Dnaltrop
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The Jackson County Sheriff's Office must release a list of the names of people who received concealed weapons permits issued in 2006 and 2007, the Oregon Court of Appeals decided today.
The Medford Mail Tribune filed a request with the sheriff's office to release a list of licensees after the Medford School District said teacher Shirley Katz could not carry her 9mm Glock handgun to the campus of South Medford High School.
The appeals court upheld a decision by Jackson County Circuit Court which held that concealed weapons permits were not exempt from disclosure.
The sheriff's office had argued, according to today's decision, that "disclosure would unreasonably invade the personal privacy of concealed handgun licensees... and concealed handgun licenses are security measures that are exempt from mandatory disclosure" under Oregon statutes.
The court said that "even though it appears that some applicants may have applied for concealed handgun licenses as a security measure, the sheriff's argument that the security measure exemption applies to all concealed handgun licenses runs into the same problem as the sheriff's personal interest exemption argument.
"However, the record does not establish which individuals obtained concealed handgun licenses as security measures or whether the individuals who did so actually satisfied the requirements of the security measure exemption."
Shirley Katz sued the school district for not allowing her to carry her handgun to school, but a Jackson County Circuit Court judge ruled that she did not have that right. In November 2009, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the court was correct in not allowing her to carry a gun on campus.
"We first made a verbal request to see if Shirley Katz was on that list, and that request was denied,'' said Bob Hunter, the Medford Mail Tribune's editor. "When that failed, we made a written request for all permits issued."
Hunter said the paper never had any intention of publishing the list of names, but wanted the names for news purposes, Hunter said.
"We believed all along that this was a public records issue for us," Hunter said. "Two courts have agreed with us, so far."
Kevin Starrett, director of the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation, a nonprofit gun-rights organization, said the decision was not unexpected. The foundation paid $12,345 for Katz's legal expenses.
"The public records law was intended public entities and government, not the activities of private citizens,'' Starrett said. "We're disappointed that the courts and the legislature can't see the difference."
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters declined to comment on the decision.
--Stuart Tomlinson
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/jackson_county_sheriff_must_re.html
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For those of us who CCW because of our Spouse's job's exposure to other people... It's just a roadmap to our house.
The Medford Mail Tribune filed a request with the sheriff's office to release a list of licensees after the Medford School District said teacher Shirley Katz could not carry her 9mm Glock handgun to the campus of South Medford High School.
The appeals court upheld a decision by Jackson County Circuit Court which held that concealed weapons permits were not exempt from disclosure.
The sheriff's office had argued, according to today's decision, that "disclosure would unreasonably invade the personal privacy of concealed handgun licensees... and concealed handgun licenses are security measures that are exempt from mandatory disclosure" under Oregon statutes.
The court said that "even though it appears that some applicants may have applied for concealed handgun licenses as a security measure, the sheriff's argument that the security measure exemption applies to all concealed handgun licenses runs into the same problem as the sheriff's personal interest exemption argument.
"However, the record does not establish which individuals obtained concealed handgun licenses as security measures or whether the individuals who did so actually satisfied the requirements of the security measure exemption."
Shirley Katz sued the school district for not allowing her to carry her handgun to school, but a Jackson County Circuit Court judge ruled that she did not have that right. In November 2009, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the court was correct in not allowing her to carry a gun on campus.
"We first made a verbal request to see if Shirley Katz was on that list, and that request was denied,'' said Bob Hunter, the Medford Mail Tribune's editor. "When that failed, we made a written request for all permits issued."
Hunter said the paper never had any intention of publishing the list of names, but wanted the names for news purposes, Hunter said.
"We believed all along that this was a public records issue for us," Hunter said. "Two courts have agreed with us, so far."
Kevin Starrett, director of the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation, a nonprofit gun-rights organization, said the decision was not unexpected. The foundation paid $12,345 for Katz's legal expenses.
"The public records law was intended public entities and government, not the activities of private citizens,'' Starrett said. "We're disappointed that the courts and the legislature can't see the difference."
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters declined to comment on the decision.
--Stuart Tomlinson
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/jackson_county_sheriff_must_re.html
~~~~
For those of us who CCW because of our Spouse's job's exposure to other people... It's just a roadmap to our house.
