All Law Enforcement Nationwide Has Access to Idaho Data at Center of Gun Dispute in Twin Falls?
By Greg Pruett • September 13, 2024Idaho 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.”
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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
Im pretty sure thats what NCIC does as well. LEADS needs to be shut down and go away.
If somebody from Nevada came here to sell a gun, he would need to supply his residence, official I’d to complete it. The pawn guy would have that in case somebody asked, and of course there would be a phone conversation with someone in his home jurisdiction. The sheriff is just trying to get some free help on something HE should be doing.
It seems to me that the purpose of checking on a gun sale of this sort is to check for stolen property. Why couldn’t the seller’s information only be collected for a time to make sure that the firearm in this case is not stolen. The buyer would not need to be entered into that system. Therefore no gun tracing or registering.
Shall not be infringed.
Cept our politicians and government employee crime gang steal our income, liberty and justice.
I’m not in-law enforcement but I see the helpfulness of guns that are involved in crimes to be traced back. It appears to me that this Leads -on line, Is a Commercial Venture To give the highest bidder access to this service Is a type of registry to identify gun ownership which is against the Constitution. This list Gets in the wrong hands government or private could be detrimental to our second amendment.
Your reporting of this important story prompts me to subscribe to your news publication.
I did a cursory search for “LeadsOnline”, below is what I found:
LeadsOnline
(LinkedIn · LeadsOnline
5.3K+ followers
LeadsOnline is an investigative technology company that serves law enforcement agencies in over 80 countries. Our products are used by investigators, …)
All 50 states AND 80 other Countries??? I will be doggone carefull about buying ANY second hand gun.
Here is the link I mentioned above: https://www.google.com/search?q=leadsonline&oq=LeadsOnline&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqDQgAEAAYgwEYsQMYgAQyDQgAEAAYgwEYsQMYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEAAYgAQyBwgJEAAYgATSAQgxOTQxajBqN6gCCLACAQ&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
It might not violate the fourth amendment however it walks right up to the line with a baseball bat and demands you to comply.
Sounds like the rats wet dream to help lead into the UN small arms treaty, serving all of the US and 80 other country’s to the highest bidder.
Can you say world!? How about global!? We have enough to worry about with our own city, state and federal would be DICK-TATERS!!!!!!!