A new class-action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade association, of violating the privacy of millions of gun buyers by amassing a database from their personal information and using it for political purposes without their knowledge or consent. The complaint follows previous reporting by ProPublica exposing the decades-long program in which the NSSF worked with gun manufacturers and retailers to build its database — while publicly positioning itself as an ardent defender of gun owners‘ privacy.
As the complaint states, “This case arises from an organization’s decision to disregard the privacy, and misuse the sensitive information, of millions of law-abiding firearms purchasers.”
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE COMPLAINT
The lawsuit alleges that the NSSF convinced gun makers and retailers — including Glock, Smith & Wesson, Remington, Marlin, Mossberg, Cabela’s, and others — to send in warranty cards containing customers’ names, addresses, income, lifestyle, and other personal data and from that “created a database of millions of firearms purchasers, whom NSSF then targeted with political messages.”
According to the complaint, some of those warranty cards promised confidentiality while others told customers their information “could be shared with third parties for marketing and sales.” However, none of them disclosed that customer information would end up with lobbyists or used for political gain. Both plaintiffs, who are longtime gun owners, stated in the complaint that it was standard practice for them to return their warranty cards whenever they purchased a new firearm, believing it was in their best interest to do so.
The ProPublica investigation found that the NSSF started its secretive database in 1999 using data “from warranty cards filled out by customers and returned to gun manufacturers rebates and repair or replacement programs” and then used it to “rally firearm owners to elect pro-gun politicians.” As discussed here, the NSSF’s database was first reported on in October 2022.
A November 1999 memo prepared for the NSSF board noted that the organization would “have 400,000 names on file and available by year’s end” and said that the effort “open[ed] up awesome opportunity and potential.” The NSSF also proposed “sell[ing] the database to NSSF members, as well as non-shooting related companies and organizations to offset the cost of data entry and maintenance.
Another internal memo shows that by February 2002, the NSSF’s “Data Hunter” database contained 5.5 million records. Years later, the NSSF used gun owner data to send mailings to voters in 11 states as part of its “Vote Your Sport” political advertising campaign, which it claimed was a “critical component” in helping elect George W. Bush to the presidency in 2000. Then, in 2016, the NSSF allegedly worked with Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, to target voters in key states as part of another voter outreach program, this time called “GunVote.”
The NSSF’s Public Messaging on Privacy
These allegations directly undercut the NSSF’s public messaging on gun owners’ privacy. For example, in 2024, the group hailed the introduction of the “Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act” because it would protect the “privacy of firearm and ammunition purchasers” by preventing banks and credit card companies from “compiling [buyers’] purchase history,” which the group claimed “has already proven to be exploited by the federal government for political purposes.”
Yet, ironically, the organization was doing the very thing it warned against. As the complaint argues, “At all times, NSSF has concealed that it received the personal information of firearms and ammunition purchasers and that it used it for political purposes.” Further, “at all times, firearms manufacturers and retailers have concealed that they transferred the personal information of firearms and ammunition purchasers to NSSF, knowing that it would be used for political purposes.”
gun owners push back
The NSSF has not made any statements about the lawsuit since it was announced, but Shani Henry, a member of Gun Owners for Safety, told ProPublica, “They don’t care about our families’ safety or the rights of everyday gun owners, they’re more than happy to betray their own customers for political power and money. Gun owners’ privacy was violated and we deserve a full accounting of what happened and who profited from it.”
While the plaintiffs acknowledge that “it may be impossible to restore the privacy of the millions of firearms purchasers whose private information NSSF received and used without the purchasers’ prior knowledge and consent,” they believe the lawsuit “can at least compel NSSF to pay firearms purchasers for the value of what it took without permission.”
The lawsuit may now determine whether the gun lobby’s trade group faces accountability, not from regulators or politicians, but from the very gun owners it claims to represent.