How does Doctor license = CCW?
There is some leap of faith here that I just don't get. Doctors are licensed professionals. Doctors make a living being doctors. Doctors advertise.
Does a doctor's license being public info include their home address? Or business address? Does your friend think that doctors keep drugs at home, and therefore are at risk from drug fiends looking for a fix because their business license is public info? So since they are on a public list CCW should be also?
On the other hand, maybe it makes some sense that doctors should be on a list, after all they kill more people every year with their mistakes than CCW holder do.
It doesn't take a mental giant to realize that if you publish a list of CCW holders (especially with their addresses) that they have a handgun, so if you want to steal a handgun, then you know where one is. And on the other side of the coin, you also have a pretty good idea of where the guns aren't. So if you are looking for an unarmed victim, all you have to do is not to choose someone on the list.
Perhaps your friend would want lists of other valuables people own being public info as well. How about a list of everyone that owns jewelry (over $1,000 worth), or a personal computer, or a big screen TV, valuable art, or anything else portable and worth a few hundred dollars or more?
Your neighbor doesn't have any right to know what you own. Nor do you have any right to know what he owns. Period. If you wish to make it known, that is your business, not the state, not any media agency, not the local gossip, not your doctor, not even your priest. Nobody's business.
I can understand an argument that under freedom of information, any govt. documents (including various licenses) should be available to the public, meaning that an interested party should be allowed access to that information, by filling out a request form and paying a reasonable fee. However, those persons seeking info should also have their names on record as requesting such info. And, it should be balanced against the right of privacy of individuals.
Licenses and certifications issued by the state for people to act in a professional capacity should not have the same expectation of privacy as private citizens do. After all, we don't CCW for the money.
And how exactly does the info that someone does or does not have a CCW make you any more or less safe? Unless, of course, you are planning some criminal activity. Then it might be very useful to you. Maybe that's why your friend wants to know. Maybe you should ask him.