As a part of its Gun Violence Reduction Program (GVRP), California built a brand new database aimed at tracking things like Gun Violence Restraining Orders and ‘helping’ the public access data on firearms in California, including information about the issuance of Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits.
Prior to the launch of the “2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal,” the state of California claimed that this new database would aid the public and reduce gun violence in the state:
“Transparency is key to increasing public trust between law enforcement and the communities we serve,” said Attorney General Bonta. “As news of tragic mass shootings continues to dominate the news cycle, leaving many with feelings of fear and uncertainty, we must do everything we can to prevent gun violence. One of my continued priorities is to better provide the information needed to help advance efforts that strengthen California’s commonsense gun laws. Today’s announcement puts power and information into the hands of our communities by helping them better understand the role and potential dangers of firearms within our state.”
Upon the launch of the new portal, however, the names, addresses, and license types of all concealed carry permit holders in California were exposed. The data leak occurred after the state Department of Justice suffered a data breach, authorities said Tuesday.
“This public site allows access to certain information, however, personal information of Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permit holders is not supposed to be visible,” the sheriff’s office said in the statement.
The leaked information includes the person’s full name, race, home address, date of birth, and the date that their CCW permit was issued. The data also distinguishes if a permit holder is a member of law enforcement or a judge. The leak also included the state dealer record of sales data which showed “assault weapons” registry.
Before the database was taken down, the portal showed 244 judge permits listed in the database and included their home addresses, full names, and dates of birth for all of them. The data also included information on custodial officers, people with a place of employment permit, and reserve officers. Thousands of people in Los Angeles County with licenses also had their information compromised as well.
The California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) slammed the leak saying it was looking into potential legal action against the state.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Bonta is ignoring the leak and moving on to blame former President Trump for the attacks against Asians in his state.
During a live-streamed news conference from Sacramento, Bonta noted that the nearly 1,800 hate crimes reported in 2021 reflected a 33% jump from 2020.
Bonta said anti-Black crimes were once again the most common, with 513 reported incidents last year, representing a 13% increase. Bonta added that the 240 anti-Asian hate crimes reported in 2021 showed a “skyrocketing” 177% increase from the previous year.
Bonta went on to blame “the bigoted words of our former president” for turning “a trickle” of racial animosity into “a flood.”
Even though the vast majority of the attacks against Asians are committed by black Americans according to data, and anti-white attacks are statistically far more common per capita than anti-Asian or anti-black attacks, Bonta said the new figures reflect “a grim reality” that California’s diverse communities already know too well.
Justin Zhu, executive director of Stand with Asian Americans, said of the data that this is what Asian American communities have been calling up for some time.” Zhu founded the non-profit organization following the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings which police said were like not racially motivated given that non-Asian individuals were targeted as well.
Media reports regarding Bonta’s comments and the data he referred to has zero mention of attacks against white people, nor the fact that the District Attorney of San Francisco has been dropping the charges of several of those accused of committing attacks against Asians.
