I'm speechless...

[Tim the student]

This is exactly why I carry openly.

Yeah, that makes sense, but it isn't that way in Iowa. Here, you still need a permit to openly carry. Same permit, but no OC without it. So, you would still have your name in the paper here.

 

[JellyJar]

You need to petition your state legislature to make such info private.

 

[X-Rap]

I would do as Justin outlined in #47 and would add starting a Facebook page that allows viewers to voice their displeasure with the news paper/papers that have done this.
Link to editorial page
Link to subscription page
It will happen again so having the ground work done and maybe affiliating with the states pro gun orgs will get it out in front of a lot of people quickly when it happens.
Subscription cancelations carry powerful weight with the faultering newspaper business as well so I'd push that as well.

 

[JellyJar]

I had to do some research to be sure about this.

Back before I moved back to Alabama in 2007 to take care of my widowed mother I worked for a large IT firm in Houston Texas. They weren't paying the going rate so I was considering looking for another job locally. I heard about one firm that was hiring but they said that they did a check to see if the applicant had a Texas CHL and if so they would not hire that person.

Well, download this pdf from the below link...


http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/LegisChangesCHLStatute07.pdf

You will see that in 2007 the Texas legislature passed a law to make CHL info confidential except to law enforcement agencies.

The OP should get with some of his fellow CCWers and try to get the legislature of their state to do the same.

Take care

JJ

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

In Cox Broadcasting v. Cohen, 420 U.S. 469 (1975), the Supreme Court of the United States held that the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits states from imposing a penalty on the press for publishing accurate information obtained from a public court record. As a result of this case, most states recognize an absolute privilege for publication of information found in a publicly available (i.e., not sealed) court record. While the case involved traditional media, there is no reason to believe that its reasoning and holding would not extend to non-traditional journalists and other online publishers. This means that you cannot be held liable for publishing accurate facts about someone that you find in a public court record, regardless of how embarrassing they are. Note that this privilege will protect you in publishing information about past crimes (discussed above), so long as you gather your information from publicly available court records, such as an indictment or trial transcript. For information on accessing court records, see Access to Courts and Court Records.

Simple fix. Take the court out of the CCW permit process. (NOTE: The Second Amendment considered not with standing for the sake of discussion.) In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) runs the background check, no court involved, ergo, no "public record" of a court proceeding.

Woody

 

[Deanimator]

The Cleveland Plain Dealer used to do that.

Boy was the editor surprised when HIS personal information immediately showed up on pro-CCW websites.

In these kinds of situations, if no law has been broken, an eye for an eye works, and usually VERY well.

 

[alsaqr]

ask for all citizens to boycott the newspaper and any business that advertises in the newspaper.

+1
This is the best way to go. In your letter you might also ask why the paper never prints the names and addresses of convicted child molesters.

 

[hso]

I'd be pulling the "public records" of the reporter, editor and owner and "publishing" them in every source available. I'd be visiting every advertiser and demanding they pull their ads from the paper and if they didn't I'd be publishing their public information.

Because information is a public record doesn't mean that it is appropriate to use it in detail to put that information out in the paper.

Work to have your state make such public records anonymous.

 

[7thCavScout]

I did ask the paper why don't they publish the names of everyone in the county who is on welfare. The only reply I got from them was that would be "silly".

 

[harrygunner]

Happened in California, in a virtually "shall issue" county. A liberal college city newspaper published permit holders' names.

In every case, the writer deserves a big, heaping taste of what they are dishing out.

 

[DC3-CVN-72]

Mine says LUV GUN !

 

[bugmania]

While it is within the 1st Amendment rights of the paper to print this information, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. This is obviously a ploy by the editor or owner of the newspaper to air his uninformed beliefs on gun ownership rights. I can't really see how this would help to sell newspapers. Most people couldn't care less who is carrying and who isn't.

It seems to me that this is more a problem with the state laws regarding concealed carry. If it is incumbent on the licensee to make sure that his firearm is concealed then shouldn't the state government make sure that the information of those licensees is concealed as well?

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

In a state like New York, or NYC, it might point out how the poor, or people without "connections" can't get a CCW, but famous, politically connected, or friends of the the Mayor CAN.

 

[Bubba613]

I would sue

On what grounds?

 

[danprkr]

+1 Omaha-BeenGlockin's comments

 

[oneounceload]

Our paper publishes real estate sales each week.
Names of seller and buyer.
Address of property.
Price paid.

Public record in every county's tax records and database - so what?

I can go into my county records on line, put in an address or even a GPS location and retrieve everything about that property - owner, price paid, taxes, etc. - called public records. many places seem to feel that CCW's fall into the same category (I don't agree), but you can do the same thing for $5 with a car license plate number

 

[Larry E]

Thankfully Montana has very strong privacy laws, so some nosy "journalist" would be hard up against it if they got ahold of concealed carry permit holders names and published them. Nobody's business who has a CCW except the holder and the issuing agency, and maybe not even them.

 

[Balrog]

It makes it harder to tell if the state is playing fairly with the issuing of permits if the list of permit holders is made unavailable for public scrutiny.

 

[TennJed]

While it is public record it seems very unnecessary for the paper to publish it....

Cancel subscription and also make a list of all advertisers in the paper....you want to hurt the paper? Hit them in the wallet

Call or write all advertisers, tell them you will not frequent their establishment or use their services as long as they are supporting the paper.....urge everyone you know to do the same and ask them to urge everyone they know.

If a business gets enough calls or letters they will stop supporting the paper....with no advertising $$$ the paper folds

 

[bushmaster1313]

I think Florida used to have its data public but when it was abused they stopped

 

[mgmorden]

Public record doesn't mean what many of you folks may believe. If YOU want the information, you can run downtown and pay to get public information printed.... but you cannot put up a billboard with the information on it. Simply doesnt work that way.

Unfortunately that's not the case. I work in government and have prepared God only knows how many FOIA requests. Once they get it they're pretty much legal to do with it what they will - they can republish or even resell the information if they want.

The reality is that most people simply aren't aware of just how much information you can put out there legally, or request. Want to know the home address of anyone in our county on such a list? Do a name search on the website and you'll see not only their address but also every piece of property they own (as well as an indicator showing which one they actually live at if they own multiple), past ownership records, whether or not they pay their taxes. Heck there's even photos of the houses (both aerial and street view). Don't even need to ID yourself to get that information. If you actually come in and file the paperwork you can get a LOT more. Last one I prepared was actually this Friday - give me a list of the site address, model, owner name, and owner mailing address of every mobile home in the area.

We even had one case where a battered wife was trying to keep her address secret from her ex and we had a devil of a time just getting the legal authority to redact her name from our online info.

Like it or not, we live in a digital age and privacy outside of the walls of your own home is pretty much long gone. No changing it now.