All Law Enforcement Nationwide Has Access to Idaho Data at Center of Gun Dispute in Twin Falls?

Idaho Dispatch has learned that LeadsOnline allows law enforcement in all 50 states to access its database if a user’s agency has paid for that specific level of access.

The new information comes as Idaho Dispatch was provided with a transcript of a meeting between the Twin Falls Police Department and gun shops in Twin Falls. In the transcript, a TFPD officer says the information they are collecting is “shared with everywhere else.”

Last month, Idaho Dispatch broke a story about the LeadsOnline program after several gun shops said they refused to input their customer’s data into the system on secondhand firearm purchases from customers. The shops, Homestead Tactical and QRF say they were threatened with misdemeanor charges and a potential loss of their business licenses for non-compliance. Both companies say they did not want to put their customer’s personal information in the system because they felt LeadsOnline acted as a defacto gun registry and violated 4th Amendment protections.

Several other stores, Red’s Trading Post, also in Twin Falls, and Patriot Pawn and Gun in Star, say the system does not act as a registry. Alex Grenier with Patriot Pawn and Gun says LeadsOnline has helped clean up the pawn industry. However, both shops say that if it is determined that LeadsOnline’s collection of firearm data is against Idaho law, they will no longer use the program.

TFPD also said they are not using the program as a gun registry and that they support the 2nd Amendment.

Attorney General Raul Labrador’s office said last month that the local governments’ collection of firearm data violates Idaho Code 18-3326A(2). That code specifically says,

“Except for those records kept during the regular course of a criminal investigation and prosecution or as otherwise required by law, a state government entity or local government, special district, or other political subdivision or official, agent, or employee of the state or other government entity or any other person, public or private, other than the owner or owner’s representative, may not knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms.”

During the meeting with TFPD and Twin Falls gun shops, which took place on May 22, 2024, Tara Corsini from QRF said they did not want to input customers’ personal information into LeadsOnline but were willing to just put the make, model, and serial number into the system. In part of the transcript, Corsini says,

“SO we would not be comfortable then being required to utilize Leads Online until that was taken care of.”

Immediately after Corsini’s comment, a TFPD officer says,

“And if, ok, we…I’ll be happy to present that and explain that to our attorney, and see where you guys fall into this. I get where you are coming from, and in the way that you guys do business and the way that you handle, but the reason we do that and the reason we require that is because that isn’t just shared with us. That’s shared with everywhere else. So someone may have stolen a gun down in Elko (Nevada), and has come up here to sell it to you. And we know that…” (Emphasis added.)

What does “everywhere else” mean regarding information from Idaho businesses’ data entered into LeadsOnline?

According to LeadsOnline’s website, law enforcement agencies can search transactions from all 50 states. Here is a screenshot from the LeadsOnline website:

The LeadsOnline site says they have over 1.7 billion transactions from businesses in all 50 states.

Idaho Dispatch contacted LeadsOnline to get more clarification on other law enforcement agencies’ access to Idaho-based data. LeadsOnline says any agency that has purchased the necessary level of access can see data anywhere in the country.

Idaho Dispatch also contacted Lt. Terance Thueson, listed as the city of Twin Falls media contact, about their access to LeadsOnline for out-of-state data. Thueson has not responded to our request for comment.

When Idaho Dispatch asked if federal agencies use LeadsOnline, we were told to email the company to answer that question. We have not received a reply to that question yet.

What are your thoughts on the LeadsOnline program being used by law enforcement in Idaho? Let us know in the comments below.

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Tags: Attorney General, Idaho, LeadsOnline, Raul Labrador, Terance Thueson, Twin Falls, Twin Falls Police Department

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