Tuesday, August 02, 2016

SHOCKER: ATF Illegally Collecting Gun Owners' Personal Data

By Eric Lieberman

A government report discovered the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) illegally stockpiles gun owners’ personal information.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the go-to federal oversight agency, conducted an audit of ATF and found it does not remove certain identifiable information, despite the law explicitly mandating it do so. GAO conducted reviews for four data systems, and concluded at least two of ATF’s systems violated official protocols.

One of the data-collecting systems called Multiple Sales (MS) requires that multiple firearms purchased at once must be reported to ATF by the federal firearms licensee (FFL). ATF policy requires that the bureau internally removes particular data from multiple gun sales reports after two years if the firearm has not been traced to criminal activity. GAO found that ATF does not adhere to its own policy. In fact, “until May 2016, MS contained over 10,000 names that were not consistently deleted within the required 2 years.”

Another system called Access 2000, or A2K, establishes servers to be used by National Tracing Center (NTC) personnel. The NTC can electronically search FFLs’ records for certain information needed to track the history of a firearm.

While GAO’s investigation revealed that A2K for currently-operating FFLs complied with formal policy, A2K for out-of-business FFLs did not comply with the restrictions “because ATF maintained these data on a single server.” They were directed to get rid of this consolidated information and did so in March 2016. Furthermore, GAO found that ATF does not, but potentially should, have an outlined policy that specifies how out-of-business FFLs should submit documentation of compliance or share pertinent information.

Accumulating and centralizing such data can become harder to maintain as time goes on. GAO recommends that ATF eliminate or at minimum obfuscate the unnecessary data to comply with federal law and to ensure that unnecessary information isn’t vulnerable to breaches or internal infractions.

GAO said they conducted this study not only so ATF can “better adhere to its policies” as the title of the report states, but also because the bureau has a role in “protecting the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners.”

According to the report, ATF has agreed to GAO’s recommendations.


Read more at Daily Caller.
 

2 comments:

Veeshir said...

Shocker?

More like, confirmed what most of us already figured.

Anonymous said...

And when they tell you don't want to Confiscate, Ban, or repeal the 2nd amendment - They are LYING:

MSNBC’s Ed Schultz Talks Gun ‘Confiscation’ December 2012

Mr. Cuomo, speaking on WGDJ-AM, said: “Confiscation could be an option.”
December 2012

"Ban, seize semi-auto weapons"State Rep. Dan Muhlbauer, D-Manilla
December 2012

'Turn in your guns' Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) December 2012

“If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States, for an outright ban, picking up [every gun]… Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ‘em all in.”Diane Feinstein on Gun Control "Turn 'Em All In!"
Published on Jan 2013

“A couple of decades ago, Australia had a mass shooting similar to Columbine or Newtown. And Australia just said, well, that's it -- we’re not seeing that again. And basically imposed very severe, tough gun laws.” Obama June 2014

You say gun control doesn't work? Fine. Let's ban guns altogether.
LA Times May 2014

Don't just get rid of flag, get rid of the gun, too
Sun Sentinel June 2015

"We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. Friends of ours, allies of ours -- Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it." Obama October 2015

Effective Gun Control - A National Semi-Auto Ban
Dailykos Monday Oct 2015

“In the Australian example, as I recall, that was a buyback program.”…..“I think it would be worth considering doing it on the national level” Hillary Clinton
October 2015

A gun-free society The Washington Post
October 2015

Yes, They Want to Take Your Guns Away The Daily Beast
November 2015

End the Gun Epidemic in AmericaThe New York Times December 2015 [First Front Page Editorial In 95 Years]
December 2015

We don't need gun control. We need domestic disarmament Huffingtonpost
December 2015

It’s Time to Ban Guns. Yes, All of Them. The New Republic
December 2015

Why It's Time to Repeal the Second Amendment Rollingstone
June 2016