Second Amendment advocacy groups and individual permit holders were angered when state Attorney General Rob Bonta admitted on Tuesday a leak of information from the state's own Firearms Dashboard Portal. The information was posted on Monday but was taken down within a day later, after the state learned from law enforcement groups that the personal information of concealed weapons applicants and permit holders was available on the site.
Overall more than 200,000 records of individuals were exposed and available, though in a statement Bonta's office did not say how exactly long the information was online before they were alerted to the breach.
That total number includes at least 6,877 San Diego County residents, according to the Sheriff's Department, which handles all permit requests in the county. It could be far more, however, because the data also included people who applied and were rejected for a permit.
A range of people carry concealed weapons — from security personnel to domestic violence, stalking and rape victims to current and retired state and federal judges, retired law enforcement, and prosecutors in both state and federal courts.
The information that was exposed included name, date of birth, gender, race, driver's license number, home address and criminal history. And it was not limited to the concealed weapons database. In a statement issued Wednesday, the office said that information from the Assault Weapon Registry, Handguns Certified for Sale, Dealer Record of Sale, Firearm Safety Certificate, and Gun Violence Restraining Order databases were also "impacted."
Bonta's office said it is investigating and would be notifying people whose data was exposed. It is also "communicating with law enforcement partners throughout the state."
Word of the breach led San Diego Superior Court Presiding Judge Michael Smyth to send an email to all judges notifying them of the breach on Tuesday. Court spokesperson Emily Cox said Smyth was in contact with the Sheriff's Department as "the Sheriff's team works to learn more about who was actually affected."
U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw, who serves as the chief judge of the federal court in San Diego, said the U.S. Marshal's Service immediately informed the bench of the leak. He said the court has not taken any extra steps since the leak.
The federal judiciary was the target of more than 4,500 threats nationwide in 2021 leading to calls for more security for judges.
A spokesperson for the San Diego County district attorney said the office told employees of the data breach upon learning about it.
One permit holder, a judge who did not want to be named, was irate at the leak. "I worked pretty hard to remain in anonymity," said the permit holder. "This blew it up." The judge also said that the leak punishes those people who abided by the strict rules to get a concealed-carry weapon, or CCW, permit in the first place.
"Why would law-abiding people apply for a CCW if they will be outed for not just owning a gun, but also having their personal information public," the holder said. "This just encourages people to illegally carry. What they did was put people like me and my family at risk."
Bonta's office said it would provide credit monitoring services for people whose data was exposed.
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