TriggerFinger has this up on his site related to the Patriot Act.
The topic is the allowance by the act of seizure of business records. I believe this is the same topic as the library controversy, though I may be wrong. I'm a bit confused by this, since I believe, like the library controversy, the law enforcement agency is not allowed just to go fishing through records. They must have a reason.
I don't think the Patriot Act is adding anything new though. In fact I seriously doubt that if they issued it again that the portion on blanket seizures wouldn't again be found unconstitutional. I also recall that the BATFE could always view those records. I believe all they need to do is "audit" the company and they would have open access to the records.
I am a bit worried about TriggerFinger's statement on reports of the BATFE scanning all of a company's 4473's. That doesn't sound proper. I've done a bunch of searches and come up empty on any reports of this in the news. I left a comment with questions at TriggerFinger, and hopefully he has better access to an information source than I've been able to find.
I don't think the Patriot Act is adding anything new though. In fact I seriously doubt that if they issued it again that the portion on blanket seizures wouldn't again be found unconstitutional. I also recall that the BATFE could always view those records. I believe all they need to do is "audit" the company and they would have open access to the records.
I am a bit worried about TriggerFinger's statement on reports of the BATFE scanning all of a company's 4473's. That doesn't sound proper. I've done a bunch of searches and come up empty on any reports of this in the news. I left a comment with questions at TriggerFinger, and hopefully he has better access to an information source than I've been able to find.
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