So criminals can look up addresses before deciding which homes to break and enter? How is this not a good thing for criminals? Sure, less criminals may get shot. But then who are we trying to actually protect here?<p>Consider an absurd second order effect where, if it's true that you're less likely to be robbed by being on this register, it encourages <i>more</i> people to buy guns, even if it means they don't have to use them.
Bullshit headline edit<p>Original was 'Attorney General Bonta Releases New Firearms Data to Increase Transparency and Information Sharing'. They absolutely leaked data by failing to secure it properly via tableau, but the headline as written here implies that this was done deliberately. I looked at it last night, you wouldn't have known about it unless you were digging through the page source looking for ways to scrape it.<p>Negligent at best, possibly deliberate at worst. But that doesn't justify the false impression created by this headline.
Is this one of those situations where it's conceptually a public record in that it's always been available via a filing cabinet at a public library, but when placed on the global internet, it causes problems?
Well that's one way to "Increase Transparency and Information Sharing". I can't get the portal to work any more, but supposedly it also shared PII for FSC cardholders (a.k.a. pretty much every law-abiding gun owner in California).
I thought about getting a CCW when I was in California. I would have had to donate upwards of $20K to the local sheriff based on what other CCW's I knew had to do otherwise the form just sits in a pile for years. I found it was cheaper to move to a state that does not require a CCW to carry concealed. The only reason I would apply for one here would be if I planned to drive across the state border while carrying.<p>In hindsight I am glad I took the path I did. Things are getting weird(er). Politics are really starting to impact citizens in ways I had not imagined would happen in my lifetime. Surely these events are eroding what little trust and confidence people have in their governments? I am seeing too many "Ooops did I leak that?" events and blaming cloud configuration errors. It's a broken record at this point and I am not buying it.
I don't see anything on this page that indicates the headline. A quick search on Twitter doesn't yield any results either. Are there redacted screenshots as proof? Anyone covering the leak?
What an unmitigated disaster. Some problems with this off the top of my head:<p>1. Criminals can see which houses to avoid burglarizing.<p>2. Criminals can see where to find weapons to steal when owners are away.<p>3. Stalkers can easily find their victims home who may be carrying for self defense.<p>4. Will the addresses of every police officer be published too? They carry a gun at all times, even off duty in most cases.
Society considers it useful to have a sex offenders registry, like where they live, etc. I think gun owners are also a potential threat, ie. there is similar compelling public interest, and thus I don't see why it should be treated differently. For example if a scum of a "law abiding gun owner" like Rittenhouse is living next door you definitely would like to know if it has a gun.