I did not get “the letter” and I felt left out (thinking all instructors were affected) but I called DOJ and was told there are about 6000 FSC instructors so only slightly more than half were affected.
But to the NRA’s point, this is one additional danger of a centralized database (but not even the main danger — the government getting the information — and that is not a risk but a certainty).
This sort of ID theft is also a risk with any license to carry program, so constitutional carry is a better way to go obviously.
BTW if you fail to get your estate planning done, you effectively foist this sort of mandated registration onto your family. That is what happens when guns go through probate, which is a public record. In California, guns will probably have to go through probate (or by affidavit) regardless whether you have a trust but WHERE AND HOW you have them go can also affect privacy. You don’t want criminals knocking on the doors of your beneficiaries.
Of course, the U.S. is not immune to this type of bureaucratic error. Late last year, the California Department of Justice revealed that they had inappropriately released the personal information of 3,424 Certified California Firearm Safety Instructors.
According to a letter sent out to all those affected by the breach, in response to a reporter’s California Public Records Act Request concerning the state’s Firearms Safety Certificate scheme, California mistakenly provided the reporter with the “names, date of birth, California Driver’s License number, and/or California Identification number,” of the state’s certified instructors.
Source: NRA-ILA | Breaches in Australia and California Show Danger of Centralized Gun Owner Data
