Posted: 3/19/2007 9:45:43 AM EDT
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http://www.gunguys.com/?p=1977 Not hot link A while back we gave kudos to a South Dakota paper for putting the list of CCW permitholders in that state online and searchable– the public has a right to know who chooses to endanger their communities by carrying a concealed weapons. The Roanoke Times in Virginia recently decided to do the same thing, but the gun guys unleashed their jackbooted thugs for some Jim Zumbo-style vengeance, and now the Times has foolishly decided that a pack of barking dogs should have more influence on their activities than keeping the citizens of Virginia safe from concealed weapons. One day after igniting a firestorm of criticism, The Roanoke Times decided Monday to remove from its Web site a list of Virginians licensed to carry concealed weapons. The list, published as part of an opinion column about open records that ran Sunday in the newspaper’s New River Valley Current section, was taken down Monday afternoon out of concern that it might include names that should not have been made public, president and publisher Debbie Meade said. Although she had received no official word from Virginia State Police, which provided the data at the paper’s request, Meade said she was concerned enough about complaints from readers to act out of an abundance of caution. “Our concern is that if the information should have been protected and it wasn’t, then we don’t want to run it,” Meade said. The real outrage here is that a small minority of gun guys, because they maliciously attacked a newspaper’s website, is going to override the right of the people to know who’s putting them in danger. Concealed weapons are a threat, just like all other firearms in the community, and by not exercising their First Amendment right to publish this information, the Roanoke Times is hiding that threat from Virginia’s citizens. Now, the paper claims that the list contains names of federal witnesses and domestic abuse victims who may be put in danger if their addresses are known. That may be a concern if it’s true, but if so, there should be a clause on the list to keep just those names out of the public eye– there are many other names on the list that deserve to be known by the public. Meanwhile, the gun lobby’s voiced concerns with the list are just laughable. “By publishing that list, you’ve created a windfall for criminals,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Van Cleave and others argued that convicted felons, barred from buying guns at stores, could use the list to select homes to burglarize in their search for firepower. This is such a joke, and it’s the same old argument trotted out every time the gun guys want these lists hidden. We sure thought that the point of having a concealed weapon was so that you can defend yourself against criminals. All of a sudden when they see their name in the paper, the gun guys are scared that a big bad criminal will show up at their house? We thought that’s what they wanted. Don’t they think a firearm can protect them from just that situation? Oh, but there’s more. The gun guys claim that publishing their data online compares them to sex offenders, because there are searchable databases of their info online as well. It also unfairly compared law-abiding gun owners to sex offenders, he said, by noting that “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.” Please. Driver’s license and real estate information is also publicly available, but building owners and developers aren’t complaining about being compared to sex offenders. Why the gun guys are begging for special preference is beyond us– they don’t deserve it, and they shouldn’t get it, even if they whine the newspaper’s ear off. The Roanoke Times is making a big mistake here. It’s the right of Virginia citizens to have that information– if you sent your kids to a friend’s house, wouldn’t you want to know whether their parents had a CCW permit or not? By listening to an obnoxious minority of gun guys and folding on their First Amendment privileges, they’ve endangered Virginians who want to know whether or not there’s a CCW permitholder living on their street. these people just make stuff up and print it !!! what BS  fred |
RIF, didn't the article itself attempt to pair the two groups?  The original article could have mentioned Real Estate Licenses or Insurance Agent Licenses However, instead of a more reasonable comparison, they chose sex offenders....... |
What a fucking moron...
Yeah, that's what we want, crackheads and murderers on our doorstep.  ETA: Odd that the web page is titled Gun Guys and the article referes to Gun Guys. Gee, that is sorta confusing since the Web page Gun Guys are Gun Grabber Guys.  ByteTheBullet (-: |
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The really sad part about this article is that people that go to the trouble to get a CCW permit are not the ones that commit crimes. The statistics clearly bear this out. I have spoken to many police officers that really like the fact that people get licensed to carry. In Texas, you have to go to a 12-hour training course, with a refresher course every 4-5 years. The article was obviously written by one of the "guns scare me" crowd that believes that if you just look at a gun wrong, it might go off. Must be a fear of snakes or something that they project onto inanimate objects. These idiots should be worried a lot more by criminals that carry guns, not the honest citizens that want to protect themselves. What I don't understand is why people that are scared of guns feel completely safe when only police have them. What is magic about being a police officer that says you will never have an AD or an ND? We have all seen the video of the DEA idiot that literally shoots himself in the foot with his Glock. Why can't these people accept that civilians can be trained and learned about the proper handling of firearms? |
 God , i love that ... fred |
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