The U.S. government’s purchase of massive databases, combined with AI-powered data processing, poses a dangerous threat to the privacy of America’s lawful gun owners, according to the pro-gun rights group Gun Owners of America (GOA).
In a national alert distributed on April 22, GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt warned of the dangers and called members to action to put an end to the threat.
“They don’t need to kick down your door anymore. They just pull out a credit card,” Pratt wrote. “Right now, the federal government is purchasing massive commercial databases packed with personal information: your location history, your browsing habits, your interests and hobbies. Anything a data broker is willing to sell, Washington is willing to buy. And gun owners are a prime target.”
Pratt wrote that the intelligence community and federal law enforcement agencies are using purchased data to build profiles on Americans—without a warrant, without probable cause and without ever going before a judge.
“They’re calling it ‘legal’ because of a gaping loophole in our privacy law,” he wrote. “Under current interpretations, the government doesn’t need a court order to buy information that a private company has already collected. The Fourth Amendment says they can’t take it. But apparently no one told them they can’t just purchase it instead.”
Pratt said the massive data collection effort is part of what makes FISA Section 702, currently under reauthorization consideration, dangerous.
“Section 702 was sold to the American people as a tool for surveilling foreign terrorists,” he wrote. “But here’s what they didn’t tell you: any time a foreign target communicates with an American, that American’s data can be swept up too, no warrant required. Don’t forget: the Biden administration formally classified gun owners as ‘Militia Violent Extremists.’”
Pratt continued that if you pair that authority with AI-powered data processing that can sort, cross-reference and analyze millions of records in seconds, you have the infrastructure for a surveillance state that targets gun owners at a scale no individual agent ever could.
“You essentially have an AI-powered gun registry that doesn’t even require a specific gun record, something an anti-gun administration would take advantage of,” he warned. “The databases, the AI tools, the commercial data pipelines—they’re all still there. Any future anti-gun administration can pick up exactly where they left off and use this surveillance architecture against law-abiding Americans who simply choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
GOA is supporting two federal measures aimed at ending potential illegal registries—Rep. Warren Davidson’s “Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act” and Sen. Mike Lee’s “Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act.” Both would close the commercial data purchase loophole and restore constitutional warrant requirements to government surveillance.
To sign onto GOA-provided letters asking lawmakers to support these critical measures, click here.
