(WASHINGTON, DC) -- Charging Attorney General Janet Reno and the Justice Department with "illegal snooping on law-abiding citizens," the National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit today to block the Federal Bureau of Investigation from keeping a national government computer list of law-abiding gun purchasers. The NRA suit contends that the creation of such a list of private records is a violation of the Brady Act and a gross intrusion into the private lives of lawful minded citizens.

      "This is about privacy and freedom from government snooping into our lives," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President & CEO. "Janet Reno has turned Congress' intent to keep records of convicted felons into an Orwellian nightmare of keeping tabs on perfectly law-abiding Americans. The federal government has no business keeping lists of law-abiding Americans in their federal computers. Every American values the right of personal privacy. That is what this case is about and we will fight for that principle at every turn."

      James Jay Baker, Executive Director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, explained that under the instant check provision of the Brady Act the law directs the Attorney General to "destroy all records of the system" and further prohibits "any system for the registration of firearms, firearm owners, or firearm transfers."

      "The clear intent of the Congress was to conduct the background check unobtrusively at the point of sale, without delay, and with all respect to the privacy of the gun purchaser," Baker said. "Unfortunately, that is not what the federal government is doing. Clearly, the Attorney General and the Justice Department are in violation of that intent and that law."

      When the Brady Law was debated in 1993, the critical issue was over the waiting period versus the instant check system, which NRA supported as the preferred alternative. Congress passed the Brady Act, which provided for a five day federal waiting period prior to the purchase of a handgun to last for five years, in order to give the Justice Department time to implement the national instant check system. "Gun owners are pleased to see the waiting period sunset," LaPierre said, "but they are very disturbed by the way the Attorney General has twisted the intent of the instant check system. Now, instead of creating a database of criminals, the federal government is bent on creating a list of lawful citizens."

      Baker explained that every American, whether they are a gun owner or not, should be concerned about the concept of federal government lists of citizens who purchase legal products. "If the FBI can keep records of law-abiding gun purchasers, what's next? A government list of women's health records? A federal database of newspaper subscribers? It is anathema to the personal freedom for which America is supposed to stand."

      The lawsuit requests an expeditious hearing to declare the registration of gun purchasers as illegal and asks the court to order the immediate destruction of the records, in keeping with the privacy guarantees of the law. Joining NRA in support of the suit is the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, a national association of rank and file law enforcement officers, and five private citizens who purchased a firearm on November 30, 1998, and are now included in the FBI's illegal registration database.

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