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Knimrod
04-05-2006, 10:09 PM
Gun law expert urges law-abiding firearm owners to protect themselves against identity theft
April 5 2006
John Snyder

“Since identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States, America’s scores of millions of law-abiding firearm owners must protect themselves against it,” gun law expert John Snyder said here today. ID thieves take a victim’s identity for financial gain or for concealing the real identity of the perpetrator.

Under current federal law, when a potential firearm buyer attempts to purchase a gun from a federally licensed firearm dealer (FFL), an electronic criminal record check is run through the NCIC. If the buyer’s name is not in the NCIC, the sale may proceed; if it is, then the sale cannot be made.

“I would like to ensure that no criminal steals the good name of a law-abiding gun owner to purchase a firearm through the NCIC,” said Snyder. “We can ensure this only if every law-abiding gun owner in America takes proper steps to prevent ID theft.

“Actually,” Snyder continued, “American gun owners could work hand-in-hand with American law enforcement in a preventive way. By protecting their identity from ID theft, gun owners could prevent ID thieves from using their good names in a potential attempt to subvert the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).”

“There are some basic steps gun owners can take to make it more difficult for thieves to obtain their personal information. Gun owners ought to learn about these steps and take them. This could help prevent ID thieves from using gun owners’ names and creating havoc with their financial and court records.”

Snyder said, “It also would help to support legislation designed to prevent ID thieves from achieving their objectives. Law-abiding citizens can support legislation to clamp down on identity theft, to severely penalize perpetrators convicted of ID theft, or to make ID theft itself more difficult,” said Snyder.

In almost all states, recreational licensing is administered through retailers like bait and tackle shops or other stores. These individual agents, not state agencies, are the primary conduit for collecting, recording and transmitting Social Security numbers, putting the personal information of sportsmen at grave and unnecessary risk.

“One of the measures worthy of support,” said Snyder, “is the proposed Sportsman’s Privacy Protection Act, introduced as S. 2249 in the Senate by Sen. Rick Santorum, and in the House of Representatives as H.R. 4144 by Rep. Phil English, both of Pennsylvania. S. 2249/H.R. 4144 would modify section 666 of Title 42 of US Code to delete the state mandate requiring Americans to disclose their Social Security numbers in order to obtain hunting, fishing or other recreational licenses.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has drawn up a list of steps citizens can take to block ID thieves. Following these guidelines, gun owners should not give out personal information on the phone, through the mail or over the Internet unless they initiate the contact or are sure they know who they are dealing with. ID thieves may pose as representatives of banks, Internet service providers (ISPs) and even government agencies to get gun owners to reveal their social security number (SSN), mother’s maiden name, account numbers and other identifying information. Before sharing any personal information, gun owners should confirm they are dealing with a legitimate organization.

Snyder said, “it would be a good idea for all of America’s 80 million law-abiding gun owners, or at least as many as possible, to consult a special FTC web page, http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft, for more information on this subject.”


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John Snyder (GunDean@aol.com)
Manager
Telum Associates, LLC (http://www.gunsaint.com/)
PO Box 2844
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone : 703-212-9863
Fax : 202-898-1939

Link to press release (http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/default.cfm?Action=ReleaseDetail&ID=12208&NRWid=6042)