On Tuesday, the USA FREEDOM Act was signed into law. As we reported when the bill passed the House in May, this important legislation will bring to an end NSA's mass, undifferentiated collection of telephone metadata under the USA PATRIOT Act. The NRA has opposed this broad surveillance program because of its potential to chill our members' communication, particularly given the Obama Administration's well-publicized antagonism against Second Amendment freedoms. We also noted that the availability of sophisticated means of analyzing the metadata to create detailed profiles of individuals could effectively create an end-run around federal prohibitions on firearm registries.
The PATRIOT Act provisions underlying the telephone metadata program had expired late on May 31. This gave impetus to passage of the USA FREEDOM Act, which reauthorized the intelligence community's access to information, but with a variety of mechanisms to ensure collection of telephone metadata is more narrowly focused on legitimate national security concerns. Privacy advocates from across the political spectrum are hailing the Act's passage as a historic, if measured, step toward ensuring the federal government is not given free rein to delve into the private lives of ordinary Americans.
The NRA is pleased that Americans' concerns regarding overly-intrusive government surveillance have produced meaningful reforms. As ever, we will remain alert to any threats to Second Amendment rights, however they may appear.
USA FREEDOM Act Becomes Law, Enhances Privacy for Law-Abiding Americans
Friday, June 5, 2015
Monday, April 22, 2024
On Friday, ATF provided the unpleasant surprise of yet another rulemaking to implement the noxious Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).
Monday, April 22, 2024
Along with “assault weapon” bans, so-called “high capacity” magazine restrictions are a cornerstone of modern gun control.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
After holding late-night votes until close to midnight on Saturday, April 20th, the Colorado House passed three anti-gun bills on their third reading, including liability insurance mandates, an 11% excise tax, and a state-level permitting systems for FFL's.
Thursday, April 18, 2024
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) has announced a legal victory in a high-profile governance matter brought by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (DCAG).
Monday, April 22, 2024
The Supreme Court of Nevada upheld Nevada’s regulations on so-called “ghost guns” in Sisolak v. Polymer80, holding that the statutes are not unconstitutionally vague.