Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and other leading House conservatives on Tuesday called on the chamber’s GOP leadership to block the Biden administration from further encroaching on gun owners’ Second and Fourth Amendment rights.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the lawmakers noted that President Joe Biden seeks to target gun owners by exploiting a “lawless government surveillance loophole” to obtain data from their cellphones.
As Breitbart News reported, the letter, led by Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson, emerges as the House nears a vote to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.
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The lawmakers cited a September 2023 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general that spotlighted how several DHS agencies, such as the Secret Service, simply bought phone location data from Big Tech firms.
They used the purchases as an end run around a court-issued warrant.
Yet DHS is not alone, they added.
The Treasury Department’s IG had in February 2021 told Congress that the Internal Revenue Service also bought such data.
The FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency also have admitted to buying these files without obtaining a warrant, the letter notes.
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“Ordinarily, these agencies would need a judge-issued warrant before forcing phone or tech companies to turn over their customers’ location data. But creative government lawyers have decided that the Fourth
Amendment does not apply to Americans’ sensitive, personal data — if the government buys it from data brokers,” the GOP lawmakers wrote.
“The embrace of this legal loophole by government agencies poses a serious threat to Americans’ privacy.”
Such actions also undermines Congress’ “clear intent” to protect this type of sensitive information by enacting the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986.
By going this route, instead of convincing a judge, these federal agents were able to gather private information about Americans’ lives, “including where an American prays, where and when they drive their children to school, and if they have visited a gun store or shooting range.”
“The threat to Americans’ Second and Fourth Amendment rights is not limited to the government’s purchase of location data,” the lawmakers added. “Commercial data brokers openly sell marketing lists containing the name, address, and other personal information identifying “gun owners” and “shooting fanatics,” as well as specialized lists, like “concealed carry – licensed gun owners,” “affluent gun owners,” and “age 70+ elderly gun owners.”
The GOP legislators noted that the same legal loophole embraced by the Biden administration could equally apply to buying commercial lists that identify gun owners.
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“It is vital that any forthcoming legislation to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act close the data broker loophole,” they argued.
“Congress now has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to update our laws to protect Americans’ liberty, Americans’ right to privacy, and the Second Amendment.”
They also encouraged Johnson and Scalise to enhance that privacy protection by pushing bills passed by committee last year — the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act and the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act.
“For decades, Congress has legislatively protected gun-owning Americans’ rights. But decades-old privacy laws will continue in name only if the Biden Administration is allowed to continue this brazen surveillance of Americans without court orders,” the lawmakers stated.
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“We urge you to ensure the House of Representatives closes the data broker loophole before reauthorizing any warrantless surveillance powers.”
Besides Gaetz, other prominent Republicans who signed the letter included Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Chip Roy of Texas.
Florida GOP lawmakers who endorsed the letter included Bill Posey, Anna Paulina Luna, and Gus Bilirakis.
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