Outrage after NY paper publishes names of gun permit holders

[KYDan]

I believe some places do. If I am not "misremembering" I think Massachusetts publishes the names of the top ten "dead beat dads" and it is certainly not hard to find stories on DUI in every local newspaper.

I do appreciate that all this public information has a downside to privacy as well but I don't get why the gun permit thing gets such a strong reaction when it is essentially public information anyway. I presume a criminal could get the information the same way that a reporter does. If a criminal got the info he would presumably, as many have suggested, avoid the home in question. How does that harm the individual with the gun permit? If anything it should be the unarmed neighbors who should be complaining (although apparently in NY you can own a Bushmaster without a permit so who knows who has what).

Do you really believe that a criminal is going to a county courthouse to get information on homes that he/she plans to rob? If they are smart and adequately educated they are not so stupid as go to the county courthouse where they are well known to glean information on households to burgle. If you want to know if your neighbor has a concealed carry permit it is your right to retrieve that information, but it does not include whether or not if he/she has any guns or what type of guns.

 

[Bigfoot62]

. . . Don't you think it would be useful to know if an unbalanced individual in your neighborhood had a permit for . . . ? . . .

. . . I presume a criminal could get the information the same way that a reporter does. . .

Theoretically, "unbalanced" people don't get handgun licenses. You can read for yourself on the application. It's posted on the NY State Police website. Plus, it's none of your business.

Yeah, right. How many convicted felons are going to go to the courthouse or State Police office and do that? That's funny.

 

[IslandTractor]

Do you really believe that a criminal is going to a county courthouse to get information on homes that he/she plans to rob? If they are smart and adequately educated they are not so stupid as go to the county courthouse where they are well known to glean information on households to burgle. If you want to know if your neighbor has a concealed carry permit it is your right to retrieve that information, but it does not include whether or not if he/she has any guns or what type of guns.

I doubt most criminals would use google to find the published list of gun permit holders either. The type of criminal who uses a gun (i.e. not the professional cat burglars) don't seem to be very smart about any aspect of life. I have a hard time imagining that the criminals in Westchester county NY have all clipped this article and posted it in their offices.

As more and more information is put on line it becomes easy for anyone to access information that is technically in the public domain. We all have to be cognizant and careful about that.

 

[kf4uda]

The people in NY can get outraged if they want to but they will have to get behind us TN folks. A newspaper in Memphis has been doing this to TN gun permit holders for the last 2-3 years on their website. I am not sure what they get out of doing this but its a shame it is not 5-10 in a federal penitentiary....Just my opinion of course.:thumbdown:

 

[IslandTractor]

The people in NY can get outraged if they want to but they will have to get behind us TN folks. A newspaper in Memphis has been doing this to TN gun permit holders for the last 2-3 years on their website. I am not sure what they get out of doing this but its a shame it is not 5-10 in a federal penitentiary....Just my opinion of course.:thumbdown:

You seem to forget that the First amendment also exists. If it is public information it can be printed.

 

[Dan Hunter]

I disagree. Don't you think it would be useful to know if an unbalanced individual in your neighborhood had a permit for a semi automatic rifle? Why should that be a secret? In this case it appears just to be those who have pistol/revolver permits. I presume one can get lists of people with pilot's licenses or liquor licenses. Why should gun owners be treated differently?

I'd want to know if there was a gun in a house that one of my kids was likely to be playing in. I'd take the opportunity to ask the parents in that house how they secured the weapon. If it didn't meet my standards for safety I'd simply not let my kid go there. Why shouldn't I have that information?

Why shouldn't I have your home address? Please post it. Sure, it's personal information but I can't see any harm coming of it and since you'll be providing it freely I can't see how this would measure up to the violation these people - both those identified as having guns and those who have no means of defense - are experiencing. Please, where do you live?

 

[MF1433V]

You seem to forget that the First amendment also exists. If it is public information it can be printed.

But it has potential to put people at harm...certainly you can see that as a very real possibility? These are all law abiding citizens who went through background checks and have no criminal records; who have the right to own a firearm and also earned the privilege to carry it concealed . Why do they need to have their information publicly printed ??? (that's why is called concealed folks!).

 

[IslandTractor]

Why shouldn't I have your home address? Please post it. Sure, it's personal information but I can't see any harm coming of it and since you'll be providing it freely I can't see how this would measure up to the violation these people - both those identified as having guns and those who have no means of defense - are experiencing. Please, where do you live?

That is not really analogous. My home address is already in the public domain. Easy to look it up. But the issue here is simply who applied for and received a pistol/handgun permit. Why is that different than someone who applied for a liquor license or dog license or any other publicly available information? How does it hurt the person? If anything it would steer criminals away right?

 

[IslandTractor]

But it has potential to put people at harm...certainly you can see that as a very real possibility? These are all law abiding citizens who went through background checks and have no criminal records; who have the right to own a firearm and also earned the privilege to carry it concealed . Why do they need to have their information publicly printed ??? (that's why is called concealed folks!).

How does the information put people at harm? Seems a contradiction. If I as a bad guy wanted to find someone to hurt, wouldn't I steer clear of someone who I knew might have a concealed weapon?

 

[kf4uda]

You seem to forget that the First amendment also exists. If it is public information it can be printed.

No, I have not forgotten about the first amendment. Just because they can print something does not mean that they should. I can see and fully agree with posting something like the sexual predators locations but why post the information of a law abiding citizen who went thru the process to obtain a legal gun permit? It is not like I am going to go thru all that process and then go rob a bank.