North Country Gazette



Post-Star, Pistol Permits And Public Safety

Posted on Saturday, 2 of February , 2008 at 7:34 pm

COMMENTARY

WARREN COUNTY—Three million Americans carry concealed weapons.

The Glens Falls Post-Star wants to know the names of all pistol permit holders in Warren County and has submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the Warren County Clerk’s Office to obtain a list of the concealed carry permit holders, apparently with the intent to publish those names.More...

This request, apparently being undertaken by Post-Star reporter Nick Reisman, has initiated a firestorm of protest from local law enforcement officials, county officials, and certainly among gun owners and holders of concealed carry permits.

A source in the county clerk’s office says that the county has offered The Post Star the number of how many permit holders there are within the county, but the Post Star wants the names. Efforts to contact The Post-Star and Reisman to ask why they want the information by various individuals has not resulted in any response, several individuals tell The North Country Gazette.

Newspapers across the country who have published such lists have met immediate protests and in some instances, have been forced to remove the lists from their websites and have been subjected to boycotts of their advertisers as well as having personal but public information about their editors and reporters circulated publicly.  The National Rifle Association (NRA) has become involved as well as numerous local gun owners groups and in several states such as Ohio, lawsuits have been launched against the newspapers who published the list of legal gun owners.

Many say that while the information may be public information, newspapers have to use it responsibly and balance the potential consequences with the public’s right to know.  Others view it as a ploy by The Post-Star to boost their sagging circulation figures, to tantalize the public with a juicy headline and controversy with no journalistic newsworthy content, placing sensationalism ahead of public safety.

Not all states allow gun owners to carry a hidden firearm, 31 states allow owners to do so if they have no felony record.  In 12 other states such as Colorado, there’s no state right to carry but the privilege can be extended by local law enforcement officials.

Of the states that require permits, New York has the lengthiest process, taking up to six months in some cases to send multiple sets of fingerprints and mug shots to local, state and federal authorities to determine if the applicant has any history of known criminal activity or mental illness.  Applicants must provide character references and in some counties, be interviewed by a judge.

Last March, the day after The Roanoke Times published a list of Virginians licensed to carry concealed weapons, in the wake of intense criticism, cancellation of newspaper subscriptions and advertisements, the newspaper removed the list from its web site amid concerns that it might have included names that shouldn’t have been made public.

Readers and advertisers alike complained that publishing the names of pistol permit holders not only was an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of law-abiding citizens but that it gave criminals information that would have them find victims and could lead to a rash of burglaries by individuals looking to steal handguns.

The president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League told the newspaper that “by publishing that list, you’ve created a windfall for criminals”,  arguing that convicted felons or others unable to purchase a handgun legally and obtain a permit would use the list as a shopping list to select homes to burglarize in order to obtain guns.

Others voiced concern for the safety of domestic abuse victims who may carry concealed weapons for their own protection but don’t want an abusive former partner to know where they live.

Bud York, Warren County Sheriff, said he absolutely opposed any plan by The Post-Star to publish a list of the county’s pistol permit holders and said such publication would be irresponsible. He too echoed concerns about public safety and said while they had a right to access such information, it would set a bad precedent to publish it.  York said that while anti-gun lobbyists were working to make such information public, he didn’t understand the newspaper’s reasoning for wanting to do so.  He said that home addresses of the permit holders would be redacted if the list was released.

In New York State, a license to possess a handgun serves also as a license to carry unless restricted. If there are no restrictions written on the license, the licensee is permitted to carry a handgun, loaded or unloaded, concealed, on or about his person. An applicant for a license to carry must be required to show, in addition to the requirement for possession, that “proper cause exists” for the issuance of such a license; for example, for target shooting, hunting, or self-defense. The license can be amended to include one or more additional or different handguns. The licensee is required to carry the license on his person at all times when carrying a handgun.

Possession of any “loaded” rifle or shotgun in a vehicle is illegal. A loaded handgun may be carried in a vehicle by a properly licensed individual. (”Loaded” means loaded in magazine or chamber. A loaded handgun means one for which the person possesses ammunition.) http://www.nysrpa.org/nygunlaws.htm

When The Sandusky Register, a newspaper in northern Ohio published the non-public records of concealed permit holders last summer, they got a backlash they hadn’t expected.  One gun rights advocacy group published personal but public information about the newspaper’s editor on the group’s web site.

In what was labeled as a grossly irresponsible move by many, the Register published the names, ages and home counties of the nearly 2,700 concealed carry permit holders in its circulation area. 

The North Country Gazette has learned that in addition to Warren County, The Post-Star is also seeking the names of pistol permit holders in Washington and Saratoga Counties too.

In Ohio, gun laws restrict public access to concealed carry records but the media is allowed to access them, but not for the purposes of making such lists public by publication.

After the Register’s action, a spokesman for the Buckeye Firearms Association said that “The general public may now know who owns and may or may not carry a gun. Additionally, the general public now knows who is not carrying a gun in their day to day activities.”

While the newspapers that publish the names of pistol permit holders argue that the public has a right to know who is carrying a pistol, a poll conducted by the Dayton Daily News in 2005 indicated that 87% of those who responded said they were against making the records public information.  Another poll conducted by the Columbus Dispatch showed that two-thirds of the respondents said there’s already too much access to their personal information by the public.  The polls indicated that the readers were more interested in records related to the activities of law-breakers than in the personal information about their neighbors or in other words, people are more interested who has a gun that DOESN’T have a permit for it and can’t legally obtain one.

Already in Warren County, gun owners are discussing how to fight back against what they view as The Post-Star’s invasion of their personal privacy rights, planning to make public personal information that they can locate about Reisman and other staff members and editors of The Post-Star such as their personal address and cost of their home and to institute a boycott of Post-Star advertisers. Plans are underway to boycott advertisers who support The Post-Star and to discourage potential advertisers from doing business with The Post-Star.

Perhaps efforts should be made to obtain a list of employees of The Post-Star to learn how many have criminal records or if any are listed on the state’s sexual offender registry such as motor route carriers who may be delivering newspapers to your homes.

In Tennessee, when “The Tennesseean” published a database of residents who had concealed carry permits, due to the public outcry, the newspaper took the database offline the same day.

In that dispute, arguments were made that by publishing the list of gun permit holders suggests that they need to be identified and tracked, like sex offenders, implying that law-biding citizens who hold a handgun permit are bad people and can’t be trusted.

Ken Hanson, legislative chair of the Buckeye Firearms Association and author of The Ohio Guide to Firearm Laws says that by publishing lists of persons who have obtained concealed handgun licenses, newspapers such as the Sandusky Register have taken private, non-public record information and made it public.

“Beyond the fact that The Register has now made public that which statutorily was not to be public, what harm can come from this?” Hanson asks.  “Buckeye Firearms Association previously brought you the story of a prison guard who was tracked down by a former inmate by using a concealed carry list published in a local paper. However, beyond this explicit example, the general public remains largely unaware of just how much harm can come from this.

The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the state’s largest gun group, has said it would join with other groups and lobby Albany lawmakers to remove the names of pistol owners from public scrutiny, making them available only to law enforcement personnel.

The names of legal pistol permit permit holders are public under NYS Penal Law section 400.00(5), which regulates firearms licensing and states that “the name and address of any person to whom an application for any license has been granted shall be a public record.”

Individuals who wish to voice their opinion to The Post-Star about this issue should email Reisman at nreisman@poststar.com, Rona Rahlf, publisher at rahlf@poststar.com or editor Ken Tingley at tingley@poststar.com   2-2-08  By June Maxam

All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reprinted or reproduced without the express written permission of The North Country Gazette.

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Category: Constitution, Courts, Crime, Government, Media, New York State, Ohio, Opinion, Police, Politics, Warren County

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