by Corey G. Johnson

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A U.S. senator this week criticized the gun industry for secretly harvesting personal information from firearm owners for political purposes, calling it an “invasive and dangerous intrusion” of privacy and safety.

In a letter sent to the National Shooting Sports Foundation on Tuesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., questioned the legality of the “covert program” in which firearms manufacturers for years shared sensitive customer information with political operatives.

Blumenthal cited a ProPublica investigation that found some of America’s most iconic gunmakers secretly participated, even while the gun industry presented itself as a privacy protector and fought against government and corporate efforts to track firearms ownership.

At least 10 gun industry businesses, including Glock, Smith & Wesson and Remington, handed over hundreds of thousands of names, addresses and other private data — without customer knowledge or consent — to the NSSF, which then entered the details into what would become a massive database. The database was used to rally gun owners’ electoral support for the industry’s candidates running for the White House and Congress.

Blumenthal, who chairs a Senate subcommittees on privacy, gave the NSSF a Nov. 21 deadline to answer several questions. He wanted to know more about which companies contributed information to the database, the type of customer details shared and whether the data is still being used by the organization or by others.

The senator, who served as Connecticut’s attorney general for two decades and has consistently supported legislation to reduce gun........

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