Maine Newspaper Submits Request For Address's For All CWP Holders

[Travis15R]

The Bangor Daily News ( Second largest paper in the state ) Recently submitted a request for the names and address's for all permit holders. This was met with swift and quick opposition throughout the state. The paper said it did not plan on releasing the information but said it wanted it to track incidents such as domestic violence and other crimes (giving the impression that CWP holders are not law abiding citizens). The paper has since withdrawn its request but the torch has been handed to another group who is pushing for the same information. The Governor is trying to push through emergency legislation to make this information private. There was a picture of the govenor holding his CWP in the paper with the quote of... If you want to know who has a CWP I do..... A bill was submitted to keep this information private before the paper requested the info and that is the bill they are trying to push through and vote on this up coming week.


Paper withdraws request for gun permit, new group makes request | wcsh6.com


Article from the paper submitting the request w/ the goveners photo.


LePage seeks emergency block on release of concealed weapons permit holders? info ? Politics ? Bangor Daily News ? BDN Maine

 

[Poodle Soup]

idiots, idiots, idiots. Collect all their info. Where their kids go to school, what cars they drive, license plate numbers, the nursing home nana lives in, EVERYTHING. And release it the moment they release cwp holders info. Its getting to the point where something really really stupid is going to happen because of these clowns.

 

[cmort666]

The Cleveland Plain Dealer published CHL holder information a while ago. They didn't like the response.

Payback is a Dorner...

 

[Travis15R]

The problem is as soon as something happens where a law abiding citizen with a permit commits a crime they will feel the need to publish all this info in the means of "public safety". I realize that a very large overwhelming majority of all legal gun owners and permit holders do not commit crimes but they are trying to pass laws ( which overall have no effect) that they believe will stop all crime. Example from my home town...... I grew up in a small tight knit community in central Maine, far away from any large population areas and any serious crime. I no longer live in that area now but just a few years ago a guy with the typical family and no criminal history shot his wife two kids and killed himself (all died). This is an example of how no matter how many laws or precautions you take not all crime can be prevented. That is just the society we live in. It by no means we should be a disarmed society either.

 

[CoMF]

Despite the Bangor Daily News requesting this information on very shaky premises, sadly there's nothing in Maine law precluding this sort of thing from happening. Welcome to the dark side of "freedom of information"...

"We can request this kind of sensitive information about you whenever we want and for whatever reason in the name of 'journalism'."

And then newspaper publishers wonder why they gain no public sympathy when outraged individuals publish any and all personal information about them that they can get their hands on... I also predict civil courts being inundated with tort cases for the forseeable future if incidents such as this become the "norm."

 

[Travis15R]

At least the public was quick to jump on this before they actually got the information and hopefully a bill will be passed in this coming week to keep this type of information private. I do not yet have my permit but I am signing up for a class this week to take one.

 

[dougb1946]

Memphis paper did this a few years ago. Published names and a map with locations. Crime dropped in areas with high gun ownership.

http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/papers/acquisti-REV.pdf

Specifically, we found evidence of a larger decrease in burglaries in zip codes with higher levels of permit issuances and their displace- ment to zip codes with lower number of gun permits.

 

[Travis15R]

For those who may want to know a bill was passed yesterday to make this information private. It was done under "emergency legislation" so it is only on the books until April 30th but the whole point was to get it passed now so they can draft a bill by then to make it permanent. Even though this state is blue its nice to see something done at the state level in favor of gun owners compared to what we are seeing in NY, IL, CO, CT, WA, CA exc exc...

I will be signing up for a class today for my concealed permit and the class is being held in March.