State Department of Revenue leaders told a Missouri House committee today that they are NOT sending copies of documents from Missouri citizens to the federal government.
Director Brian Long and Deputy Director John Mollenkamp say they now require documents from state residents, including conceal-carry endorsements, to be scanned into a computer system as part of an effort to cut down on fraud. Republican House Member Todd Richardson says, though, he’s still skeptical about the agency’s intentions
“I’ve got concerns just taking what the department testified to on face value…the collecting of these source documents and storing them in a state database, whether that information’s being shared with anyone or not, I’ve got deep concerns about the state collecting and holding that much data,” said Richardson.
Richardson is sponsoring a bill that would bar the Department of Revenue from retaining copies of source documents used to obtain driver’s licenses, conceal-carry endorsements and other licenses.
Some Republican lawmakers have accused the agency of forwarding scanned documents to the Department of Homeland Security, and suggested that it’s part of an effort by the Obama Administration to collect data on gun owners in Missouri.