SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Jim Patterson has requested a formal audit of the California Department of Justice (DOJ) following the June 27th leak of personal information belonging to a large number of California firearm owners.
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).
It is estimated that more than 200,000 people were impacted, but 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.
Private information posted by the DOJ has already been copied and re-posted to websites on the internet, according to the California State Sheriff’s Association.
“This is more than a breach of trust in the DOJ, it threatens the very safety of CCW holders, many of whom are domestic violence, stalking and rape victims, security personnel, current and retired state and federal judges, retired law enforcement, and prosecutors in both state and federal courts,” said Assemblyman Patterson. “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.”