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Home  News News GOA wins against County of Berks and Sherriff in CCW Case
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GOA wins against County of Berks and Sherriff in CCW Case |
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Written by bigpig
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Tuesday, 13 November 2001 |
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Page 1 of 2 Gun Owners Support Action Against The County of Berks and the Berks County Sheriff For the Illegal Use of Confidential CCW Permit Holder Information. Read the rest below.
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Gun Owners Support Action Against The County of Berks and the Berks County Sheriff For the Illegal Use of Confidential CCW Permit Holder Information
For Immediate Release Contact: John Velleco
Dated: November 13, 2001 703-321-8585
Gun Owners Foundation has awarded a Litigation Assistance Grant to Jerry
W. Schaeffer in support of his stand against the County of Berks and the
Berks County Sheriff, Barry Jozwiak, for their illegal use of
confidential information provided by Berks County CCW Permit Holders.
Gun Owners of America, with its more than 300,000 members, also fully
supports Mr. Schaeffer.
?This is a blatant attack on the privacy rights of gun owners,? said
Larry Pratt, Executive Director of GOA. ?We are asking the Berks County
Commissioners to institute and conduct an investigation into how this
breach of confidences occurred, and as to who exactly was responsible
for allowing it to happen.?
On 14 September 1999, Jerry Schaeffer instituted suit in the Berks
County Court of Common Pleas against Sheriff Jozwiak and the County of
Berks alleging that confidential information was used for the mailing of
a fund-raising letter - a so-called ?posse letter? - from Jozwiak?s
political campaign for re-election. The letters solicited contributions
to Jozwiak?s 1999 campaign for re-election.
Under Pennsylvania?s Firearms Act, 18 Pa.C.S.A. §6111(i), all
information provided by an applicant for a CCW permit shall remain
confidential and not subject to disclosure. Contained therein is a
statutory, mandatory civil penalty of $1,000.00 per person for violation
of the confidentiality provision. Over 23,000 persons in Berks County
were affected by the actions alleged within Schaeffer?s Complaint. On
16 March 2001, Judge Barry Feudale certified the action as a $28 million
dollar class action. To date, less than 115 class members opted not to
participate in the suit.
Despite overwhelming evidence that 99.9% of all Berks County CCW permit
holders, including thousands whose names and addresses could not have
been derived from any source other than from a master list of Berks
County CCW permit holders, were targeted by the illegal campaign
mailing, Jozwiak and the County continue to deny wrongdoing, Jozwiak
remains in office, and the County has failed to investigate how such a
breach of public trust occurred.
The confidentiality provisions of the Firearms Act were intended to
prevent just this type of abuse. ?It is abhorrent that the integrity of
the information of CCW permit applicants has been so blatantly
compromised by Jozwiak and the County? said Mr. Pratt. Schaeffer,
through his attorney, Joseph A. O?Keefe, of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, have
vowed to take this matter as far as is necessary to vindicate the rights
of the over 23,000 persons whose rights have been violated.
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