Editorial: Printing CCW list is for public good

The Warren Tribune Chronicle was one of the first of now four Ohio newspapers to have published the names of concealed handgun license-holders as though they were social pariah. For this act, the paper was awarded the "Bandemonium Award" in the July issue of the NRA's national First Freedom magazine.

June 27, 2004
Warren Tribune Chronicle

For proponents of Ohio's conceal carry law, we offer a brief history lesson on the Tribune Chronicle's position.

On July 16, 1995, we stated in an editorial, ''The Senate last week voted 26-6 to make Ohio the 43rd state to issue permits for concealed weapons. The measure now goes to the House, where we think it should be passed as well.
''We think the outright ban on concealed weapons was too restrictive. This bill will restore some freedom to Ohioans.''

Last year, when Ohio Gov. Bob Taft threatened to veto the conceal carry legislation, we published Taft's phone number and e-mail address in Michael Hoffman's outdoors column.

Later in the year, Hoffman wrote, ''I'd like to wish Gov. Robert Taft a clear look back at his campaign promises to approve concealed carry legislation if it ever reached his desk. He made them when he wanted people to vote for him. It would certainly be a shame if those who did vote for him because of those promises were left with the memory of them being broken.''

On March 28, 2002, after the bill was passed in the house, we said in an editorial, ''It is a bill Ohioans want, and Taft has a responsibility to sign it should it come to his desk.''

This year, on several Web sites and gun-advocate publications across the state, the Tribune Chronicle's position on the Second Amendment has been misrepresented.

This is because we regularly publish the names, ages and counties of everyone locally who applies for a concealed carry permit. This upsets some gun-advocates who have subsequently labeled the Tribune as being against the new law.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

We feel that anybody who believes in the Second Amendment, as we do, should also uphold the First Amendment, which we do.

The government that gives us the freedom to carry weapons of self-defense also gives us the freedom to access information and share it for the betterment of the citizenry.

Ohio's conceal carry law requires training and a thorough background check before any individual can be issued a license. It does not permit concealed weapons in school zones and universities, justice buildings, places of worship or businesses where alcohol is served. It also allows media access to the names, ages and counties of those who apply for permits.

We feel this information should be available to everyone, not just the media.

It is one thing to keep Social Security numbers and fingerprints confidential. It is another thing to hide from the public all information about the implementation, implications and effectiveness of this, or any, bill.

Ohioans deserve to know the result of this legislation. Concealed carry supporters who cite statistics in other states that show a decrease in crime corresponding to an increase in conceal carry permits, will have difficulty proving such an argument in Ohio without such information.

We don't accept the argument that publishing the names of those who apply for conceal carry licenses will open those people up to the thefts of their gun collections.

People don't get conceal carry permits for their collections. They get the permits so they can carry their weapons outside of their homes. Any thief who reads these lists, as if any would, is more likely to stay away from people packing their pistols.

For the record, we continue to support the Second Amendment and Ohio's new conceal carry law. We support the First Amendment and open government as well.

Commentary:
The Tribune Chronicle editorializes that there is no anti-Second Amendment
motivation behind it being one of only four Ohio newspapers to publish the
names of concealed handgun license-holders. Readers are asked to believe that
this abuse of the media's access privilege is done "for the public good."

Let us test that logic. Since thousands more people die from automobile
accidents each year than from firearms, and since these accidents are
frequently caused by the youngest or oldest drivers, should it not also be
considered a "public good" to publish the lists of all new drivers who obtain
licenses, or all persons past retirement age who renew?

That the Tribune Chronicle has not ever pasted a scarlet letter on drivers by
listing them in the newspaper, as papers rightly have sex offenders, is
telling. Though the number of people murdered by the nation's millions and
millions of CHL-holders is statistically zero, the Tribune-Chronicle has
chosen to list these people as though they are social pariah, because that
clearly is how the editors view them.

The Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel recently considered publishing such a list, but
had the good sense to poll its readers on the issue. After receiving 3000
letters opposing the plan (95% of all letters received on the subject), the
newspaper reversed course. They expressed shared concern with readers who
warned of the potential to expose former victims of violence who have gone to
great lengths to hide from their attackers, and with those who warned that the
list would serve only to provide a convenient shopping list for would-be
thieves.

How telling that Tribune Chronicle editors have no such respect for our
opinions, our safety, or our privacy. They could have at least asked.

The editors "feel this information should be available to everyone, not just
the media." Would they also support CHL-holders carrying courthouses or
daycare centers or bars, simply because they "feel" they should be able to?

The Tribune Chronicle has a right to its belief that these records should be
open. However, the Ohio General Assembly disagrees, and the sponsors of this
legislation have called actions like the Tribune's "abusive". This abuse is
already being used as impetus for removing the media privilege, just as it
has been removed in other states when media elites overstepped their intended
role as public overseer.

Speaking of oversight: this law contains provisions directing that
information about applications, issuance, and revokation of licenses will be
delivered to the public yearly, a fact contrary to the editors' suggestion
that it cannot perform an oversight role because the government intends
to "hide from the public all information about the implementation,
implications and effectiveness".

For many years, Ohio's defenseless citizens have petitioned for change, while
suffering under an unfair law which infringed on their right to self-defense.

Instead of abusing the law we now have, the Tribune Chronicle and others
should do what self-defense advocates did - work tirelessly and at great
personal expense to change the law.

Instead, the Tribune Chronicle is taking the lazy, inconsiderate, abusive and
dangerous road by irresponsibly choosing to ignore a law which it doesn't like.

Shame on them.

Click here to cast your opinion on the real reasons these newspapers are publishing lists of CHL-holders.