Newspaper Publishes Names and Addresses of CCW Holders

Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star ^

[Mortimer Snavely]

Phil Van Cleave, head honcho of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc., just e-mailed this:

"The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star is publishing a list of area residents who have concealed handgun permits.

Great idea Free Lance - let's tell all the criminals which houses to burgle in order to get some guns! Great service to the community.

Maybe the editor and senior people at the Free Lance should publish their personal home addresses so that they, too, can spend quality time with some of those cuddly little felons.

Here is the link:

Weapons Permits

If you find publishing CHP holder's names and addresses to be a pretty stupid idea and to be endangering of the citizens of Virginia, let them know about it. Just because they have the right to publish public information does not necessarily make it the smart or correct thing to do:

newsroom@fredericksburg.com "

[GOPJ]

This information is part of the public record. It's fair game. Anyhow, crooks don't want to go up against armed citizens, they'll look for easier marks. It might help owners, not hurt them.

[dasboot]

Which is exactly why it's so bad.

[goldstategop]

California changed the rules after an actress was shot to death by a stalker. The addresses and phone numbers of DMV applicants are no longer public record. They are however, available to law enforcement and others who can show a legitimate need for them. The only portion of your DMV record open for public inspection is your name and driving record.

[sam_paine]

Just publish the name, phone #, and address of the publisher, editor and reporter. Throw in the address of their kids at college.

Well, newspapers have spent time in jail to preserve their 1st Amendment rights, so no law REQUIRING public registering of reporters.

Gun owners, however, have jumped on board the registration bandwagon (albeit for CCW, what's next?) So now that the list exists...it may surface anywhere. Be prepared.

If we register our DNA/biometrics in a database someday, you may find yourself published in a wanted listing of "possible persons of interest" in a rape or murder case.

[TheBattman]

Publisher
Josiah Rowe
374-5451
Associate Publishers
Nick Cadwallender, nickc@freelancestar.com 374-5454
Flo Barnick, fbarnick@freelancestar.com
374-5452

[Mr. Mojo]

This is why I didn't give them my fingerprint when I got my license.

Which license are you referring to, and how did you convince them to give it to you anyway?

[PatrioticAmerican]

I know the arguments against publishing the names, but I wouldn't mind it here. Hell, that's GREAT advertising FOR CCW!

"Wow, I had no idea Marcy has a CCW, maybe I should get one."

[sam_paine]

name one reason for the good

They don't need to! If a paper needed to exist solely for the public good (anyone's good) then there'd be very few papers indeed!!!

I think this sucks, but I doubt it's illegal, or even immoral.

In fact, it might do this bit of good: It might remove the shine from CCW laws that merely restrict and dissolve a right I believe I already had when I was born. The notion I have to register my gun activities with the govm't is what is immoral.

[yooper]

"Great idea Free Lance - let's tell all the criminals which houses to burgle in order to get some guns! Great service to the community."

Au Contraire, Mi Amigo! The stupid newspaper inadvertantly told the criminal public which houses to avoid.

FWIW, any criminal elements in my area of Michigan should be advised that I have at my disposal 12 different firearms, two of which remain near my bed at night, loaded and ready for bear. One of them will put many round rifle holes into an intruder and the other will blow them into the next county.

Sleep tight, America. I will.......

[Richard-SIA]

"Laying about" may depend on where they have gone.
There are many restrictions on where you can carry.

Nice of these idiots to let perps know who it is SAFE TO ROB or RAPE!

And of course, if they do want to harm a CCW holder, now they know to attack from behind.

Kind of like when the press taught felons to shoot cops in the head in order to defeat their body armor.

[sam_paine]

Which license are you referring to, and how did you convince them to give it to you anyway?

Drivers license. In Texas. They started raw image scanning of fingerprints coupla years ago, but they weren't actually encoding them in real time...just scanning a picture. So I painted mine with tar when I went. The technician never even looked at the scanned image (I don't know if they know how to.) And she never looked at my finger either.

I was prepared to say, "Keep you license" but I guess I only got a B+ in nonviolent protest. =-/

[DBrow]

In some states (MA?) it is illegal to publish a list of CCW holders. Some paper in RI tried this and was stopped by the courts, IIRC.

Mischief and mayhem.

Society is safer if criminals do not know who is armed.

[onceone]

I believe the exact same thing can happen in California. CCW records in the state are public records open to inspection by anyone asking for the information.

[The FRugitive]

I had seriously considered getting a CCW permit till I saw this. Now I doubt I ever will.

Why not just concealed carry without a permit? I don't have a permit (but plan to get one), nor do I carry but I've never been in a situation where I was searched by police. So why not just cary without the permit?

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[Timesink]

I agree. The names and addresses of everyone on the newspaper's staff should be printed out on a few thousand leaflets (how big is Fredricksburg?) and posted all over town. Most of them are probably listed in the phone book, and for those that aren't, well ... property tax records are public records too, as are voter registrations. You could certainly assemble a name and address list of all of the papers' senior editors and publisher without more than a few hours of trouble.

[Mr. Mojo]

Good idea using the tar. The morons at the DMV aren't trained to do anything but bitch and complain, so it's no surprise she never even glanced at it.

[yooper]

"So why not just carry without the permit?"

Because you'll go to jail without it, if you get caught. Big if, and a gamble. If you save your life with the gun and haven't been caught prior to the life-saving incident, its worth it.

OTOH, if you go to jail for possesion of a concealed weapon after being stopped for a broken tail light, you're going to be really pissed. Hence the law.

[flynhghr]

What was the paper thinking when they posted these names? Immediate legal action needs to be taken against the paper. Charge them with RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT.

[Myrddin]

A newspaper in Ft. Collins, Colorado published the names and addresses of all the CCW holders in town in late February 2000. Idiots.