The Twin Falls Police Department in Idaho was discovered to be using a de facto gun registration system that violates federal law, which prohibits a registration system, as well as Idaho’s firearm preemption law.
The National Association for Gun Rights interest arose after a dispute between Twin Falls Police Department and several Twin Falls gun shops.
A controversial third-party online program called LeadsOnline is used by law enforcement agencies nationwide to “cut down on stolen property and speed up investigations.”
However, several gun shops in Twin Falls say the program requires customers’ personal information when a firearm is sold to them, which is then turned over to the police, which leads to LeadsOnline acting as a de facto gun registration system and violates Idaho’s Constitution.
Hannah Hill, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights, shed some light on the situation:
“It’s absolutely a registry. Full stop. Just because it’s not a ‘complete’ registry does not take away from the fact that purchasing (which in many cases equals ownership) is being tracked by the government. Any government requirement on the manufacture, sale, purchase, or ownership of firearms is by definition a government regulation. If a criminal or civil penalty is attached to noncompliance, it’s a regulation burdening the Second Amendment right. This independent gun registry of the Twin Falls PD is massively illegal under both the state and federal laws and Constitutions and storing sensitive gun purchase information in private party software has privacy implications as well. Our legal team is taking a very hard look at this situation and will likely be in touch with the perpetrators very soon.”
This is a developing story.
Read more at Idaho Dispatch.
