I had read when you posted that before. How in the world do they manage to do it? Cameras or just LEOs running all out of state plates?
They have cameras at the interstates taking pictures of the tags of vehicles entering the state, and on may other major roads entering.
Running tags only gives vehicle and registered owner info. Each individual state has a different format for info given, and some can be down right difficult to read. In Ma. a persons CCW status is not part of their vehicle or license information. I have not seen a state that has that info included in a simple vehicle registration query.
Not sure how detailed a tag run they do. There was an Article in the news, on Yahoo just after Christmas about a FL family that was stopped. The police searched their SUV for 2 hours looking for his gun, which he repeatedly told them it was in FL. They put his family in one patrol car and him in another. Two hours later they were let go.
Registered owner info, will let you know if the owner has a CCW. So in my house, all vehicle owners would show up as a CCW holder as both of us have ours.