U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison argued the federal government is building a database of gun owners using Section 702 of the FISA Act.
Section 702, which is set to expire on April 30, allows the government to surveil foreign terror suspects without a warrant.
This authority also allows the government to query American citizens who communicate with these individuals.
Boebert and Burlison stated that this authority allows the government to sift through the electronic communications of American citizens even if they aren’t suspected of a crime.
“Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is sold as a tool to spy on foreign terrorists. What surveillance hawks leave out is that when a foreign target — who can be virtually anyone — communicates with an American, those messages get swept into the database too. No warrant. No notice. And then the CIA, NSA, and FBI search through those private communications using Americans’ names, emails, and other identifiers — and no warrant is required for that either,” Boebert and Burlison argued in an op-ed published on Breitbart,
The two House Freedom Caucus members sounded the alarm about the intelligence agencies running queries on American citizens under Section 702, using these tools to sweep up information on lawful gun owners.
Burlison and Boebert revealed that under Section 702, the government is currently collecting emails and credit card numbers from firearms transactions due to the fact that many guns bought in America are manufactured abroad.
“Federal agencies are buying your personal data from commercial data brokers. The data for sale includes your location history — every gun store, range, and sporting goods shop your phone went near. Your financial records — every ammo purchase. Your consumer behavior profile,” the op-ed read.
The two also cautioned that the growth of Artificial Intelligence could allow algorithms to flag Americans purchasing firearms and place them in a national registry without any human oversight.
“The government can now train AI on information about your constitutionally protected activity, from what you buy to what websites you visit to where you sleep at night, all based on information purchased from data brokers without any court or law authorizing agencies to do so,” Burlison and Boebert stated.
The two lawmakers said they will push for amendments. They said the changes would limit how the intelligence community can use Section 702 to gather and store data.
Burlison and Boebert listed two reforms they would like Congress to adopt before Section 702 expires on April 30.
The first is requiring “a warrant before the FBI searches an American’s private communications.”
Secondly, Boebert and Burlison made the case that Congress should ban the FBI from buying Americans’ data without a court order.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to round up the votes to extend Section 702.
Burlison and Boebert’s piece underscored the divisions in Congress over this program.
