Posted on 07/26/2013 11:46:06 PM PDT by Art in Idaho
HELENA - The Associated Press isn't giving reasons for requesting the personal information of all conceal carry permit holders in Montana.
On March 18, 2013, the AP requested a comprehensive list of information from the office of Montana Attorney General Tim Fox (R).
"Everything from their date of birth to their driver's license to their address, every piece of information without limitation," Fox explained in an interview with MTN News.
The request came just five days after the Montana Legislature passed a bill which makes all this information confidential.
The bill was signed by Governor Steve Bullock (D) ten days later and goes into effect October 1, 2013.
Fox says it doesn't matter that the law wasn't effective at the time of the request.
"The constitutional provisions are on the books and they have been on the books at least since 1972," Fox explains. "I balanced the right to know, which we have in our Constitution, with the right to privacy."
And Fox says the permit holders' right to privacy trumps the public's right to know.
"Montanans have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they apply for a conceal weapon permit," Fox said. "Most of them, if not all of them, have a reason they want that information kept private."
The AP isn't answering questions about why the organization wanted the information and email correspondence between Fox's office, and the AP doesn't indicate why.
The AP's bureau chief, Jim Clarke, says his organization does not comment on reporting efforts.
However, this isn't the first time a news organization has requested this type of information.
In 2012, The Journal News in New York received this type of information from the state and published a map showing the locations of every handgun owner in two New York counties. That incident gained national attention and sparked outrage from gun owners across the U.S.
Source url: http://www.kpax.com/news/mt-attorney-general-denies-ap-request-for-conceal-carry-information/
Id say just about everyone here has a weapon...
my question exactly. you nailed it.
somebody who desperately wants to compile a database of all gun owners in America but who can’t have it.
If only the AP cared as much about Obama’s personal information. (i.e., birth certificate and multiple SS numbers, university applicatino records - as a foreign student, etc.)
The AP is not “press”, it is “enemy”.
It would be nice if somebody demanded the names, addresses, phone numbers and social security numbers of everybody who works for AP.
With the number of people dumping overpriced non-mobile land line phones those books must be getting very thin.
somebody who desperately wants to compile a database of all gun owners in America but who can’t have it.
If the NSA, CIA, EPA, DOJ, BATFE, the F, the B, and the I, DOD, et cetera have access to Visa and Master Card transactions, it should be child's play to compile a list of people who have purchased firearms or ammunition within the past five years; further, I'd guess plenty of states have already handed the feral government lists of people with concealed carry permits.
Oh, by the way, who here believes the F, the B, and the I actually destroy lists of people who fill out 4473 forms as required by law?
I've got a hunch the big question isn't whether the feral government can come up with a reasonably comprehensive, accurate list of firearms owners, but what possible good it would do the vermin.
With a few exceptions the press is the enemy.
Good idea !
Let us start by asking for the same information about all professional reporters, and let us see how they react.
Tell them to break into houses in the dead of night - they’ll find out who does/doesn’t have weapons at the ready....
Everything from their date of birth to their driver’s license to their address, every piece of information without limitation
You’ll notice they never ask that kind of information about people who’ve had abortions.
We need to push this meme as hard and as often as we can.
You know what you do to a feral dog.
John Lott, recently on Cspan, has made the assertion that posting the names of gun owners results in increased robberies of non-gunowners homes. I can’t imagine why.
He indicated there is data to back this up, so I imagine he will be writing about it in the (near?) future.
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