Treating gun owners like sex offenders in the name of "sunshine"

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/007050.htm ^ | 3/13/2007 | agitate

[Agitate]

Treating gun owners like sex offenders in the name of "sunshine" By Michelle Malkin · March 13, 2007 09:45 AM

Shame on the Roanoke Times.

Last Sunday, its columnist Christian Trejbal published an online database of registered concealed handgun permit holders in the New River Valley under the sanctimonious guise of "Sunshine Week:"

Today is the start of Sunshine Week, the annual week in which we reflect on the importance of open government and public records. To mark the occasion, I want to take you on an excursion into freedom of information land. We're going to find out who in the New River Valley has a concealed handgun permit.

I can hear the shocked indignation of gun-toters already: It's nobody's business but mine if I want to pack heat.

Au contraire. Because the government handles the permitting, it is everyone's business.

There are good reasons the records are open to public scrutiny. People might like to know if their neighbors carry. Parents might like to know if a member of the car pool has a pistol in the glove box. Employers might like to know if employees are bringing weapons to the office.

And all Virginians have a stake in checking that their government is not making mistakes, for example, by issuing permits to convicted felons. Open records allow the media or any private citizen to check.

Trejbal denied that exposing concealed carry permit holders was "about being for or against guns." But he exposed his true agenda when he compared law-abiding gun owners to...sex offenders:

A state that eagerly puts sex offender data online complete with an interactive map could easily do the same with gun permits, but it does not...

[printhead]

How about "Because you have a license plate, or a phone number or an SSN" we publish that? I might advocate some sort of "Don't get mad get even" kind of response but Freepers are more civil than that.

[Publius6961]

Oops. They didn't release the addresses of gun owners. They released their names. It's still rotten.

Oh yes they did! Name and street address of record.

No they didn't.
I actually used the link they had on their site and expected a complete list, by alphabetical order. Nope

The searcher needs to enter a last name and a geographical location; the list then displays everyone in that location with that last name.

Not exactly the easiest way for criminals to find gun owners.

[P8riot]

Nevertheless it made the addresses available. You had to look for them but they were there. I found mine, and dozens of people I know, two of which were former battered women that are trying really hard to distance themselves from their abusers.

[mombrown1]

The point -

What the state police did was unconstitutional under the 4th amendment. Publishing the list was unconstitutional under the 4th amendment. I would guess that is the reason they removed the list. If I had gotten to the list before it was removed I would have contacted each person and suggested they do a class action suit against the paper, writer, and the state police.

Also, I do not believe that the state police have the right to maintain a database. They also do not have the right to require Social Security Nos. The SSN must be given voluntarily per federal law.

[antiRepublicrat]

They also do not have the right to require Social Security Nos. The SSN must be given voluntarily per federal law.

There's a hitch to that. It is voluntary: if you voluntarily apply for a permit, you voluntarily give over your SSN. Nobody's forcing you to get a permit, so nobody's forcing you to give over your SSN.

Not my view, that's just how the government thinks.

[Joe Brower]

Well, this makes the third thread in three days that I have seen on this topic. The first two have been flushed down the memory-hole by the Admin Mods.

Let's see how long this one lasts.

[AppyPappy]

Parents might like to know if a member of the car pool has a pistol in the glove box. Employers might like to know if employees are bringing weapons to the office.

I have a CCW permit and I NEVER carry a gun in the car. This is idiotic.

[Smokin' Joe]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1799928/posts yet survives as well.

[Smokin' Joe]

I imagine that is a legal issue for the paper

I imagine their 'legal issues' are just beginning.

One of those who wrote in their comments section thanked the columnist (sarcastically, I presume) for exposing them to Islamic Jihad and Hamas, who now have their home address if they used the database.

Others made similar comments in re: abusive ex spouses, gang members, etc.

Someone is quite possibly in deep litigational doo-doo.

[goldstategop]

The public doesn't have the right to know everything, if it is legally permitted. What's legally perrmitted may be ethically out of bounds. This MSM reporter forgot that distinction. I could publish a list of all the journalists in this country, complete with their names and addresses. We'll see if those First Amendment purists are still for sunshine when its THEIR their privacy that is invaded.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[brazzaville]

Good morning

I also have a permit, and I have a gun, in condition one, on me or within immediate reach at almost all times.

Almost, in that I have to pass through detectors and am prohibited from carrying in some places. I go to those places only when I have to.

Other than those in places, well, they call it Concealed Carry for a reason and the gun is in the car.

Michael Frazier

[jmc813]

School Lane was closed, a state police bomb squad was called and at least some neighbors were evacuated after Trejbal, who attracted a deluge of criticism with a column about concealed carry firearms permits, found the package during a lunch-time trip home. Trejbal has received threats in the wake of his Sunday column, which celebrated open government and public records and was accompanied by an online database listing the about 135,000 Virginians who are licensed to carry concealed firearms.

Good news as far as I'm concerned.

[Teacher317]

Au contraire. Because the government handles the permitting, it is everyone's business.

The author is simply begging to have someone publish every scrap of public information available about him...

What's the over-under (in minutes) for a FReeper to upload a screenshot of his home from Google Earth?

[jmc813]

Well, this makes the third thread in three days that I have seen on this topic. The first two have been flushed down the memory-hole by the Admin Mods. Let's see how long this one lasts.

They were trashed because people were posting this dork's home address. As long as people refrain from doing so, and go the the above link to the column's comment page for his address, this thread should be fine.

[Teacher317]

christian.trejbal@roanoke.com
381-1645

(found here)

[sauropod]

Excellent suggestion. I like it.

[AppyPappy]

You live in California. I live in the mountains of Va. My threat level is almost nil. Having a gun in my car would mean I would have to start locking it. My gun is more likely to be stolen than needed to defend myself.

[Teacher317]

WhitePages.com has...

[undisclosed] (sic) Westside Blvd NW
Roanoke, VA 24017

(just south of the Roanoke Country Club, next to Williams Memorial Park)

I wonder if he has a mortgage?

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

I'm betting that the package was on Christian's porch because he placed it there.

There's a long tradition of Liberals faking threatening behavior by the people they offend.

Michael Frazier

[Teacher317]

Hmmm... this webpage has a different address for him.

(Apparently some goon has already sent a "myssterious package" to his home... I'm definitely not advocating THAT kind of stupidity... but of course, now he might understand what happens when someone's private information is published.)