California: Sacrificing Gun Owner Privacy for "Research"

Yesterday, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee passed Assembly Bill 173, and the Assembly amended Senate Bill 173 to contain the same provisions. Both AB 173 and SB 173 were empty budget trailer bills that recently received significant amendments to resurrect the goals of AB 1237; legislation that was previously held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, making available to certain researchers a litany of information on gun owners, including personal identifying information. Please contact your lawmakers and ask them to OPPOSE AB 173 and SB 173.

Assembly Bill 173/Senate Bill 173 require that the California Department of Justice (DOJ) supply state information, including personal identifying information, to the UC Gun Violence Research Center at UC Davis, and allows the DOJ to provide this same information to certain non-profits and state agencies. This legislation creates grave privacy concerns, as well as concerns that this information could be provided to groups that create biased “research” to push gun control policies without actually researching root causes of violence.

Again, please contact your lawmakers and ask them to OPPOSE AB 173 and SB 173.