Luetkemeyer holds press conference on DOR controversy

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – The federal Social Security Administration now says that its investigators were not able to read an electronic list of concealed gun permit holders from Missouri.

In an email Monday, a spokesman for the federal agency says it distributed incorrect information last week when it said the disk was read before it was destroyed. The agency’s retraction came after Missouri Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer held a news conference Monday recounting what he had been told about the disk by the agency’s inspector general.

The miscommunication highlights the confusion about an issue that has been a growing concern among Republican lawmakers. They fear gun owners’ privacy rights were violated when the Missouri State Highway Patrol provided the list of permit holders to a federal investigator.