Blumenthal Questions National Shooting Sports Foundation on Use of Owners' Sensitive Personal Information for Political Purposes

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Following new alarming details from leaked 2016 Cambridge Analytica emails revealing the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) contracted with Cambridge Analytica (CA) to collect and use gun owners’ personal information and data for political purposes, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned the trade organization on efforts to safeguard the private information of American gun owners.

“I am writing to request more information about the way in which the NSSF and gun manufacturers utilize and maintain warranty information and other personally identifiable information (PII) that they appear to have used to identify lawful gun owners,” wrote Blumenthal to NSSF President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Bartozzi.

According to documents, NSSF and CA worked together during the 2016 election cycle on a “voter education” campaign, where employees built a database of firearms manufacturing warranty cards collected by firearms companies. The data included information of people who bought a gun and what kind of gun they bought, and was then used to determine the targeting of persuadable voters in battleground states. A CA employee also said the company was, “in a process of obtaining more data from gun brokers.” 

“The claim by Cambridge Analytica that NSSF maintains and leverages a database, akin to a registry, of gun owners’ personal information should come as a surprise to millions of law abiding gun owners, many of whom, undoubtedly, would never have consented for firearms manufacturers or retailers to retain, share, and expose their sensitive personal data for political purposes,” wrote Blumenthal.

Citing the need to protect the privacy and data security of millions of American consumers, Blumenthal demanded NSSF detail their practices, writing, “Congress deserves a full explanation of the data collection process, the way the data was used, and the safeguards that NSSF put in place to protect the private information of gun owners.”

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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