Hawley confronts FBI Director over concealed carry audits
There are reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is preparing to conduct ‘audits’ of Missouri county sheriffs’ records of concealed carry weapons permit holders.
After sending a letter last week, Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley directly confronted FBI Director Chirstopher Wray about it Thursday.
Hawley claims Wray and the FBI are putting our sheriffs in a terrible position because there is a law in the state of Missouri that we don’t give out that private information, but at the hearing, Wray didn’t have many answers for Hawley, saying he’d get back to him in writing at a later date.
“I’m disappointed, frankly, I sent you this letter days ago,” Hawley said to Wray. “This has been on your radar screen, the attorney general of our state sent you a letter before that. You’ve known about this. This is a significant concern … I don’t like the fact that the FBI is snooping around the concealed carry permit records of Missourians. I don’t like it at all. I don’t know what you’re going to do with the information but I don’t like that you’re putting our sheriff’s in this position.”
Wray did say that these audits are routine and only look at small samples to make sure the system is being used properly. “They’re not focused on individuals or their second amendment rights or anything like that,” said Wray. “We had one in your home state in 2018 and I think it was very uneventful and I expect this one to be as well.”
Hawley though fired back by saying that in 2018 they were not asking for these CCW records but that this time they are.
Area sheriffs have already made it clear they would not be sending the FBI or and federal agency this information.
Watch the full exchange between Hawley and Wray below:
“Missouri is a state filled with law-abiding gun owners. There’s no pressing need for federal bureaucrats to collect information about who they are and other information on their applications for concealed carry permits,” said Senator Hawley. “Indeed, restricting who can access that information has been a priority for Missouri lawmakers for years: limitations on the distribution of firearm owner information have been codified into Missouri law to prevent the very scenario we’re seeing here.”