Senator Britt Needs to Hear From Alabama Gun Owners Today!

Call To Action from Bama Carry

September 22

Editor’s note: the Senate hearing “Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.” is scheduled for Wednesday, September 23 at 2:30 PM ET/1:30 PM CT. Interested persons are encouraged to contact Senator Britt’s office about this hearing as early tomorrow morning as possible.

Alabamians:

Tomorrow, the United States Senate is holding a hearing with a title that says it all:

“Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.”

Senator Katie Britt sits on the subcommittee holding that hearing, and Alabama gun owners have some questions that deserve answers.

For weeks, BamaCarry has been sounding the alarm about Flock cameras and what this technology means for gun owners.

These cameras can create searchable records showing when and where vehicles appear. Put them outside gun stores, shooting ranges, gun shows, or other locations associated with lawful Second Amendment activity, and the implications should be obvious.

In addition to the work of BamaCarry, as many of you know, I also serve as Executive Director of the National Association for Gun Rights, and our federal lobbying team went directly to Senator Britt’s office ahead of tomorrow’s hearing with a list of questions specifically written around the concerns of gun owners.

According to our lobbying team, Senator Britt’s office gave us the cold shoulder, with her staff telling us:

“She finalized the questions she’s asking already.”

That answer should raise more questions, not end the conversation. Frankly, she told gun owners to go away... that she knows best.

If you want Senator Britt’s office to hear your concerns before tomorrow’s hearing, you can submit them through her official contact form.

EMAIL SENATOR BRITT NOW AT THIS LINK

And if you don’t have time to write out a message, pick up the phone and call her Washington office at 202-224-5744.

Here are the questions NAGR brought to Senator Britt’s office:

1. Should law enforcement be permitted to deliberately place Flock cameras outside gun stores, shooting ranges, gun shows, or other locations primarily associated with lawful Second Amendment activity?

Think about what that means.

A camera positioned outside a gun store doesn’t need to know what you bought. It knows your vehicle was there.

Do that long enough, across enough locations, and government agencies can begin assembling a picture of lawful activity that gun owners have every right to ask questions about.

2. Can Flock identify every vehicle that visited a particular gun store, shooting range, or gun show during a specific period of time?

Can somebody sitting behind a computer effectively ask:

“Show me everyone who went to this gun show last weekend”?

Gun owners deserve a clear answer.

3. What level of suspicion is required before law enforcement searches Flock data involving a gun owner?

A warrant?

Probable cause?

Reasonable suspicion?

Or does somebody simply type a justification into a box and hit Enter?

That distinction matters.

4. Can ATF or another federal agency ask state or local law enforcement to conduct a Flock search on its behalf?

Even if a federal agency does not have direct access to a particular network, can it simply ask somebody who does?

If the answer is yes, gun owners should know what safeguards exist.

5. What prevents this system from being used to build a de facto list of gun owners?

Alabama has already made clear in state law that government should not maintain a registry of privately owned firearms or their owners.

So what happens when surveillance technology can identify vehicles repeatedly appearing at gun stores, ranges, gun shows, and other firearms-related locations?

Where is the line?

Who enforces it?

And what stops somebody from crossing it?

6. What happens to the data after it leaves Flock?

Can an agency export it?

Download it?

Save it in another database?

Send it to another agency?

And if the answer is yes, what actually prevents information about lawful activity from being preserved long after Flock’s own retention period expires?

These are not complicated or "gotcha" questions, and they shouldn't be brushed aside.

Flock cameras have created an enormous surveillance capability. Whatever someone ultimately thinks the rules governing that technology should be, Americans deserve clear answers about who can search it, why they can search it, what they can search for, whom they can share it with, and how long the resulting information can survive.

Tomorrow’s hearing is an opportunity to get those answers on the record.

If you want Senator Britt to hear directly from you before that hearing, her office provides two ways to do it:

EMAIL SENATOR BRITT NOW

CALL SENATOR BRITT at 202-224-5744.

These are basic questions about government surveillance, due process, privacy, and the ability of Americans to exercise constitutional rights without creating a searchable trail of their lawful activities.

Senator Britt’s office gives Alabama constituents the option to submit their views through her official online form or contact her Washington office directly. Her official website lists the Washington number as 202-224-5744.

If you contact her office, you can identify yourself as an Alabama constituent and explain which of these questions you believe should be addressed at tomorrow’s hearing.

You do not need to write a long message. Be polite, specific, and respectful.

Flock cameras raise important questions about how much information government should be able to collect about ordinary Americans, how that information can be searched, who can access it, and what happens to it afterward.

Tomorrow, those questions will be discussed in the United States Senate.

Alabama gun owners deserve to be part of that conversation.Tomorrow, those questions will be discussed in the United States Senate.

EMAIL SENATOR BRITT NOW

And again, if you don’t have time to sit down and write out a message, please call Senator Britt’s office at 202-224-5744.

Tomorrow this issue goes before the United States Senate.

Alabama gun owners should make sure their questions are part of the record, so don't set this email aside and think that you can get to it later. The committee is tomorrow at 1:30 PM CT, so the sooner you can contact her office, the better. 

Thank you for standing with BamaCarry. 

For Freedom, 

Taylor D. Rhodes

Executive Vice President, BamaCarry