MO Dept. of Revenue Supboenaed on Backdoor Gun Registration

Jim Hoft and Dana Loesch have the details. Essentially, the Missouri Department of Revenue is accused of colluding with the federal Department of Homeland Security to scoop up firearms information on Missouri residents, in violation of state law.

Earlier this month Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinderheld a press conference to expose the backdoor gun registration operation in Missouri. Kinder accused the Missouri Department of Revenue of working with the Department of Homeland Security to install new hardware and software to obtain data on Missouri citizens and transfer this information to DHS and unnamed third parties. The last state senator to use his subpoena power was then state senator now Governor Jay Nixon.

The Department of Revenue denied the claims.

Yesterday, Missouri state Senator Kurt Shaefer subpoenaed the the Missouri Department of Revenue to produce all documents between the Department of Revenue and any federal agency, including but not limited to, the Department of Homeland Security or FEMA, regarding driver’s license and ID information of Missouri citizens.

At issue is what Missouri does with the information it obtains during the process to permit concealed firearm carry. The press release regarding the lawsuit that got the story rolling sheds some light on that.

Oliver [plaintiff’s attorney] said Mr. Griffin [the plaintiff] went to his local Department of Motor Vehicles fee office after passing the application process for a concealed carry permit. When he refused to let DMV employees scan some of his documentation, he was denied the permit.

Oliver said Griffin acted within his rights. He said the Department of Revenue apparently installed new computer equipment to record the information as part of the federal Real ID Act of 2005.

But state laws prohibit the department from retaining and collecting these types of documents and from complying with that portion of the Real ID Act.

So he had passed through the concealed carry process, but was only denied the permit when he chose not to let the state share his information with the federal government. The federal government is not a party to state concealed carry permits, though. In Missouri, county sheriff’s determine whether an applicant is granted or denied a concealed carry permit. The unnamed third parties are just that — unnamed. Therefore, possibly unaccountable.

The subpoena calls for records of all communications between the state agency and the federal DHS and FEMA, along with the third party contractor MorphoTrust USA.

The allegation is disturbing, and begs an answer to an obvious question: If this backdoor registration is going on Missouri, is it going on in any other states?