RCMP data breach exposes sensitive details about gun owners
If the RCMP can plan to send officials door-to-door to confiscate firearms, they should be more than capable of contacting legal firearms owners after sensitive information was accessed in a ransomware attack.
They know exactly where I live when they want my firearms — but somehow, they didn’t know how to reach me when my personal data may have been breached. If the government can find my door to take my property, it can find my mailbox to warn me when my privacy is at risk.
Think about the contradiction here. The government knows exactly where I live.
They have my name, my RPAL number, my date of birth, my home address. They have it because I followed the law. Because I went through the background checks. Because I complied.
They are now openly planning to send officials door-to-door to collect legally purchased firearms under a ban that overwhelmingly targets licensed owners — not gang members, not smugglers, not repeat violent offenders — the most vetted people in the country.
They can find me when they want my property.
But in March 2021, when a supplier to the Canadian Firearms Program was hit with ransomware, and the RCMP admits it cannot confirm whether personal data was accessed… I wasn’t told. I only know because it was reported by the Investigative Journalism Foundation.
Not directly. No letter to my house. No email. No instruction to monitor credit. No warning to take precautions.
They had my address. They use that address to regulate me. They could have used that address to protect me. Instead, there was a temporary website notice about a “possible ransomware attack,” and then it vanished.
Now, let’s be responsible about this. There is no public evidence that gangs are sitting on a master shopping list of firearm owners. That hasn’t been shown — yet. But I also wouldn't be surprised if it was the case and we weren't informed about that either.
When the federal police cannot confirm whether sensitive identifying data tied to firearm ownership was accessed during a ransomware attack, in a country where organized crime and transnational intimidation networks are very real, that is not trivial. Because one of the scenarios we have to consider is that organized crime rings now have lists of who has what.
This is about priorities. If the state can mobilize to confiscate property from licensed owners, it can mobilize to notify them when their data may have been exposed.
Transparency shouldn’t be optional, and silence shouldn’t be the default.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2026-02-13 19:53:09 -0500I’m rapidly losing trust in the RCMP. They need a good purge of their brass.This data breach should be front page news and taken up in Parliament. Instead, it’s up to Rebel News alone to expose it.
