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Ohio Newspaper Under Fire

for Outing Gun Owners

  

 

  

 

  

Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com
Friday July 6, 2007

  

 

  

  

An Ohio newspaper's decision to publish
the non-public records of concealed carry permit holders drew a strong response, and

one gun rights advocacy group published personal but public information about the newspaper's editor.

  

 

  

 

  

The Sandusky Register on June 24 published the names, ages and home counties of the almost 2,700 concealed carry permit holders in its circulation area.

  

 

  

 

  

Ohio gun laws restrict public access to concealed
carry records but allow the media to access them.

  

 

  

 

  

The printing of the names sparked outrage
from gun rights groups, including
the Ohioans for

Concealed Carry and
the National Rifle Association.

Critics argue that
publishing names and identifying information about concealed carry permit holders puts them at risk
being targeted for violence or identity theft.

  

 

  

"Now, someone who has a grudge has a list of targets/victims, and the only reason they have
a list of targets/victims
is because of the newspaper's unilateral action,"

the Buckeye Firearms Association said on its website.

  

 

  

 

  

BFA Legislative Chair Ken Hanson wrote that
because of the newspaper's actions,

"The general public may now know who owns
and may or may

not carry a gun. Additionally,
the general public now knows who is not
carrying a gun in their day to day activities."

  

 

  

 

  

In retaliation
-
and to illustrate the ease of finding
personal information when given a
name
-
the BFA began printing personal information about Sandusky Register Managing Editor Matt Westerhold.

The information, while personal,
is available through public records searches.

  

 

  

 

  

On its website, the group has printed
Westerhold's

---phone numbers,
---automobile records,
---traffic ticket record,
---the address of a home he owns

and
---information about the mortgage on the property.

  

 

  

It has also printed redacted information
on his birth date and Social Security number.

  

 

  

 

  

Cybercast News Service
has independently verified most of the information through online public records searches, including

----- his birth date,
-----partial Social Security number,
-----property holdings,
-----and mortgage information.

  

 

  

The group defends its actions by saying that

Westerhold,
by approving

the publication of the names and information about gun owners, is putting them
at risk for the same kind of

"this type of stalking/abuse."

  

 

  

 

  

Westerhold did not respond to phone calls and e-mails from Cybercast News Service requesting comment for this article.

  

 

  

In a commentary defending the publication decision, Westerhold acknowledged
that the concealed carry permit holders
are "law-abiding and upstanding" but said

the decision to print their names was
a
"public service to readerswho want to know
who among them has been licensed to carry concealed weapons."

 

  

 

  

"They should be proud to be exercising their
second amendment rights, and I believe most
of them aren't as enraged with the Register's decision to exercise its first amendment rights
in publishing the information as is the NRA,
which demands secrecy," Westerhold wrote.

  

 

  

 

  

Ohioans for Concealed Carry President Jeff Garvas issued a statement criticizing the Register for choosing

"to put a juicy headline controversy with
no journalistic newsworthy content ahead
of the safety of the public."

  

 

  

He called for Westerhold's resignation and encouraged members to target advertisers to encourage them to abandon the paper.

  

 

  

 

  

A similar controversy erupted in Virginia in March.

  

 

  

As Cybercast News Service previously reported,
the Roanoke Times retracted its online database
of Virginia concealed carry permit holders after a backlash from gun rights advocates revealed that

some of the information was inaccurate and some
of it shouldn't have been released.

  

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

 

  

  

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