By Eli Yokley
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers swung into full-speed investigation mode Thursday, after a Senate committee learned Wednesday that the Missouri Highway Patrol had sent data about individuals with gun permits to the federal government.
The acknowledgement came after weeks of prodding from lawmakers into whether the federal government was compiling a database of source documents provided by Missourians to the Department of Revenue while seeking to obtain a drivers license or conceal carry endorsement.
At the same time that Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schafer, R-Columbia, was grilling the top-brass of the Highway Patrol and the Missouri Department of Public Safety Wednesday afternoon, House Speaker Tim Jones stood in front of the Missouri Supreme Court and called on Attorney General Chris Koster to launch an independent investigatory committee seeking to find out whether any laws had been broken by Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration.
“This is not partisan,” he said. “This is about protecting people’s rights.”
Jones said Koster’s panel could model a similar panel formed by then-Attorney General Jay Nixon at the height of Blunt administration’s e-mail scandal.
Jones said the issue was brought to his attention by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder when he scheduled a press conference to bring attention to a case in Stoddard County, where resident Eric Griffin, 52, filed suit against his local fee office after they tried to scan his personal documents when he went in to file for a Conceal Carry Endorsement. After a fee office employee attempted to scan some of his documents, Griffin stopped them, and the fee office would not allow him to obtain his license.
Additionally, Jones said he would be willing to give Rep. Jay Barnes, chairman of the House Government Oversight Committee, subpoena power to find any documents regarding the issue, much like Schaefer’s committee has already done.
On Thursday, Schaefer kept his committee open for several hours to discuss the issue. Speaking with reporters after, Schaefer said his outrage was based on the fact that the General Assembly was never informed about implementation of the new identification program that required the scanning of documents.
“Why wasn’t the General Assembly informed,” he said, noting his belief that the entire issue was about “identity security.” Schaefer added that he believed whoever gave the documents to the federal government was in violation of state law banning the showing of confidential documents.
