public information and shall be considered personal protected information. Information retained in the concealed carry permit system under this subsection shall not be distributed to any federal, state, or private entities…”
Schmitt denounced the audit attempts in his letter to Wray.
His office issued a press release that reads in part, “Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding that they cease their attempts to illegally obtain information from local sheriffs on Missourians who have concealed carry permits. Missouri law specifically prohibits the sharing of information on concealed carry permit holders to any entity – local, state, federal, or otherwise.”
“The FBI has absolutely no business poking around in the private information of those who have obtained a concealed carry permit in Missouri,” said Attorney General Schmitt. “The Second Amendment rights of Missourians will absolutely not be infringed on my watch. I will use the full power of my Office to stop the FBI, which has become relentlessly politicized and has virtually no credibility, from illegally prying around in the personal information of Missouri gun owners.”
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office became aware that the FBI is planning to travel to Missouri in August to do “audits” at sheriff departments across the state, which would include harvesting information on those who have legally obtained a concealed carry permit.
The letter states, “It has come to my attention that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has informed several Missouri county sheriffs that they will be showing up in August to ‘audit’ CCW permit holder records. The FBI states that, ‘The audit includes an onsite review of your Concealed Carry Weapons Permits…’ Let me be perfectly clear. Allowing federal agents from the FBI to have access to records of Missourians who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon violates Missouri law and infringes on our Second Amendment rights.”
Source: The Republic Brief