Cleveland Editor Takes Heat for Publishing Gun List

E&P ^ | 07/28/04 | Joe Strupp

[tbpiper]

What about scouring out the editor's personal information and publishing it on the web?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Publishing this bastard's name and address is a good start.

[Puppage]

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland decided to let the public know which of their neighbors were on the list

Why don't they publish a list of all the people who've had abortions? It's just as private & personal, IMHO.

[Sender]

What possible reason does this doofus have for publishing gun owners' names? So 'reasonable' people can avoid them?

[BenLurkin]

Does he not have a gun for home defense?

[davisfh]

"What about scouring out the editor's personal information and publishing it on the web?"

There is a web site called intelius.com. Intelius can provide a wealth of information. Unfortunately, it is not free though.

[ladtx]

The law of unintended consequences may come into play here. Now the bad guys will definitely know who not to pick on, it will narrow down their list of houses and businesses to burglarize, rob etc.

[Sender]

I think that's a perfect idea: publish the names of everyone who has had an abortion in Cleveland until they stop with the gun list.

[Steve_Seattle]

The provision in the law allowing only the media to obtain the names of people seeking gun permits is extremely weird. I don't know the rationale for that provision, but it might violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Unless lawmakers can provide a compelling, rational basis for this distinction, the law is very questionable.

[mrsmith]

"The Plain Dealer in Cleveland decided to let the public criminals know which of their neighbors were not on the list. "
Well, this should be a big selling issue among the criminals all around Cleveland.

Someone without a gun who gets burglared should sue the paper for telling criminals that they didn't have a gun. Better yet they should get a gun.

[JoeSixPack1]

Why don't they publish a list of all the people who've had abortions? It's just as private & personal, IMHO.

It's also a specially protected species of medical info afforded to the baby killers by congressional intervention. But a great idea none the less!

[rllngrk33]

Now that we have his name and address, maybe we should sign him up for subscriptions to all sorts of Pro Second Ammendment stuff.

[arfan]

I live near both these newspapers.

I've been specifically waiting to apply for concealed carry till the papers did this.

I want it to either become:

a) old news,

-or-

b) be taken out of the paper by legal action

before I actually apply for concealed carry.

If you lived in my area, you would have seen this coming from a mile away as well.

[Capriole]

Of course what this fool did is detestable--but on the other hand, I wouldn't mind at all if my name were published on such a list. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad thing if one day the Washington Post printed a banner headline on the front page:

CAPRIOLE OWNS LOTS OF BIG UGLY GUNS!

Breaking Into Her House May Not Be Good Idea

[Steve_Seattle]

"Gov. [Bob] Taft insisted that reporters could act as a check and a balance to insure that licenses were being issued appropriately."

The media do not have a right to have special access to government records. If these records are to be public, they should be available to all. And the media have no right to act in a quasi-governmental capacity as a "check and balance" about the proper issuing of licenses. This whole thing stinks.

[Tacis]

It is too late now, but they should have told the Editor that many of the folks on the list were confidential informants for the paper. They would not have made the names public (unless the price had been right).

Why do readers need the names of those packing but not the names of those who provide the paper with private information?

[Steve_Seattle]

Whatever happened to the right to privacy? F***ing hypocrites.

[Bikers4Bush]

For later.

[Alberta's Child]

I'd be quite thrilled to see my name and address on a list like this. I'll bet the number of robberies at the addresses listed in that newspaper is going to be zero -- for quite some time.