A national gun rights organization is accusing the Twin Falls Police Department of illegally requiring firearm dealers to record second hand purchases – creating a de facto gun registry.
The National Association for Gun Rights, a more conservative advocacy group than the mainstream National Rifle Association, sent the letter Thursday to Police Chief Craig Kingsbury.
According to the letter, if storeowners don’t comply, TFPD has threatened to impose fines of up to $300 and/or six months of jail time.
Twin Falls city code requires all pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers to keep detailed records of all their transactions, including sending descriptions of each item to LeadsOnline, a privately operated database of secondhand purchases. The ordinance has been in place for nearly 12 years.
“You are advised to immediately reverse course and refrain from mandating the inclusion of firearm transaction data in the LeadsOnline system or any similar system or registry,” wrote NAGR’s vice president, Ryan Flugaur.
NAGR is threatening possible legal action if the Twin Falls Police Department doesn’t drop the alleged requirement.
Idaho law preempts local governments from adopting rules or regulations related to the “sale, acquisition, transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, carrying or storage of firearms or any element relating to firearms and components thereof, including ammunition.”
NAGR wrote Twin Falls’ alleged requirement also violates the Idaho and U.S. constitutions.
In a statement, Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury said these allegations are “intentionally deceitful."
"We want to make it unequivocally clear that the Twin Falls Police Department is not now, nor has it ever been, interested in creating a local 'registry' of gun owners," Kingsbury said.
The statement said the city does not want to collect the names of firearm buyers and has held multiple meetings with gun shop owners to find a way to stop the theft and sale of stolen guns.
"We remain committed to finding a thoughtful and transparent solution to stopping the theft and sale of firearms in our community."
LeadsOnline touts itself as a tool for criminal investigators “…to find connections between missing items or individuals more quickly, which could prove instrumental in solving a homicide or returning stolen property to its rightful owner.”
The company said more than 5,500 law enforcement agencies use the software to search 1.7 billion transactions from businesses across all 50 states.
Officers from several other Idaho law enforcement agencies have written reviews of the service posted on LeadsOnline’s website, including the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, Boise Police Department and Nampa Police Department.
Detectives from the agencies said LeadsOnline helped them recover many items of stolen property and solve burglary cases.
One detective said the program helped him return a firearm stolen during a 1994 burglary in Pocatello after it was sold to a store in a town northeast of Fresno, Calif.
Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio
