Feds Demand Names of Over 10,000 Users of Gun Scope App from Apple & Google

The Federal Government is using extra-judicial means to obtain information on the owners of firearms with certain scopes. They are attempting to pressure Google and Apple to turn over the names and phone numbers of anyone who has used an app that allows users to more easily calibrate certain rifle scopes.

The scopes that the app works with are wifi enabled, digital scopes that display a digital target reticule. The operator connects the app to the scope using wifi and then takes a shot which the scope records using a pair of cameras which can track range and placement. Once the test shot is fired and recorded, the app is able to recenter the targeting reticule, effectively centering the scope.

This is a vast improvement in scope centering, enabling scope calibration to be done with a single shot and a few taps on a screen rather than shooting and adjusting the scope over several shots. Apparently, the improvement is so vast, that the federal government is desperate to obtain personal ID info on everyone who has used the app.

Now, the question is, why do the feds want this data? Is this the first step towards creating some kind of secret gun list? Or is the reason something more reasonable?

To answer that question, we need only look at the way the gun debate is playing out. We can say with certainty that the anti-gun lobby are not looking to save American lives by imposing stricter gun controls. We know this because there are many factors of American life which kill many more people than are killed by guns every year- factors which could be easily constrained by law to save MANY lives- yet these regulations never come.

Just to name a few examples; automobiles, prescription pain killers, doctor error, hammers, rocks, and even bare human hands each kill more Americans alone than firearms.

But to make things simple, let’s just focus on the fact that semi-automatic handguns are used to kill more people every year than AR-15s. Yet no one is campaigning against handguns. There is only one explanation for this. The anti-gun lobby is working to preserve the government’s monopoly on power. Without a clear advantage on the ability to deliver deadly force, no government can impose its will on a people fully.

Rifle scopes are far from cutting edge technology. The range and accuracy advantage they offer has never been a big target for the anti-gun lobby. The advanced scopes that the app is designed to work with do not make the shooter any better than a shooter with a traditional scope that is well dialed in. The only real advantage it offers is the ability to center the scope with just one test shot.

The users of these tools are primarily farmers and ranchers who want to exterminate large predatory animals that operate primarily at night. What does make the users of these scopes stand out is the fact that their scopes have night vision capabilities. That offers the user a significant military advantage over anyone who does not have night vision capability.

They are not being used in murders, and they do not present the government with a threat that is significantly higher than any they themselves can deliver.

Having eliminated the motivation of targeting people for being in possession of superior firepower, we believe we can say with certainty that the real motivation is the lists themselves.

Because the feds know these lists exist, they want them. It’s all about the information. Once they have the lists, they assume they will have a bead on the names and homes of the most well-armed people in America.

But there’s just one catch- and this is where this story takes a turn for the hilarious…

When you go to the Google Play page where the app can be downloaded, you find that thousands of people who do not have the requisite digital-nightvision scopes have downloaded it just to say “F.U.” to any feds who might obtain the list. They have made the lists that the feds are lusting for useless.

One user left a comment under the app saying, “I don’t have a scope or a gun at all. Everyone should install this app if for no other reason than to trash the government’s invasion of privacy by screwing up their data.”

…and thousands more left similar comments. Score one for liberty!