It is not state related, but federal. A simple examination of a few facts leads me to believe that the federal government is building a database of most gun owners. The remainder can be guessed from state databases.rotor wrote:Do you have proof that this is being done? I am not saying it isn't being done but not legally at least in Texas. But the government gets FISA warrants illegally too. It wouldn't surprise me if it is illegally being done. The word though is "illegal" at least in Texas. There are states that require a license for a specific gun. If you buy a gun in Texas supposedly there is no database linking your name and that gun.
The "most gunowners" part are those who submit their names for background checks through NICS. Have you ever noticed that they won't run the check until they have a specific gun or list of guns you intend to buy? There must be a reason for that, because checking your eligibility doesn't require anything about the gun itself. If you are over 21, all guns are either legal or illegal, unless they are class III. If you are between 18 and 21, then all rifles and pistols are legal, and the dealers know not to sell you a handgun without needing NICS to tell them no.
So, why are they collecting that information? It must be sent to the FBI for some reason. And it is sent by computer transfer in most cases. Even if it is called in by phone, a clerk on that end is typing it all in to their computer to make the same checks. So we now have a record of the gun and the person buying it, and we have had it for all purchases from a licensed dealer for almost 25 years now (since shortly after the 1994 ban passed).
But it is illegal to keep those records, right? And the FBI agreed way back when to make sure to erase the records, right? But if you noted it way back when, the FBI agreed to delete the records within 24 hours. So they get to keep all of the records overnight and say they deleted them at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for the new day. All good, right?
Well, not quite. As any computer person knows, there is a trick that no one mentioned so far. Computer systems all have their hard drives backed up each night, usually in the early morning hours when their use is very low otherwise. And we now have backup tapes of all sales for more than 2 decades. That is a database of guns and gun owners. I have no faith that the tapes are not restored to another server system before they get destroyed. It is all sleight of hand.
Obviously, I have no proof that anyone is doing this. I really would like to think it isn't true since I generally believe in our government as being well-intentioned. I don't always agree with the intentions but I can usually see them as being for what the others think is the right thing to do. But I also am realistic enough to know that someone is going to think that this is the right thing to do. Some of the gun control proponents are true believers who really think this is what we should be doing as a country.
I also don't worry about it. If the FBI and NSA and other alphabet agencies did not already have me on a list of potentially dangerous people, they are even more incompetent than I believe they are. And that would be very disappointing. Our government has done too much for me to believe that these agencies are really that incompetent.