madmike
Member
Plan to post list of gun permit holders online causes debate
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8191628.htm
COMMENTARY
By Linda Austin
of The News-Sentinel
My phone started ringing almost as soon as the ad appeared in The News-Sentinel on Wednesday promoting today's story on gun permits in Allen County. Several gun permit holders called to protest our plan to post online the list of gun permit holders, which is a public record.
They expressed concern that the list would provide burglars who want to steal guns with a road map to their homes. Or they said the information would make it easier for stalkers to find their victims, who may have obtained a gun for protection. Or they said posting the list would weaken a gun permit holder's defense by removing the element of surprise.
Their calls prompted a re-examination of our plans. I set out to talk to editors and ethicists, professors and prosecutors from across the country to try to assess what would provide the greatest good for the most people: posting the list or not.
The more than two dozen people with whom I spoke, including readers, staffers and the previously mentioned experts, seemed evenly split. So, I decided to delay posting the list while I solicit more feedback. You can register your views either online at www.news-sentinel.com, or by calling 423-4646 if you favor posting the list or 423-4793 if you oppose posting it. Keep in mind that if we do post the list, it would consist of names and towns only of the permit holders.
I can't promise the majority will rule here, but I can promise that I'll consider everyone's opinion. As a firm believer in the marketplace of free ideas, I'm hoping that the truth will come out.
If you're still making up your mind, here's a review of the pros and cons from the people with whom I've already spoken.
Some argued that because the list is a public record available to everyone, we should post it. Others said because it is available from the state to anyone with $25 to buy the database there is no need to post it.
Some viewed it as a logical extension of the other public records that we publish in the paper, including marriage licenses, divorces and births; or the public records we have posted online, including tax assessments, real estate sales prices and tax delinquents.
They said by putting the information online or in the paper, we're just making it more convenient for people to exercise a right they already have to examine the records.
Another argument advanced for posting the list is that the state has determined that there's a public good in licensing people to carry handguns and making such information accessible to others.
The information has the potential to warn people about others who may be carrying a gun. If you're sending your child to my house to play, perhaps you'd like to know if I have a permit to carry a gun.
Or maybe you're curious about whether a potential business associate, or
a neighbor or new acquaintance has a permit.
"There is danger for children when there is a gun present, and that is a strong point," said Gregory E. Favre, distinguished fellow in journalism values at The Poynter Institute for journalism training in Florida.
"There are too many cases when youngsters have been killed or when parents' guns are used to kill others, as has happened in the school shootings. Will knowing about the gun permits completely stop this? No, but it might prevent some. Even one would be worth it.
"And while I am a strong advocate that people have a right to a private life, these folks have interjected themselves into the public by purchasing a gun permit," said Favre, former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The list doesn't include everyone who has a gun. Plenty of people carry guns illegally. No permit is required for rifles and shotguns. And just because you have a permit doesn't mean you have a gun.
Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York doubted burglars would use the list to target the homes of permit holders. "Burglars are opportunists," he said.
On the flip side, some said knowing a person has a gun permit could send burglars or stalkers looking for easier marks.
Weighing in against posting were Maxwell E.P. King, former editor of The
Philadelphia Inquirer; Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter scholar for journalism
values at the Poynter Institute; Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards;
and reader Fran Hale.
"The two reservations you report -- that gun thieves will be aided and that people who bought guns for personal protection may be compromised -- do have some merit," wrote King, former chairman of the Values and Ethics Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "Publishing the names could seem needlessly intrusive." Or as Steele put it: "I don't see the journalistic purpose of this one."
Prosecutor Richards described posting the database as "a very dangerous thing to do. ... I think you're putting people at risk, especially putting them at risk for burglaries."
And finally Hale described the situation of a relative who has a gun permit and frequently leaves his pregnant wife and two children home alone. "You're putting my family in danger," she said.
Please let me know what you think.
What do you think?
Should The News-Sentinel post on its Web site a searchable list of the names of gun permit holders in Allen County, listing only their names and the towns where they live? Click here to register your views online, or call in your response (423-4646 to answer yes or 423-4793 to answer no). The list is a public record.
#######
My comments:
"And while I am a strong advocate that people have a right to a private life, these folks have interjected themselves into the public by purchasing a gun permit," said Favre, former president of the American Society of Newspaper
Editors.
Right, so we're forced to beg permission to exercise a right, and by PAYING for that permission, we're somehow agreeing to a third party publicizing personal information about us.
"There are too many cases when youngsters have been killed or when parents' guns are used to kill others, as has happened in the school shootings. Will knowing about the gun permits completely stop this? No, but it might prevent some. Even one would be worth it.
No permit is needed for a gun at home, only to carry. So the logic fails. And "if it saves one life..." I guarantee if we ban cigarettes we will save more than one life. How about booze? Oh, wait, we tried that.
That this vomitous piece of debris is quoted as relevant and an authority, rather than being ignored for the reprehensible scumsucker he is, tells me all I need to know. Thank God this atheist lives in Greenwood and not Ft Wayne.
But hey, didn't Ft Wayne have the mayor who wanted to adopt daylight savings time because "more crime happens at night"? Considering the lack of logic and reason up there, perhaps you should be more concerned about the schools than whether or not my friends are licensed to carry guns.
I am disgusted, I am enraged, I am incensed. If this comes to pass, I will configure my future travel plans to avoid getting gas or otherwise spending money in that waste of a town.
And I will follow through with my promise to post public information about anyone who posts public information about my fellow gun owners. Tit for tat. Mayor, owner, publisher, editor, reporter. After all, it's all public information. Somewhere.
######
If you call the NO number above, 260-423-4793, you will find the mailbox full. It will forward you to another voice mail.
And the editor's phone number is
Editor in Chief Linda Austin, 260-461-8239
Hey! Why don't we have them post the names of people who buy the Quran? Or the bible? Or books on gay sex? What if you're curious as to whether your secretary buys thongs or briefs?
What if we all mind our @#$^%#$^% business?
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8191628.htm
COMMENTARY
By Linda Austin
of The News-Sentinel
My phone started ringing almost as soon as the ad appeared in The News-Sentinel on Wednesday promoting today's story on gun permits in Allen County. Several gun permit holders called to protest our plan to post online the list of gun permit holders, which is a public record.
They expressed concern that the list would provide burglars who want to steal guns with a road map to their homes. Or they said the information would make it easier for stalkers to find their victims, who may have obtained a gun for protection. Or they said posting the list would weaken a gun permit holder's defense by removing the element of surprise.
Their calls prompted a re-examination of our plans. I set out to talk to editors and ethicists, professors and prosecutors from across the country to try to assess what would provide the greatest good for the most people: posting the list or not.
The more than two dozen people with whom I spoke, including readers, staffers and the previously mentioned experts, seemed evenly split. So, I decided to delay posting the list while I solicit more feedback. You can register your views either online at www.news-sentinel.com, or by calling 423-4646 if you favor posting the list or 423-4793 if you oppose posting it. Keep in mind that if we do post the list, it would consist of names and towns only of the permit holders.
I can't promise the majority will rule here, but I can promise that I'll consider everyone's opinion. As a firm believer in the marketplace of free ideas, I'm hoping that the truth will come out.
If you're still making up your mind, here's a review of the pros and cons from the people with whom I've already spoken.
Some argued that because the list is a public record available to everyone, we should post it. Others said because it is available from the state to anyone with $25 to buy the database there is no need to post it.
Some viewed it as a logical extension of the other public records that we publish in the paper, including marriage licenses, divorces and births; or the public records we have posted online, including tax assessments, real estate sales prices and tax delinquents.
They said by putting the information online or in the paper, we're just making it more convenient for people to exercise a right they already have to examine the records.
Another argument advanced for posting the list is that the state has determined that there's a public good in licensing people to carry handguns and making such information accessible to others.
The information has the potential to warn people about others who may be carrying a gun. If you're sending your child to my house to play, perhaps you'd like to know if I have a permit to carry a gun.
Or maybe you're curious about whether a potential business associate, or
a neighbor or new acquaintance has a permit.
"There is danger for children when there is a gun present, and that is a strong point," said Gregory E. Favre, distinguished fellow in journalism values at The Poynter Institute for journalism training in Florida.
"There are too many cases when youngsters have been killed or when parents' guns are used to kill others, as has happened in the school shootings. Will knowing about the gun permits completely stop this? No, but it might prevent some. Even one would be worth it.
"And while I am a strong advocate that people have a right to a private life, these folks have interjected themselves into the public by purchasing a gun permit," said Favre, former president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
The list doesn't include everyone who has a gun. Plenty of people carry guns illegally. No permit is required for rifles and shotguns. And just because you have a permit doesn't mean you have a gun.
Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York doubted burglars would use the list to target the homes of permit holders. "Burglars are opportunists," he said.
On the flip side, some said knowing a person has a gun permit could send burglars or stalkers looking for easier marks.
Weighing in against posting were Maxwell E.P. King, former editor of The
Philadelphia Inquirer; Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter scholar for journalism
values at the Poynter Institute; Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards;
and reader Fran Hale.
"The two reservations you report -- that gun thieves will be aided and that people who bought guns for personal protection may be compromised -- do have some merit," wrote King, former chairman of the Values and Ethics Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "Publishing the names could seem needlessly intrusive." Or as Steele put it: "I don't see the journalistic purpose of this one."
Prosecutor Richards described posting the database as "a very dangerous thing to do. ... I think you're putting people at risk, especially putting them at risk for burglaries."
And finally Hale described the situation of a relative who has a gun permit and frequently leaves his pregnant wife and two children home alone. "You're putting my family in danger," she said.
Please let me know what you think.
What do you think?
Should The News-Sentinel post on its Web site a searchable list of the names of gun permit holders in Allen County, listing only their names and the towns where they live? Click here to register your views online, or call in your response (423-4646 to answer yes or 423-4793 to answer no). The list is a public record.
#######
My comments:
"And while I am a strong advocate that people have a right to a private life, these folks have interjected themselves into the public by purchasing a gun permit," said Favre, former president of the American Society of Newspaper
Editors.
Right, so we're forced to beg permission to exercise a right, and by PAYING for that permission, we're somehow agreeing to a third party publicizing personal information about us.
"There are too many cases when youngsters have been killed or when parents' guns are used to kill others, as has happened in the school shootings. Will knowing about the gun permits completely stop this? No, but it might prevent some. Even one would be worth it.
No permit is needed for a gun at home, only to carry. So the logic fails. And "if it saves one life..." I guarantee if we ban cigarettes we will save more than one life. How about booze? Oh, wait, we tried that.
That this vomitous piece of debris is quoted as relevant and an authority, rather than being ignored for the reprehensible scumsucker he is, tells me all I need to know. Thank God this atheist lives in Greenwood and not Ft Wayne.
But hey, didn't Ft Wayne have the mayor who wanted to adopt daylight savings time because "more crime happens at night"? Considering the lack of logic and reason up there, perhaps you should be more concerned about the schools than whether or not my friends are licensed to carry guns.
I am disgusted, I am enraged, I am incensed. If this comes to pass, I will configure my future travel plans to avoid getting gas or otherwise spending money in that waste of a town.
And I will follow through with my promise to post public information about anyone who posts public information about my fellow gun owners. Tit for tat. Mayor, owner, publisher, editor, reporter. After all, it's all public information. Somewhere.
######
If you call the NO number above, 260-423-4793, you will find the mailbox full. It will forward you to another voice mail.
And the editor's phone number is
Editor in Chief Linda Austin, 260-461-8239
Hey! Why don't we have them post the names of people who buy the Quran? Or the bible? Or books on gay sex? What if you're curious as to whether your secretary buys thongs or briefs?
What if we all mind our @#$^%#$^% business?
) and very few areas (Ft Whine and South Bendover being the only two notable) where guns aren't worshipped with the reverence they deserve.
