Continuing with developments in the CCW scandal I first told you about weeks ago: MO Sen. Kurt Schaefer explained on my program today that officials in last week’s public hearings failed to disclose that the ATF was the federal entity who made the request for the CCW list, alongside the Department of Social Security. The ATF has not explained why they wanted this information, which by Missouri law, is illegal to share.
“This request for the list was a joint request between the Department of Social Security and the ATF,” explained Missouri State Senator Kurt Schaefer, who has spearheaded the investigation into this breach as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The ATF was never mentioned by the heads of the Department of Revenue (who resigned over this scandal), or the head of the Missouri Highway Patrol, or the DMV. It was only discovered by digging through documents Schaefer subpoenaed.
“We were never told that the ATF was part of this request. Why does the ATF need a list of Missouri gun owners except to have a list of Missouri gun owners?” said Schaefer. “This isn’t even a backdoor list, this is a front door list. There is a magical database and the taxpayers paid for it.”
It was discovered that the full list was sent to the Department and Social Security and ATF twice, at least, and Schaefer says it appears there was a third exchange. What’s more, one of those exchanges consisted of a Missouri Department head dropping an unencrypted disc containing the state’s full CCW list into an envelope, with a sheet of paper bearing the password, into an envelope and sending it through the USPS.
“Those discs were not encrypted. It was an Excel list on the disc. The password was on a piece of paper in the envelope with the disc,” said Schaefer.
Earlier from MO Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder’s office:
Lt. Governor Kinder’s statement on Governor’s decision to stop scanning, retaining CCW documents
JEFFERSON CITY — Lt. Governor Peter Kinder today issued the following statement on Gov. Jay Nixon’s announcement that the Department of Revenue no longer will scan and retain documents related to the issuance of concealed carry gun permits.
“The Governor’s decision to stop scanning and retaining the personal documents of residents with concealed carry permits is a victory for law-abiding Missourians. However, this change in policy should never have been necessary, and the Governor and his appointed officials in the Department of Revenue owe the Missouri people an apology. For weeks, in an effort to keep the scandal under wraps, this administration misled lawmakers, stonewalled the media and deceived Missourians. Lawmakers must continue to question an administration that has so consistently misled the people of Missouri.”
Kinder gave this chronology of the issue and its escalation:
§ March 4: Kinder held a press conference at the Capitol to announce that Russ Oliver, the prosecuting attorney in Stoddard County, had filed a lawsuit challenging the scanning and retention of documents by the DOR’s license fee offices in relation to the issuance of concealed carry permit endorsements on drivers’ licenses.
§ March 5: Kinder delivered a letter to Governor Nixon asking for a meeting to discuss the policy and come up with a remedy. The Governor ignored the request.
§ March 7: In hearings before the House Government Oversight and Accountability Committee DOR officials assured lawmakers the data was not being shared with the federal government and the data was destroyed by the private company as soon as it printed the licenses. Post-Dispatch reporter Elizabeth Crisp quoted DOR Deputy Director John Mollenkamp: “It stops there – the scanned documents go no further.”
§ March 12: In a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, DOR officials again denied the data was shared with any third party.
§ April 3: Nixon says, “This (DOR) and this state of Missouri is not collecting a bunch of unuseful data to send to some sort of magical database someplace to mess with people. It’s not happening.”
§ April 11: Col. Ron Replogle of the Missouri Highway Patrol told a Senate committee that a full list of Missourians who have concealed carry permits was sent twice to the U.S. Social Security Administration.
§ April 15: DOR Director Brian Long resigned. Nixon promoted Mollenkamp to director.
§ April 16: Nixon announced that the license fee offices would no longer scan and retain documents on concealed carry permit holders.
Developing …
Previously:
