Vern Evans
Democrats in America will stop at nothing when it comes to their disarmament agenda, up to and including attempts to intimidate Americans by providing hit lists to criminals with private information regarding gun owners, where they live, and what you might be able to find if you pay them a visit. But a corrupt government that demands trust from citizens while at the same time maintaining lists of those privately armed is not an exclusive idiocracy of the United States. New Zealand and Israel, of all places, have not only maintained registries but have also allowed them to leak, putting their citizens at risk to both criminals and enemies of the state.
Israel is an example of a government that demands the loyalty of its citizens but responds with authoritarian firearm restrictions and registries, should you be permitted to defend yourself and your family in an often dangerous region plagued by terror attacks. It was only after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks condemning approximately 1200 people to murder, most without the means to fight back, that the country finally relaxed its firearms restrictions on civilians. But the government still made its lists.
“260,000 new requests for firearm permits have been submitted… since Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel… My policy within the office was to permit as many people as possible to get a weapon… within a short period of time, we are 1743173371 giving up to 3,000 approvals a day,” said National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir according to the Times of Israel.
Talk about an effort “too little, too late” that should be tried for criminal negligence rather than celebrated. Now, it seems the privilege of self-defense and the defense of loved ones will come with added danger, thanks to a recent data leak initiated by Iranian-linked hackers who penetrated Israel’s databases containing sensitive gun owner information, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, that worked with U.S. cybersecurity firm, databreach.com to analyze the hack.
“The documents include personal details of gun owners, including their full name, home address, photograph, military and medical background, firearm type, ammunition count and whether the weapon is stored at home… Anyone who keeps a gun at home is now at higher risk… We estimate the database contains identifying information on over 10,000 Israelis,” according to the report.
Haaretz contacted several victims of the breach to confirm the accuracy of the leaked data, one of whom responded, “This is really dangerous. This puts a target on our backs.”
But Israel isn’t the only country that doesn’t care about its citizens’ safety and right to privacy. New Zealand’s repeated inability to secure private gun owner information compromised more than 100 firearms owners in July of 2023 according to the New Zealand Herald.
While the New Zealand Firearm Safety Authority described the data breach as an “error,” it came just a year after firearm owners’ private details were stolen during the commission of an old Auckland police station burglary, according to the Herald. Prior to that, a 2019 data breach connected to New Zealand’s mandatory gun confiscation program labeled as a “buyback” was the subject of a story in The Guardian entitled, “New Zealand’s gun buyback website ‘a shopping list for criminals.”
Here in the U.S., if you think California still qualifies, the state’s Department of Injustice under Attorney General Rob Bonta launched a Firearms Dashboard Portal designed to provide firearm transaction and Concealed Carry permit holder data to anyone on the DOJ’s website. This purposeful attempt to intimidate gun owners led to the leak of personally identifying information, confirmed in a statement by the DOJ to include the names, dates of birth, gender, races, driver’s license numbers, addresses, and criminal histories of individuals who had applied for permits from 2011 through 2021. The breach also extended to dashboards detailing California’s Assault Weapon Registry, Dealer Record of Sale, Firearm Certification System, and Gun Violence Restraining Orders.
Regarding the breach, Bonta feigned concern, however disingenuous and patronizing it must have seemed to gun owners throughout the state who, by now, must know that this is precisely as the state intends.
“The California Department of Justice is entrusted to protect Californians and their data. We acknowledge the stress this may cause those individuals whose information was exposed. I am deeply disturbed and angered,” Bonta said in a statement.
This epidemic leads many to believe that the best way to prevent this type of sensitive data from being exposed is not to collect it. While I agree with that statement, we must hold those responsible for the leaks accountable for their actions. Data breaches are nothing new, and nobody can claim an error or accident at this point when it comes to exposing citizens to the dangers associated with publishing such a criminal hit list. These registries are meant for subjugation and nothing else, whether it be through intimidation, wilful publishing for and recruitment of the criminal element to assist with disarming law-abiding citizens, or eventual confiscation plans. Always remember that these people are not the first to make lists, as they follow some of the most nefarious footsteps throughout history.
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