Gun Buyers Shouldn't be Required to Share Social Media with Police, ACLU Says
*By Amanda Weston*
A new bill in Illinois would require potential gun buyers to reveal their public social media accounts to state police. The ACLU is now speaking out against the idea, citing privacy and bias concerns.
"The things that social media would show are one's political views, perhaps one's religion, and even in some instances someone's race," Edwin Yohnka, director of communications and public policy at ACLU of Illinois, told Cheddar.
"And you know, how are those things then going to factor into that decision about whether or not to let someone purchase a firearm? It's just not something that really provides additional information that's useful, and at the same time provides an invasion into someone's personal beliefs that just isn't required for this purpose."
Yohnka said social media typically doesn't reveal more relevant information ー like a potential buyer's arrest record or whether there are restraining orders against that person.
The bill from Illinois State Rep. Daniel Didech comes just before the one-year anniversary of the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. After the attack, [disturbing posts](https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/nikolas-cruz-florida-shooting-suspect/index.html) on the accused shooter's social media came to light.
“A lot of people who are having mental health issues will often post on their social media pages that they’re about to hurt themselves or others,” the Illinois Democrat told [CBS Chicago](https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/06/gun-law-bill-social-media-illinois-background-foid/). “We need to give those people the help they need.”
But Yohnka pointed to the state's ["red flag" law](http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/fulltext.asp?DocName=&SessionId=91&GA=100&DocTypeId=HB&DocNum=2354&GAID=14&LegID=102977&SpecSess=&Session=), under which family members, law enforcement, and roommates can petition a judge to allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from those who are found to pose a danger to themselves or others.
"There is a vehicle and a mechanism for protecting the public in that particular case, as opposed to this general sort of sweeping thing of looking through everybody's data," Yohnka said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/aclu-concerned-about-illinois-bill-requiring-potential-gun-owners-to-reveal-social-media-to-police).
The push to regulate the gig worker economy is gaining steam as the share of workers who participate in freelancing through businesses like Uber and Lyft have also exponentially grown during the pandemic. Employment attorney Mark Kluger, founding partner at Kluger Healey, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down how the battle to reclassify gig workers will continue in the new year, and why the issue continues to generate conflict. "More and more workers are using gig work as their primary source of income and as a result of that they are not like employees in the sense that they don't have benefits like health insurance," Kluger noted.
2021 saw markets continue to be impacted by the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic -most recently in the form of the Omicron variant- in addition to the global supply chain shortage, and increased inflation. But it wasn't all bad news, as crypto soared throughout the year, and meme stocks continued to have a moment. With the year coming to a close, investors are keeping an eye out to see if they should expect more of the same in the new year. Chris Vecchio, Senior Analyst, at DailyFX tells us what market trends to be on the watch for in 2022.
Matt Hayden, vice president of govtech solutions at Exiger and a former assistant secretary of cyber at Department of Homeland Security, joined Cheddar to discuss the surprise phone call initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Joe Biden, ahead of January security talks about the rising tensions over Ukraine. "We're hoping to hear that we're able to talk about the aggression and the leadup of the Ukrainian militarization," Hayden said. "But we're also looking to hear is how the Kremlin leveraged their talking points to try to test their negotiation stance with the United States leading into this January 10th meeting."
The No Surprises Act begins implementation on January 1, 2022. The legislation is meant to curb the practice of unexpected billing for care from providers the patient was unaware were out-of-network from their insurance. Patricia Kelmar, director of health care campaigns for U.S. PIRG joined Cheddar to describe the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars charged to unsuspecting patients and how things will change under the new law. "If we are picking an in-network doctor and an in-network hospital, we should not see those added costs from anesthesiologists, radiologists, scrub-in surgeons," she said. "The other area it protects you is in air ambulances — not ground ambulances, unfortunately — but the helicopters or the airplanes you might need to transport you in an emergency situation."
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladmir Putin are expected to have another conversation surrounding escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Ariel Cohen, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joined Cheddar's Ken Buffa to discuss the ongoing tensions and why Putin's request for a conversation with Biden comes now. "This is very serious. This is the worst security crisis we had since the collapse of the Soviet Union," Cohen told Cheddar.
