NRA-ILA Asks Court for Temporary Restraining Order to Protect California Gun Owners’ Privacy

Last week, NRA-ILA filed a lawsuit challenging AB-173, a newly enacted California law that directs the California Department of Justice  (“Cal DoJ”) to turn over the personal information that it has on gun owners, including their name, address, place of birth, phone number, occupation, driver’s license or ID number, race, sex, height, weight, hair color, eye color, and even their social security number and types of firearms that they own, to the California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis. AB-173 further allows the Cal DoJ and UC Davis to turn that information over to any other “bona fide research institute.” Now NRA-ILA has asked the court to issue a Temporary Restraining Order, enjoining the Cal DoJ from releasing any of that personal information until the case can be heard.

This is “an unprecedented invasion of privacy of millions of Californians who purchased firearms and ammunition, or who are licensed to carry a concealed weapon,” the motion argues. “The public release of Plaintiffs’ Personal Information threatens Plaintiffs’ personal privacy and physical security. Indeed, firearm owners often encounter concerted harassment, sometimes including violence, and they are frequent targets of criminal efforts to steal firearms from their homes and businesses.”

It is bad enough that AB-173 infringes on law-abiding gun owners’ constitutional rights in multiple ways. But the harm that it creates is even worse; once that personal information is released, it cannot be undone. That is why NRA-ILA is asking the court to prohibit the Cal DoJ from releasing the information before gun owners have had their day in court.

The court has scheduled a hearing on the motion for Wednesday, January 19^th. The case is captioned as Doe v. Bonta.

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights.