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 Cowboy State has become one of the world's top tax havens, according to the Pandora Papers, a trove of more than 11.9 million documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and The Washington Post. The papers reveal, among other things, how ultra-wealthy people from around the world move money into the U.S., invest, and spend it under a shroud of secrecy. Allison Tait, University of Richmond law professor, joined Cheddar to talk about Wyoming's laidback tax laws, their impact on the nation's economy, and provided some details on the financial arrangement known as the "cowboy cocktail."
Carlo and Baker preview President Biden's address to the nation as Omicron becomes the new dominant Covid strain. Plus, Trump gets booed for getting his booster and the White House gets a new puppy.
China and Russia are saying they want to work closer together in different areas after a recent call between Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. What are the implications of a close partnership between Beijing and Moscow? Cheddar News breaks things down with expert Hagar Chemali.
Michele Schneider, Partner and Director of Trading Research & Education for MarketGauge.com, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she says the spread of the Omicron variant and Jerome Powell's comments following the latest Fed decision are spooking investors heading into the weekend.
Carlo and Baker wrap up another week discussing the latest explosion in new Covid cases in the Northeast, President Biden's stalled agenda and more. Plus, Love, Hate, Ate featuring the question: why did movie dialogue get so hard to understand?
Since July 2021, families with children have received monthly payments from the federal government as part of the expanded child tax credit, a policy that may be expiring this month. Megan Curran, policy director at the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University, joined Cheddar News to discuss.
During the pandemic, student loan debt repayment was put on pause amid an unprecedented crisis. However, on February 1, 2022, the schedule is set to resume, and currently it looks as though the Biden administration has no plans to extend it. Cody Hounanian, the executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center, spoke to Cheddar about why he believes the loan collection pause needs to at least be extended as borrowers are still struggling with the resurgent pandemic and inflation. "There's really no good economic or policy or political reason as far as why they're focused on getting payments started now," Hounanian said. "We surveyed 33,000 people with student loans last month. Nine out of 10 told us that they are not ready to resume payments."
As the 2022 midterm elections fast approach, here are some politicians Americans should be on the lookout for. Democratic Massachusetts state senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, who was the first Latina and Asian American woman to be elected to the state's senate, now has her eye on the governorship with Republican Charlie Baker leaving. New Jersey GOP candidate for Congress, Billy Prempeh also bears watching, and while Boston's newest mayor, Democrat Michelle Wu, was already sworn in last month, all eyes will be on Beantown as the first woman and first person of color to hold the office tries to usher in a new era for the city.
