Personal information of people granted, denied concealed carry permits leaked by California's Attorney General's Office

The personal information of every Californian who applied for a concealed carry permit since 2011 was leaked this week, authorities said.

When the Department of Justice launched its "2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal," which was supposed to "improve transparency and information sharing for firearms-related data," according to a statement released by California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office Tuesday. However, it was not supposed to include the personal information of concealed carry weapon permit holders. 

The information exposed included names, birth dates, gender, race, driver's license numbers, addresses, and criminal history, Bonta said. Data from several dashboards was also impacted, including Assault Weapon Registry, Handguns Certified for Sale, Dealer Record of Sale, Firearm Certificate Safety, and Gun Violence Restraining Order dashboards.

Bonta said he was "deeply disturbed and angered" by the leak.

"This unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable and falls far short of my expectations for this department," Bonta said in a statement. "I immediately launched an investigation into how this occurred at the California Department of Justice and will take strong corrective measures where necessary." 

The dashboard and data was pulled offline Tuesday morning by the Department of Justice upon learning of the data breach, but the dashboard and date were available online about a day. 

Bonta's office said the people whose data was exposed will be notified soon, and provided with information and resources, including credit monitoring services. The DOJ is also asking anyone who accessed the data while it was available to not share any of the personal information, which can be a crime if used for an unlawful purpose.