Monday, June 25, 2007

Another Newspaper Exceeds the Bounds of Common Sense

The Sandusky Register of Sandusky Ohio has joined the ranks of news organizations that have placed citizens lives in jeopardy. They have published a listing of local CHL holders.

This time, they did not post addresses, just a list of names. That is still an abuse of their privilege. CHL holders have many reasons for obtaining a CHL. Some get a CHL due to a direct threat, others just because it is the right thing to do. This paper has just notified an offender that the potential victim is armed, they have just escalated the violence of the attack by the goblin.

Many, if not most, CHL holders have not told their friends, acquaintances and co-workers that they carry a firearm. The decision to protect yourself is a private one, unless you happen to live in Sandusky Ohio. There is a possibility that being on this list will get a person fired. An anti gun supervisor reading the name of an employee on this list, even if the employee does not carry at work, can take action against the employee.

Publishing this list of CHL names is just plain wrong. This paper has made a conscious decision to endanger the lives and livelihood of the folks it pretends to service.

A very large thanks to The Liberty Sphere for bringing this latest bit of journalistic malpractice to our attention.

For a more in depth discussion, check out LIBERTY ALERT! Paper Publishes Names of Gun Owners

Also commenting:

Say Uncle

Update -

Thanks to an anon commenter, we have a link to the Buckeye Firearms Association article on this mess. Sandusky Register Editor Matt Westerhold Declares War on Gun Owner Privacy. This is an in depth article that includes a bit of history on the editor who decided to run this story (this is not his first attack on CHL privacy) and how it came to be that state law allows this to happen. This article is well worth the read.

The article also led to this political cartoon, from the very paper that published the list of CHL holder names:

Click Here For Larger Image


It seems the paper's cartoonist has a better handle on the bag of worms that was opened with this story than the editor does.

And some people wondered why we (Texas) needed HB 991, a bill to ensure CHL confidentiality.

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