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http://www.coloradoan.com/news/stories/20030118/news/801521.html
from the Fort Collins Coloradoan
from the Fort Collins Coloradoan
Has sheriff jumped the gun?
Concealed weapon permit holders irate over names on database
By SARAH LANGBEIN
[email protected]
Local gun carriers are up in arms over the Larimer County sheriff's decision to enter their names into a government database.
Sheriff Jim Alderden submitted the names of concealed-carry permit holders to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's Colorado Crime Information Center. By doing this, law enforcement officers are made aware that individuals might be carrying a concealed weapon when making contact with them.
For example, when officers run driver's licenses on their computers in routine traffic stops, the CCIC will inform them if the driver is a concealed weapon permit holder.
"Basically, you come up on their terminal just like any other criminal," said D. Ray Hickman, northern coordinator for Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a gun rights advocacy group.
Hickman said he does not believe the sheriff had any legislative authority to proceed with this action and questions why permit holders never were notified of his decision.
"He's my dear friend, but he obviously stepped over the line," Hickman said. "I know of people who are willing to relinquish their permits if the sheriff doesn't change his mind."
Criminal justice agencies use CCIC to communicate with each other, identify missing persons, list known criminal offenders, report arrests and share crime bulletins. Concealed carry permit holders are listed in the "person of interest file," said Bob Armstrong, CBI agent in charge of CCIC. The file carries no criminal implications, Armstrong added.
Alderden said he entered the permit holders into the database as a matter of safety.
"They don't want that information available to officers on the street," Alderden said. "They're fearful that government agents will misuse this information. ... But it doesn't identify them as criminals.
"We decided to do this as a matter of officer safety. In our county, it's deemed as public record. If that information is available to the public, it should be available to the officers on the street. There isn't anything that says I can't do this."
Hickman and other permit holders requested that Alderden reverse his decision this week. Alderden denied that request.
"I'm just a little ticked, to say the least," said permit holder Amber Hopkins, who is Hickman's daughter. "I certainly don't feel I'm a threat to a police officer who pulls me over. I feel like (Alderden) doesn't trust me anymore."
Local concealed weapon carriers were not notified by the sheriff's office that they had been included in CCIC's database. Instead, one permit holder discovered it during a traffic stop.
Dell Bean was on his way home from vacation when he was pulled over by the Colorado State Patrol for not having a front license plate. When the trooper returned to Bean's car with his driver's license, the trooper made mention of Bean's permit.
"He told me that was the first time he saw that come up," Bean said.
Bean relayed the information to Hickman, and he contacted the sheriff.
"I said, 'Sheriff, this is gun registration,'" Hickman said. "I said, 'They don't need to know.'
"The sheriff has jumped the gun."
Originally published Saturday, January 18, 2003
Copyright ©2003 The Fort Collins Coloradoan