The House Speaker is again calling on Attorney General Chris Koster to act in the shipping of concealed carry permit holder information to the feds.

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) had already said he wants Koster to get involved when it was clear that concealed carry permit and driver’s license applicants’ information was being scanned and retained by the Revenue Department.  Now the Highway Patrol has told the Senate Budget Committee it handed over the complete list of concealed carry permit holders – 163,000 of them – to the federal government.

“I believe that Attorney General Koster should immediately appoint an independent investigative committee to look into this scandal.”

Jones shares the fears many other conservatives say they have about how that information will be used.

“I’m very concerned that this may be a backdoor attempt to create the Eric Holder gun registry.”

Jones says he had not spoken to Koster before hand-delivering a letter to the Attorney General’s Office requesting action and holding a media conference in the State Supreme Court Building on Thursday joined by several House Republicans and Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder.

Koster has not publicly addressed the situation since reports were first made last month that the Department of Revenue’s fee offices was scanning and keeping copies of personal documents from applicants for driver’s licenses and concealed carry endorsements. Requests for an interview on the subject from Missourinet have not been answered.

Jones says there is precedent for an Attorney General to investigate such allegations of wrongdoing, such as when then-Attorney General Jay Nixon investigated claims of sunshine law violations by Governor Matt Blunt’s office.

Jones also announced the House Committee on Government Oversight and Accountability chaired by Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) will investigate the handling of concealed carry permit holder information.

“If necessary,” Jones says,” I will grant [Barnes] any requested and necessary subpoena powers.”