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How The NRA Built A Massive Secret Database Of Gun Owners
The National Rifle Association has rallied gun owners — and raised tens of millions of dollars — campaigning against the threat of a national database of firearms or their owners.
But in fact, the sort of vast, secret database the NRA often warns of already exists, despite having been assembled largely without the knowledge or consent of gun owners. It is housed in the Virginia offices of the NRA itself. The country’s largest privately held database of current, former, and prospective gun owners is one of the powerful lobby’s secret weapons, expanding its influence well beyond its estimated 3 million members and bolstering its political supremacy.
That database has been built through years of acquiring gun permit registration lists from state and county offices, gathering names of new owners from the thousands of gun safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors and by buying lists of attendees of gun shows, subscribers to gun magazines, and more, BuzzFeed has learned.
NRA built massive database of gun owners while opposing national gun registry — RT USA
“That’s what [the feds] are after, the names of good, decent people all over this country, who happen to own firearms to go into a federal database or universal registration, every lawful gun owner in America,” LaPierre said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “That’s their answer to criminal violence… are they insane?”
But that’s exactly what the NRA has been doing for years. The organization’s database includes personal information from people who have attended gun-safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors or gun shows. The NRA also collected gun permit information from state and county offices, as well as the names of gun magazine subscribers.
Three million Americans are members of the NRA, but the database has information from tens of millions of people, NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman told BuzzFeed. NRA officials refused to share an exact number or go into the detail about their data-collection methods, but documents obtained by BuzzFeed indicate that the NRA may have bribed state officials into turning over their lists.
In 2009, a firm called Preferred Communications asked the Virginia State Police to purchase the names of concealed carry permit holders “on behalf of the National Rifle Association.”
“Can you please let me know if you offer 2008 and/or 2009 names?” the group’s representative wrote in a message. “Can you please let me know the address to send the check to and also whom to make it payable to?”
Officials in Arkansas, Oregon and Iowa also reported requests for such lists.
The NRA’s database gives the organization the ability to contact tens of millions of gun-owners to lobby their causes.
The NRA Wants to Keep Gun Records Secret From Everyone Except the NRA
The National Rifle Association has rallied gun owners — and raised tens of millions of dollars — campaigning against the threat of a national database of firearms or their owners.
But in fact, the sort of vast, secret database the NRA often warns of already exists, despite having been assembled largely without the knowledge or consent of gun owners. It is housed in the Virginia offices of the NRA itself. The country’s largest privately held database of current, former, and prospective gun owners is one of the powerful lobby’s secret weapons, expanding its influence well beyond its estimated 3 million members and bolstering its political supremacy.
That database has been built through years of acquiring gun permit registration lists from state and county offices, gathering names of new owners from the thousands of gun safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors and by buying lists of attendees of gun shows, subscribers to gun magazines, and more, BuzzFeed has learned.
NRA built massive database of gun owners while opposing national gun registry — RT USA
“That’s what [the feds] are after, the names of good, decent people all over this country, who happen to own firearms to go into a federal database or universal registration, every lawful gun owner in America,” LaPierre said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “That’s their answer to criminal violence… are they insane?”
But that’s exactly what the NRA has been doing for years. The organization’s database includes personal information from people who have attended gun-safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors or gun shows. The NRA also collected gun permit information from state and county offices, as well as the names of gun magazine subscribers.
Three million Americans are members of the NRA, but the database has information from tens of millions of people, NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman told BuzzFeed. NRA officials refused to share an exact number or go into the detail about their data-collection methods, but documents obtained by BuzzFeed indicate that the NRA may have bribed state officials into turning over their lists.
In 2009, a firm called Preferred Communications asked the Virginia State Police to purchase the names of concealed carry permit holders “on behalf of the National Rifle Association.”
“Can you please let me know if you offer 2008 and/or 2009 names?” the group’s representative wrote in a message. “Can you please let me know the address to send the check to and also whom to make it payable to?”
Officials in Arkansas, Oregon and Iowa also reported requests for such lists.
The NRA’s database gives the organization the ability to contact tens of millions of gun-owners to lobby their causes.
The NRA Wants to Keep Gun Records Secret From Everyone Except the NRA
