I know this won't be popular on this forum, but I don't find anything objectionable in this practice. It's doesn't appear to me that it keeps me from buying or using a gun, and it may help solve crimes, so I say what the heck?
If my gun is ever stolen from me, and used in the commission of a crime, I hope that the law enforcement officers can use the info to catch the guy that committed the crime. Probably the fact that they know where/when the gun was stolen from me will be a big help.
I guess I should be more paranoid, but I had to get a security clearance, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, if you can imagine that. We knew the "classified" embassy evacuation procedures. At any rate, I figure that anyone who ever had a security clearance is an open book for life for the feds. I'm sure they still have my fingerprints in some file, and they may have interviewed all of my neighbors. That doesn't keep me awake at night.
Mike P. Wagner