This have been a burr under my saddle for years, and I'll get to that, and yeah, part of this rant I have posted before.
"Releasing names of gun permit holders endangers public, New York county clerk says", Associated Press, 3 Jan 2013.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-endangers-public-new-york-county-clerk-says/
Putnam County, New York, clerk refuses to release pistol permit data to newspaper.
"This certainly puts my public in danger," Putnam County Clerk Dennis Sant said Thursday following a news conference in which he was backed by the county executive and other elected officials.
The Journal News requested pistol permit info for the same information supplied by other counties from Putnam County, and the county clerk just said no way, he refused to release public information that could endanger the public. Public release could endanger:
o Judges or police officers with personal permits could be located by vengeful criminals;
o People with protective orders who have relocated to avoid threats could be located via the database by their stalkers or attackers.
The Putnam Co. NY county clerk said if you want government information on permit holders, come down to the office and fill out the paperwork so he could have you on public record as requesting public records on another private citizen. Sounds good to me. When I wanted to research land on Brown's Mountain, I had to go to the county clerk's office and get the plat maps, last purchase price, taxes, etc., in person.
MORE:
Jana Winter, "Ex-Burglars Say Newspaper’s Gun Map Would’ve Made the Job Easier, Safer", 4 Jan 2013.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/0...papers-gun-map-wouldve-made-job-easier-safer/
Walter T. Shaw, 65, burglar, jewel thief, author of "License to Steal" says what the newspaper did was "insanity".
Another link: Inmates using newspaper's gun owner map to threaten guards, sheriff says
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/0...play-gun-owner-data-officers/?intcmp=trending
Well, on me you can go to the Memphis Commercial Appeal webpage on Tennessee Handgun Carry Permits
http://www.commercialappeal.com/data/gunpermits/
and get this:
Last Name BROWN
First Name CARL
Middle Name NAAMAN
Birth year 1948
City KINGSPORT
County SULLIVAN
ZIP 37664
Issue Date 2/1/2011
Expiration Date 4/8/2015
Tennessee gunowners were able to pressure Memphis Commercial Appeal to remove the Street Address, even though that and TN Drivers License and Social Security Number are all "part of the public record".
WHY? For the benefit of people like this:
There's a public interest involved
I strongly support your decision to publish an online searchable database of citizens who are permitted to carry concealed handguns.
Any private citizen who carries a loaded, concealed handgun in and among the public constitutes a potential threat to public safety. Those individuals are not law enforcement officials and have no official authorization guiding their individual decisions to draw and fire their weapons in public.
Hence, the public's only recourse is information: If we know who these people are who carry concealed weapons, we can give them wide berth and/or keep their actions under close scrutiny.
In contrast, gun owners who keep their weapons at home, at the firing range or on the hunting field do not, per se, constitute a potential threat to public safety. Privacy can be maintained because the ownership and use of their weapons is private.
State Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, has introduced a bill in the General Assembly that would make it a crime to disclose the names of those who are permitted to carry concealed handguns (SB 1126). I urge the public to oppose this apparent self-serving initiative. The public interest and safety are clearly served by existing freedom of information statutes.
It was revealing to see how just many members of the General Assembly have carry permits. I urge readers to use the database and see for themselves which public officials (local, state and federal) are carrying lethal weapons in and among the public they purport to serve.
Gregory W. Boller
Collierville
It was revealing to see how just many members of the General Assembly have carry permits. Oh, yeah, there have been all manner of violent street crimes perpetrated by state legislators roaming about with pistols in their pockets.
I have taken the database and run the name of the suspect in every report in the local paper of a gun crime or reckless use of a gun that I find. NEVER ONCE HAVE I HAD A HIT ON THE CARRY PERMIT DATABASE. That database does not warn the public of "potential threats to public safety" or people we need to give "a wide berth and/or keep their actions under close scrutiny". It does feed the paranoia of anti-gun nuts and gives them a list of people to fear, which I suppose makes some maroons happy.
Putnam County New York considers publication of pistol permit holders a threat to public safety because, among other reasons:
o People with protective orders who have relocated to avoid threats could be located via the database by their stalkers or attackers.
That last one is one I have hammered on since I found out the Memphis Commercial Appeal had put up a searchable website for all Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit holders. Enough of those are people who got a permit to carry in response a death threat and who relocated to throw off stalkers, to make public release of the info endangerment to them. My sister chased off a home invader and detained his accomplice for arrest; she helped put both men in prison; if she had a carry permit, they could find that out and her new address through those websites; thank God in Tennessee under court and attorney general interpretation of the state constitution RKBA there is an absolute right to have a gun in your home for self defense without permit or license.