Hey, gun owners! The NRA has terrified you and filled its coffers by putting the thought of the Federal government compiling a database/registry of all you shooters into your heads. “Why, if the gubmint had that they could take all our guns,” screeches Wayne LaPierre.

But. Unbeknownst to you NRA members, your organization has built that same database itself.

That database has been built through years of acquiring gun permit registration lists from state and county offices, gathering names of new owners from the thousands of gun-safety classes taught by NRA-certified instructors and by buying lists of attendees of gun shows, subscribers to gun magazines and more, BuzzFeed has learned.

Here’s a couple of samples of the techniques used:

In Virginia, for instance, a North Carolina-based firm called Preferred Communications filed an inquiry with the Virginia State Police in July 2009 asking “on behalf of the National Rifle Association” as to whether the names of concealed-carry permit holders could be purchased. The e-mail was obtained by BuzzFeed by Freedom of Information Act request.

“Can you please let me know if you offer 2008 and/or 2009 names?” wrote the representative, Michele Wood, who hung up on BuzzFeed when asked for comment. “Can you please let me know the address to send the check to and also whom to make it payable to?”

Iowa, too, provides another example. In December 2011, NRA lobbyist Christopher Rager, wrote to Iowa Department of Public Safety legislative liaison Ross Loder from an official NRA email address.

“If the NRA wanted to collect data from DPS’ permit holder files, is there a specific process or any rules for us to acquire the records?” Rager wrote in an e-mail also obtained via FOIA. “Can we pay to have the files copied or sent to us?”

I admire the chutzpah while sneering at the hypocrisy. On the one hand, “Big Government will take your guns, so don’t let it register them!” On the other hand, “Oh, here, we want to know who the gun owners are so we’ll buy copies of registration lists and keep track of the students who take our gun-safety courses.”

The NRA executives are lying miserable scum.