María Elvira Salazar: “Let me point to two provisions that have been debated widely in this body on the PATRIOT Act. The first is section 215…”

“Let me point to two provisions that have been debated widely in this body on the PATRIOT Act. The first is section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, which deals with firearms, business records, and medical records. The conference report that came out basically set a standard that says it is the relevance. My view and legal reading of that provision of the statute is that it would allow for fishing expeditions into your private records, into your business records, into the records of gun owners and gunshops. For example, in my State, I think about a business named The Rocky Mountain Gun and Ammo Shop. Well, if you have a business record by having conducted some transaction with that particular shop, then those business records become available to the Federal Government without you ever having any knowledge that in fact the Federal Government has gone after those records. In addition to that, besides having the opportunity to access those records----”