Posted on 01/25/2014 12:21:50 PM PST by Dick Bachert
By now, this story is old news to those involved in the on-going battle to preserve the Second Amendment.
For those who are not, here's the story:
A national newspaper chain with nearly 100 publications and 1.6 million readers is considering building “state-by-state databases” on concealed weapons permit holders, according to an internal e-mail. The plan, laid out in an email from a top editor at North Carolina-based Civitas Media, could be similar to a controversial project a New York state newspaper carried out in 2012 which included an online map that identified gun owners in two counties by name and address. Civitas' database project was detailed in a Jan. 19 e-mail to newsrooms across the chain, which has papers in 11 states, including Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The newest project "examines the explosion of ‘conceal and carry’ gun permits across the U.S.,” wrote Jim Lawitz, Civitas’ director of content, in an e-mail first obtained by the Buckeye Firearms Association. “Through public records act requests, we will attempt to build state-by-state databases that list those who have the right to carry a concealed weapon.”
After learning of this, I sent the following email to Mr. Michael Bush, President and CEO of Civitas:
From: Dick Bachert [mailto:richard.bachert@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 4:20 PM
To: Michael Bush
Subject: Bad idea
Mr. Bush, The proposal to publish a CCW database state by state is a really bad idea. You might want to have a chat with Jim Lawitz about it before it goes much further.
Have a nice day.
Dick Bachert
Citizen and Vietnam era vet.
(For those on my rather voluminous email BCC list, here's a link to the situation referenced in this email. You might also wish to send Mr. Bush, CEO of Civitas Media an email as well.)
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/24/newspaper-chain-seeks-to-build-state-by-state-concealed-weapon-databases/ "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." Plato
Except for the 40%+ who still support obozo, these words have NEVER been more accurate.
***********************************
Several drinks over his capacity at his favorite Maryland horse track, Harry Hopkins, chief adviser to that hero of American "progressives", FDR, candidly blurted out to a group of reporters THE progressive formula for political success still the norm under Obozo, to wit: "We shall tax and tax, spend and spend and elect and elect. The people are too damn dumb to understand!"
Now who do you suppose those people might be?
************
All men lose when freedom fails, when good men rot in filthy jails. And those who cried "Appease, appease..." Are hanged by those they sought to please.
Within 11 minutes, I received this reply from Mr. Bush:
From: "Michael Bush"
To: "Dick Bachert"
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 4:31:06 PM
Subject: RE: Bad idea
A bad idea indeed.
Civitas Media never had any plans or intentions of publishing in print or online lists of holders of “conceal and carry” permits. Nor will Civitas Media develop databases of permit holders. A poorly crafted internal memo meant to highlight editorial discussions and planning incorrectly indicated that such a database was being planned; it has been considered and rejected.
Michael C. Bush
President and CEO
To which I responded with this:
From: Dick Bachert [mailto:richard.bachert@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 4:43 PM
To: Michael Bush
Subject: Re: Bad idea
Great!
That said, we shall continue to monitor your activities -- just in case the individual who constructed that "poorly crafted internal memo" has his/her word processor returned.
It might be safe to plug in your email server in a few days. It may take that long for the inbound traffic to subside.
Have a really great day and thank you for your response.
Dick Bachert
5 minutes later, Mr. Bush sent this:
From: "Michael Bush"
To: "Dick Bachert"
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 4:48:28 PM
Subject: RE: Bad idea
Thank for writing back. It might be good for me to take a couple days off from email anyway! Thanks for the quotes below as well!
Michael C. Bush
President and CEO
To which I replied thus:
From: Dick Bachert [mailto:richard.bachert@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 5:00 PM
To: Michael Bush
Subject: Re: Bad idea
Mr. Bush,
You are more than welcome.
And let me wish you abundant success with Civitas -- with one qualifier: Do please to remember that, despite the growing abuses off it, we still have a Constitution, one key element of which is the FIRST AMENDMENT. If we should ever lose the SECOND AMENDMENT, the others will quickly follow. If you don't believe that, you need to study the history of what happens to a nation where the people are incapable of resisting a government run amok. There was even a time when Democrats embraced that view, to wit:
"The right of citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against the tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which has historically has proved to be always possible." The late Senator – and presidential candidate -- Hubert Humphrey (D Minnesota)
My humble little video on these vital topics is here if you can spare a few minutes in what has, I'm sure, become a rather busy day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqw7kXG0kxU
Regards,
Dick Bachert
And, here's where it got interesting – and somewhat poignant:
Dear Dick, “It is not too late” to answer the question you posed in your video. My grandparents were among those who fled from tyranny to come to this country. My grandmother loved this Country so much for the freedoms that it provided that she spent a lot of time teaching me this when I was young. I have not forgotten, best,Michael
My bottom line in all of this?
1. Those of us who continue to resist ANY encroachments on our God-given rights to protect ourselves and our loved ones from tyrants and criminals of the private or PUBLIC variety CAN, if we take swift and concerted action, have an impact.
2. Organizations most often consist of folks holding widely varied worldviews. It does happen that someone down the food chain will, unbeknownst to the folks in the corner offices, act in ways inimical to the values of those charged with guiding the organization. This may be a classic case of just that.
3. The tops of organizations are subject to often radical changes as people come and go, bringing in NEW values while the OLD ones move out.
4. I believe Mr. Bush's words in that last email were from his heart and I'm going to give those words the benefit of the doubt. One would have to be a complete hypocrite to invoke the name and spirit of a beloved grandmother to conceal a hidden agenda. I do not believe Mr. Bush is a hypocrite.
5. All of that said, I'm sure those concerned with where this country has gone and may be headed will continue to monitor all the opinion molding organizations out there for any signs that they have an agenda inimical to the Constitution and the freedoms for which so many have fought and died.
You can count on me to do so!
Thanks for this post. The key take-away is “swift and concerted action” is required. The left doesn’t expect pusshback. They’ve been dealing with pushovers [looking at you, McConnell and Boehner] for so long that they expect to be able to say and do whatever they want without opposition. Time to “punch back twice as hard”.
Nicely handled and well done.
I put this on the list of things that conservative politicians will have to deal with in the future, by enacting *criminal* sanctions against, to start with, governmental organizations that collect such data solely because they want to.
I figure it will have to be part of an enormous and powerful “Database Control Act”, in which the keeping of the personal information of individuals, especially customers, can only be done legally with a *written*, not computer “opt in”, and that those individuals must be notified, at given intervals depending on the information, that such information of theirs is part of a given database, which they must opt-into again or it must be deleted.
Part two of the DCA will be to require all federal agencies to keep personal information about citizens in just a single agency, with only the information they are authorized to have available to them. And all such personal information, except as relates to criminal matters, should be available to any citizen by FOIA request.
Part three will be the authority of citizens to correct errors by an auditing process, based on written evidence.
Counter with a state-by-state list of the addresses, car tags and phone numbers of liberal lawyers, activists, journalist & politicians earning over $100K, or with a net worth of over $1 million.
“Revealing information” can be a two way street.
You done good.
Dear Laz,
Thank you for the kind words from Laz, one of the stars here at FR. :-))
I should like to avail myself of your kind offer on the reformat thingy. Still learning the HTML stuff.
Please let me know what I might need to do at this end.
FREEgards,
Dick
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3115349/posts
I sent my message yesterday at 11:11 am Pacific, and Bush got back to me in just over 2 1/2 hours. My guess is that he was inundated and had others helping with email answers. Or, it was simply the standard cut and past answer from one of his underlings.
Well done.
Freepmail, I got your back.
Thank you for your communication and this post.
Well done!
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well done
They need a smack that thier grandmother will feel
Well done! Freerepublic.com at its very best.
That Civitas editor suddenly has a very different image of Second Amendment supporters, or is at least aware that we too can deploy information technology in defense of our beliefs.
We can take it from there...
I really think libs are trying to push us into another civil war. Everything they do seems designed to ratchet up tensions, to dissolve more and more of the Constitution, and - via the most outrageous and unchallenged (by the media) rhetoric (e.g., Cuomo) - to provoke a violent response.
What would be the point of publishing the names of concealed carry permit holders? Defamation? Ridicule? What in the world are you thinking, Mr. Lawitz?
Thank you.
Be safe.
Sorted things out like gentlemen... a rare thing in today’s world.
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