Those operatives, in turn, secretly employed the details to rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians running for Congress and the White House, a ProPublica investigation has found.

The clandestine sharing of gun buyers’ identities — without their knowledge and consent — marked a significant departure for an industry that has long prided itself on thwarting efforts to track who owns firearms in America.

At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Marlin and Mossberg, handed over names, addresses and other private data to the gun industry’s chief lobbying group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The NSSF then entered the gun owners’ details into what would become a massive database.

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    The clandestine sharing of gun buyers’ identities — without their knowledge and consent — marked a significant departure for an industry that has long prided itself on thwarting efforts to track who owns firearms in America.

    I was going to mention exactly this, but it seems the article already beat me to it.

    • Wiz@midwest.social
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      2 months ago

      Depending on the type of data and where you live, you can have some of its benefits.

      There’s FERPA for student data.

      Credit card companies require very strict controls over their data, and how charges are made and encrypted.

      I’m Europe there is the GDPR, which grants a right to remove your data from a particular site, among other protections. Some US states have followed with lesser versions, like California, Colorado, and Virginia.

      I don’t think you want HIPAA-level data protections over normal data, because it’s a passion in the ass to have that level of restrictiveness over mere ordinary data. It costs a lot to protect it - you’d need documented written permissions on every aspect of your data.

      • barsquid@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        No, that is what I want. It should be a pain in the ass and expensive to hold. It should be a liability. Ok, fair, just for actual PII and not things like account settings specific to that business. But I do want it.

        And GDPR-style deletions while we’re on the topic, I want that also.

        • Wiz@midwest.social
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          2 months ago

          If you were to have this, then there would be no social media. Probably no email, as both sides of the communication would not be allowed to forward it. You would not be able to communicate or post on forums.

          It would take computing back to about 1990. The medical industry uses faxes for a reason. They are very secure point to point communication. That’s the sort of security you’re asking for, and it would cripple most communication.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    For years I’ve argued that the gun lobby is for manufacturers, not owners. This is a concrete example of them prioritizing the former over the latter.

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Something tells me gun nuts will waive away the violation of privacy that gun companies sharing gun purchasing into with government officials represents.

    • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I agree, we need action to protect people’s privacy from unethical warrantless searches and monitoring.

      Snowden tried to warn us…

        • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Oh I got the point Squid, I disagree :)

          Tell me, do you feel Jan 6th was a genuine coup attempt? As in, DJT and his ilk were actually interested in and attempting to maintain and consolidate their power in the government outside of the election results?

          • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            The facts reported by the Jan 6th committee made it clear that it was a premeditated coup attempt.

            • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              Exactly. Now assuming they were successful (or a future attempt is) how do we fight them? I somehow doubt a peaceful march will sway them to restore democracy.

              • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                What does this have to do with the post subject? I don’t think anyone here is suggesting a peaceful march in that case.

                • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  I mistakenly thought Squid was suggesting that privacy for gun owners wasn’t a valid topic for discussion.

                  Following that, I was establishing the importance of privacy for gun owners because, well… We may need them if there is a successful coup.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I have no idea what you mean by “DJT and his ilk.” None of them were breaking into congress. The people that were wanted to install Trump as president and do it by executing Mike Pence. They made that very clear. So yes, that was a coup attempt. I’m not sure why you think Trump had to be directly involved to make it a coup attempt.

            • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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              2 months ago

              If you don’t know who “DJT and his ilk” are, then who is “them” in your response?

              Point is, if your government is about to be overrun, why would you give the government/state a monopoly on violence?

              Do you trust the police/military to be the sole owners of firearms given the current political climate? I know you don’t like cops Squid, and Trump has already threatened to deploy the military against civilians and political opponents.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I thought your point is it wasn’t a coup attempt.

                Your point seems to keep changing.

                You also seem to think I want to ban guns for some reason. I don’t know why because I never said I did.

                • AhismaMiasma@lemm.ee
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                  2 months ago

                  My point hasn’t changed at all, my point was to establish that you agree it was a coup attempt.

                  Given a possible coup, a list of all gun owners (regardless of political affiliation) is bad. Privacy rights are important, even for people we disagree with.