According to several Missouri county sheriffs, the FBI requested concealed carry permit holder records. The requests allegedly state that Missouri County Sheriffs’ offices must give concealed carry permit holder records to the FBI.
However, Capt. Brian Leer, who works at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, says it’s never been asked to do this. “We have no intention of releasing concealed carry weapon permits to anyone or, for that matter, we don’t even know anybody that’s wanting that information,” said Leer, reports ABC.
Missouri officials are slamming a planned FBI audit of various sheriff’s offices in the state, saying the audit is an attempt “to illegally obtain” information on concealed carry permit holders.
One sheriff, in particular, said that even under a threat of federal arrest, he will not comply and release the concealed carry information. “As the sheriff of Scotland County, I want all my citizens to know that I will not allow, cooperate or release any CCW information to the FBI, ‘even at the threat of a federal arrest,’”
Republican Scotland County Sheriff Bryan Whitney wrote to residents of his community on Monday. “Point Blank, ‘I will go down with the ship if need be,’” the letter, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, said.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also demanded that the FBI “cease their attempts to illegally obtain information from local sheriffs on Missourians who have concealed carry permits,” and sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on the matter last week, reports Fox News.
Schmitt said in a news release the FBI is planning to travel to Missouri in August to audit sheriff’s departments across the state. A full copy of the letter can be found at this link.
NO, WE AREN’T DOING THAT
The FBI claims they are not asking for this information, and Missouri law prohibits them from doing so.
In a tweet posted on July 15, FBI Kansas City said, “as part of the planned Missouri audit, a small sampling of system transactions is to be inspected for compliance and to ensure there is no misuse of CJIS systems.
CJIS stands for Criminal Justice Information Services.
The tweet from FBI Kansas City said auditors would not require access to lists such as state-approved concealed carry permits. It also states, “Missouri has been through this routine audit multiple times, most recently in 2018.”
YOU SAID YOU WERE DOING THAT
State Attorney General Eric Schmitt believes several sheriffs were told to provide permit holders’ information.
Schmitt wrote in his letter to the FBI Director:
“The Missouri Attorney General’s Office became aware that the FBI is planning to travel to Missouri in August to do “audits” at sheriff departments across the state, which would include harvesting information on those who have legally obtained a concealed carry permit.”
Scmitt’s letter states, “It has come to my attention that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has informed several Missouri county sheriffs that they will be showing up in August to ‘audit’ CCW permit holder records.
“The FBI states that ‘The audit includes an onsite review of your Concealed Carry Weapons Permits….’ Let me be perfectly clear. Allowing federal agents from the FBI to have access to records of Missourians who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon violates Missouri law and infringes on our Second Amendment rights.”
Subscribe to the Daily Newsletter
