Want a gun? Not until police see what's in your social media history.

[Twilight Hue]

New bill could allow police to conduct social media searches on gun owners

Social media background checks?

What do you think?

Guns don't kill people. Social media does.

 

[Lyndon]

I think you might not get a gun????

 

[Twilight Hue]

I think you might not get a gun????

I don't live in Illinois. ;O)

 

[Firemorphic]

What if the person trying to buy has never had a social media account?

 

[Valjean]

What if Americans weren't so indifferent to privacy and government surveillance?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

What if the person trying to buy has never had a social media account?

Degenerates would be banned by definition.

 

[Subduction Zone]

The bill appears to be an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Why write a bill that will be rejected by the Supreme Court?

 

[HonestJoe]

The bill appears to be an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Why write a bill that will be rejected by the Supreme Court?

It only seems to cover what is publicly available so probably wouldn’t fall on that aspect. I’m not convinced how useful it would be though or whether any benefit justifies the cost of someone trawling through and assessing every applicants social media content.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The bill appears to be an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. Why write a bill that will be rejected by the Supreme Court?

Any idea of privacy is laughable in this social media age.
Google knows more about you than your employer, entire family, and the government combined.

 

[Woberts]

Good. Hopefully they'll ban them entirely, next.

 

[bobhikes]

New bill could allow police to conduct social media searches on gun owners

Social media background checks?

What do you think?

Guns don't kill people. Social media does.

I'm fine with it. Social media makes people stupid and stupid kills. Gun owners using social media extensively, IMOP would be stupid and probably shouldn't own guns.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Fine with me. Laws need to evolve with technology. I think there should be strict psychological testing before you're allowed to own a gun, anyway.

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm fine with it. Social media makes people stupid and stupid kills. Gun owners using social media extensively, IMOP would be stupid and probably shouldn't own guns.

This tool could be applied to cops.
Examine their history before allowing them guns & color of authority.
If deemed acceptable, then continue monitoring them as cops.
With their great power over us, their thoughts must be known.
We need the ability to yank the plug (Harkonen style?) if they become a threat.

 

[Audie]

Good. Hopefully they'll ban them entirely, next.

You want all guns to be banned (from civilian use)?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

New bill could allow police to conduct social media searches on gun owners

Social media background checks?

What do you think?

Guns don't kill people. Social media does.

I don't see any problem with checking publicly available information about a person before issuing or renewing a firearm license/permit.

Or are they talking about having applicants hand over the login info for their social media accounts?

 

[Quintessence]

This is a bad idea. Not intrinsically, but because it is not that straightforward to connected "social media" accounts to actual human persons. Many do not use their legal names on such accounts. Many people have the same legal names. And identity theft or smear campaigns using fake social media accounts with someone's legal name are not unheard of either.

Until there is a foolproof process to vet that a particular account is indeed tied to a particular person, I'd vote a solid no on this. But I would vote a solid yes on some serious regulation of the "social media" (which in reality is a consumer manipulation and data collection) industry to head in the direction of making this possible.

 

[Stanyon]

I don't know what the big deal is, if you have nothing to hide and you aren't doing anything wrong then you shouldn't mind professional, ethical, experts making judgement calls about posts on your social media. I also think that these same experts should be given a key to your place of residence so they can make wellness visits and search your home anytime they deem it necessary or feel like it.

It sounds like politicians in the democratic stronghold of Illinois want to be seen as doing something, anything, to combat gun violence even though they know the legislation will fail. I don't see it as a sincere effort to fix the underlying causes of gun violence and instead is paying lip service to the superficial to score temporary political points because they tried to do "something", it's a fake band- aid that will go nowhere.

Meanwhile from 2016:

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

This is a bad idea. Not intrinsically, but because it is not that straightforward to connected "social media" accounts to actual human persons. Many do not use their legal names on such accounts. Many people have the same legal names. And identity theft or smear campaigns using fake social media accounts with someone's legal name are not unheard of either.

Until there is a foolproof process to vet that a particular account is indeed tied to a particular person, I'd vote a solid no on this. But I would vote a solid yes on some serious regulation of the "social media" (which in reality is a consumer manipulation and data collection) industry to head in the direction of making this possible.

FYI: this is already done at the border for admission into the country.

 

[Quetzal]

New bill could allow police to conduct social media searches on gun owners

Social media background checks?

What do you think?

Guns don't kill people. Social media does.

I could be helpful but I didn't see a mention of a warrant anywhere. This is where I have questions in regards to social media monitoring.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Any idea of privacy is laughable in this social media age.
Google knows more about you than your employer, entire family, and the government combined.

Still not a valid excuse for the government to pry into one's private life. By the way if one is worried about Google knowing too much there are ways around it. A VPN allows one to search without Google tracking you, at least that is my understanding of those. For me I do not care enough to pay for such a service, but they are only a few bucks a month. If too many people did start to use them Google might have to find another way to "charge" for the use of their system. And use Google is not free. One pays for it by Google knowing your personal affairs.