Assemblyman Patterson Makes Audit Request of Calif. DOJ Over Leaked Gun Owners List

UPDATE below: California Assemblyman Jim Patterson announced Tuesday at a press conference that he has requested the California State Auditor perform a formal audit of the California Department of Justice following the June 27, 2022 leak of highly personal information belonging to hundreds of thousands of California firearm owners and concealed carry permit holders.

As the Globe reported, in June the Supreme Court issued a decision striking down a New York gun law that put unconstitutional restrictions on concealed carry of a gun out in public.

Less than one week later, the California Attorney General leaked the state database of names and addresses of the state’s legal gun owners and concealed carry permit holders.

How could this have happened – is it accidental or deliberate?

That is what Assemblyman Patterson (R-Fresno) wants to know, and to prevent such a nefarious leak from ever happening again. “This is an embarrassing and dangerous dump of information.”

Patterson said in the press conference that the leaked private personal information of California’s gun owners had already been copied and reposted on the Internet, according to the California State Sheriff’s Association. “The DOJ is supposed to keep Californians safe. This dump of information does the opposite,” Patterson said. “The Attorney General and Department of Justice should not investigate themselves,” Patterson said. “I don’t trust them.”

Patterson said he has served in the California Legislature for 10 years, and with then-Assemblyman Rob Bonta, California’s current Attorney General, appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. “He’s probably one of the most politically driven and ideologically driven in the Legislature that I’ve seen,” Patterson said. “He’s taken that to the DOJ. And there’s a real credibility issue here – how he is operating the department.”

“The DOJ has admitted to posting personal information online of Concealed Carry Weapon applicants over the past decade including the person’s name, age, address, gender, race, driver’s license number, criminal history, Criminal Identification Index (CII) number and license type (Standard, Judicial, Reserve and Custodial),” Patterson said. “This is such an egregious breach of privacy. We will be seeing class action lawsuits going forward.”

The Globe has spoken with gun owners on the leaked list and learned the actual Data-Set spreadsheet entries include:

The file is for CCW’s issued between 2011 to 2021.

These CCW permit holders are now exposed in ways they never imagined: their addresses, birthdates, SSN#, full names, gender and race are revealed.

On the leaked list are current and retired judges, retired law enforcement, domestic violence, stalking and rape victims, security personnel, as well as women with new identities and restraining orders against violent husbands/boyfriends. The Globe was told there were elected office holders from both parties, and even some gun control advocates on the leaked list (More coming on that in the near future).

Patterson said all of the individuals on the CCW permit holder list had to demonstrate a compelling reason for the permit to carry a concealed gun, pointing out that they believed there were great risks to their lives.

The Supreme Court decision no longer requires gun owners to prove to the state why they need a gun, effectively making all states, “shall-issue” states.

It was originally estimated that more than 400,000 people were on the list, but with duplications for each renewal, the list is likely closer to 200,000. But Assemblyman Patterson’s office says it could be more. “It is believed that other databases were also compromised, including the assault weapon registry, handguns certified for sale, dealer record sale, firearm safety certificate and gun violence restraining order dashboards,” Patterson said.

“Just as we would expect to do with a breach of this magnitude in any other state agency, the Legislature needs a detailed explanation of how this happened so we can ensure that immediate reforms are implemented to restore public trust,” Patterson said. “How many times do we have to see the technology failing in the State of California? The DMV, EDD, DOJ, Dept. of FI$Cal – almost every department.”

“This cannot happen ever again,” Patterson added. “How much other information is in the hands of The DOJ and at risk for similar leaks of information?”

“The Department of Justice cannot investigate itself.”

UPDATE 3:20pm: Assemblyman Patterson emailed out the letter (below) he wrote to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, which included these questions: