Target Rich Environment

Via Michelle Malkin (link), we have another newspaper, the Sandusky (OH) Register, showing real “courage” and publishing the names of local concealed deadly weapon permit-holders (link).  Previously, you may recall that the Roanoke (VA) Times bravely published a list of names and street addresses of Roanoke CCW permit-holders (link) in the name of “sunshine” on government.

This is a good argument against ever registering firearms with the government, or allowing the government to maintain a database (which they kind of already do), also known as a “burglars’ prospecting inventory”.  When I think of Sandusky, OH, I think of some hard-working industrial workers (not just the stereotype from the movie “Tommy Boy”) who probably don’t want their information out there.  So it must’ve taken some courage to publish this, especially knowing that the newspaper writers, editor, and publisher’s addresses can be found on public databases (link).

The Register’s Matt Westerhold tries to justify it here (link):

 

We posted the information as a public service to readers who want to know who among them has been licensed to carry concealed weapons. The lists have garnered more than 5,200 views since they were posted; Obviously, a large number of readers wanted to know.

But we weren’t looking for this fight. In March, Erie County Sheriff Terry Lyons filed a lawsuit asking a judge to determine whether he should comply with a request from a newspaper in Cincinnati to release the list. In early June, Common Pleas Judge Tygh Tone ruled the law clearly stated the list should be released.

See, it’s a check-and-balance to allow the public to double-check the sheriff’s work.. oh, is that the same Common Pleas Judge Tygh Tone that seemed clear on the law here (link)?

It sounds like this is a micro version of the media war against guns and self-defense that’s been occurring in Ohio and around the nation, driven by a media who feels the need to offer counterpoints to anything that doesn’t fit their agenda.

Then there’s the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which published their local concealed carry list here (link) back in 2004. Take this article from Cleveland.com in April 2007, when an Ohio Concealed Carry Permit-holder used his concealed weapon to protect himself against gun-toting robbers (link):

City prosecutors decided Monday that Wells, 25, was justified and would not be charged for what appears to be the first time a concealed-carry permit holder has shot and killed an attacker.

Nonetheless, the shooting reignited the debate that roared three years ago when Ohio’s concealed-carry law took effect.

Gun supporters said the weapon saved Wells’ life. Opponents said it took Buford’s - that the 15-year-old might be alive if a citizen had not been armed.

An angry throng of about 30 youths gathered Monday and set up a memorial at the intersection where Buford, a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School, died.

His cousin, Tameka Foster, 21, questioned why police refused to punish Buford’s shooter. “They let that man run out freely,” Foster said. “My cousin is dead.”

Buford’s accomplice disappeared after the shooting and had not been caught Monday night. Police found a .38-caliber handgun in the mail chute of a nearby house. They believe it belonged to Buford or the other suspect, Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

Police took a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson firearm from Wells, the police report shows.

Both sides of the gun debate said it was sad that a teenager died.

“It’s tragic,” said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearm Association. “Anytime somebody dies it’s tragic, but it’s hard to have any sympathy when he chose to have a gun and go threaten somebody’s life.”

Irvine said it was “great that a potential victim is able to continue his life instead of having a criminal take it.”

Toby Hoover, of the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, said she had not heard of any other fatal shooting involving a concealed-carry permit holder.

“This is one of the few where they actually used it to stop a crime,” Hoover said.

But, she said, “there’s still a dead kid here.”

So the guy shouldn’t have defended himself because a teenager lost his life?  That’s the way this stuff gets reported.  And it’s no surprise, because most journalists are aligned with the Brady Campaign and the agenda of the George Soros Democrat Shadow Party, working to change America into George Soros’ America.