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This week, two major law firms accused millions of gun owners of violating the privacy rights of millions of gun owners by running a decades-long program that sent information to political operatives without their consent.
The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court by Seattle’s Keller Rollback and Connecticut’s Motley Rice closely reflects the results of a Propobrica investigation detailing a secret program run by the gun industry’s largest trade group.
The 24-page complaint asks the court to approve class action status, demanding financial damages against the NSSF, and argues that gun industry lobbyists have been enriched by leveraging valuable gun buyer information for political gain. It features accounts of two gun owners, Daniel Kokanr and Dale Limuks, who claimed to have purchased rifles, pistols and handguns from the 1990s to the mid-2010s.
Propublica has identified at least 10 gun industry companies, including Glock, Smith & Wesson and Remington. The lobbying group then entered details into what would become a massive database used to rally support gun owners’ elections for industry priority candidates running for the White House and Congress.
The data originally came from a decades-old warranty card filled out by the customer and returned to the gun manufacturer for rebates and repairs or replacement programs. Propublica reviews of dozens of guarantee cards from the 1970s to today have found that some customers are promised that their information will be kept strictly confidential. Others said some information could be shared with third parties for marketing and sales. There is no card to inform you that lobbyists or consultants will use the details to win the election.
Cocanour and Rimkus claimed they regularly share personal information when filling out warranty cards from Glock, Remington, Smith & Wesson and other manufacturers. They say they were not told about the company’s participation in the NSSF program, according to a lawsuit filed in Connecticut.
“Through the complaints, the two brave plaintiffs have stepped forward to establishing the rights of millions of firearm buyers,” Keller Rollback’s lawyer Benjamin Gould wrote in a statement to Propobrica. “We look forward to gathering evidence to prove the truth of our allegations and to hold the NSSF accountable for its actions.”
Keller Rohrback specializes in cybersecurity and data breach cases. The company recently won a landmark $725 million collective settlement from Facebook after accusing the company of allowing political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to retrieve user information without consent. Motley Rice is one of the largest consumer protection law firms in the country. Founder Ron Motley gained fame in the 1990s in a major lawsuit against a major tobacco company.
Representatives of the gun violence prevention group have been called the main development in trying to file lawsuits and hold data sharing accountable.
“This is a horrifying violation of privacy by the gun industry,” said Justin Wagner, senior director of investigating Everytown for gun safety. “NSSF has to be clean and face accountability.”
Founded in 1961 and now based in Shelton, Connecticut, NSSF represents thousands of firearms and ammunition manufacturers, distributors, retailers, publishers and ranges of firearms and ammunition. The trade group did not respond to Propublica’s request for comment. The organization previously defended data collection, saying that “activities are completely legal and within the terms of the individual manufacturer, company, data broker, or other entity.”
The NSSF has faced criticism in the aftermath of Propublica’s report. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, condemned data sharing. And the gun owners, a well-known gun owners’ rights group, asked to investigate the NSSF in the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, cigarettes, firearms and explosives. The gun owner for safety is run by Giffords, co-founded by Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, who survived the 2011 assassination attempt, advocates for improved background checks and other measures aimed at reducing gun-related deaths. Giffords spokesman Chris Harris said the FBI and ATF have not responded to requests for investigation into the NSSF.
Privacy experts previously told Propublica that companies sharing information with the NSSF may be violating federal and state bans on deceptive and unfair business practices. Under federal law, businesses must adhere to their own privacy policies and be clear about how they use consumer information, privacy experts said.
Shani Henry, a member of Gun Owners for Safety, said the Propublica report showed industry hypocrisy over privacy issues.
“They don’t care about the safety of our families or the rights of everyday gun owners. They are happy to betray their customers for political power and money,” Henry said. “The privacy of gun owners has been violated and we deserve to fully consider what happened and who benefited from it.”
Gun Owners Group is calling for a federal investigation into the sharing of secrets of customer data for the firearms industry
The gun industry launched a data sharing project about 17 months before the 2000 election, tackling a cascade of financial, legal and political threats. Within three years, the NSSF database was filled with guarantee card information, supplemented with voter roles and names from hunting licenses, but included at least 5.5 million people.
Most of the companies designated in the NSSF documents, including Glock and Smith & Wesson, previously declined to comment or did not respond to Propublica. Remington has since been split into two companies and sold. Remarms, who owns the old firearms division, said he was previously unaware of the company’s work at the time. The rest of the company is currently owned by Remington Ammunition and states that it “does not provide personal information to the NSSF or its vendors.”
In 2016, Donald Trump was elected president for the first time, and as part of a push to help Republicans maintain control of the Senate, the NSSF worked with Cambridge Analytica to turbo-claim information about potential voters. Cambridge coincided with 5,000 additional facts that it pulled people in the database from other sources. In addition to potential voters’ income, debt and religious affiliations, analysts gathered information such as whether they enjoyed the work of painter Thomas Kinkade, and whether women in underwear purchased it.
