posted February 18, 2009
Recently the Commercial Appeal, a Memphis-based newspaper, published the list of handgun carry permit holders in an easily searchable online database. Not surprisingly, Tennesseans across the state were outraged and expressed this, calling their lawmakers’ offices and demanding action.
While I recognize that the list is currently public information and the Commercial Appeal was acting legally, I sympathized with the many citizens contacting my office because I understand the importance of what is at stake.
The Commercial Appeal’s desire to make this list public intrigued me. What was their reasoning behind publishing it? Perhaps there was a perfectly good explanation that just escaped me. Then, in this week’s Sunday edition of the paper, the CA responded to the criticism and defended their action.
The arguments were weak, even flawed. From the editorial, it seems as though one goal was to cast suspicion on the legal, responsible gun owners of this state.
The paper states: “A school official, concerned about whether teachers were bringing guns onto school grounds, might check the list to see whether anyone on the staff has a permit to carry, and then have a discussion about it.”
That the Commercial Appeal would encourage a school official to target teachers who are legal gun owners is disconcerting.
The paper also seems to be confused as to why non-gun owners would be outraged with the publication of the list. An attempt is made to defend this: "And, if criminals were checking the permit-to-carry list before picking a target, would they likely choose a house where they know the owner could be carrying a gun, or would they more likely steer away from that house to avoid a possible confrontation?”
The answer to their question is most likely ‘yes.’ A criminal would steer away from a home that almost certainly contained a gun. The problem is that the same criminal will probably steer themselves directly toward a home where there is likely not a firearm. And therein lies the problem: their complete and utter disregard for the safety of those Tennesseans.
For the many lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly who are staunch defenders of your Second Amendment rights, this is unacceptable. I understand the outrage. The Commercial Appeal seems content to brush this outrage aside, claiming the pleas from Tennesseans to remove the list from their website were ‘emotional.’ I will concede that many Tennesseans were emotional about the issue; people tend to react that way when their safety and their family’s safety is threatened.
Finally, as if conscious of the fact that these arguments in favor of publishing the list are weak, they offer up another: that everyone else is doing it. If not them, they claim, then Google, or other websites, or other online newspapers. I would implore them not to follow suit should other papers start fabricating the news. Even if everyone else was doing it, that wouldn’t make it right.
House members will be working to ensure that gun owners enjoy a right to privacy. But it will also be for the protection of those who do not possess a firearm in their household. Legal, responsible gun owners should not be penalized for following the law. Those who decide they do not want a firearm in their home should not be penalized either. We look forward to working together to make this important measure a reality for Tennessee.
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