Image source: Fox News
Image source: Fox News
During an interview on “Fox & Friends,” Napolitano said that the federal government may gather statistical information about gun owners but must “destroy” any personally identifiable information, such as their names and addresses.
A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “did not always comply” with the restriction. 
“Congress decided that since the states regulate guns — not the federal government — the federal government would never be able to keep a list of every gun owner and every gun owned by that person,” Napolitano said. “But they are.”
Napolitano added that the report “shouldn’t surprise us.”
“It’s reprehensible, it violates federal law, it violates a Supreme Court opinion, it violates our natural right to self-defense, which is protected by the Second Amendment,” he said.
Napolitano argued that a president or administration who doesn’t “believe in the right to bear arms” could use the list as a means to “harass” citizens with opposing views or even to “confiscate” guns.