Recently, a Roanoke, Virginia newspaper—under the old "public's right to know" guise—published the list of concealed-carry weapons (CCW) permit holders. The entire database, including known inaccuracies and confidential information, was posted online. The public, after all, had access to child-molester databases so, the paper's editor reasoned, they right to know if their neighbor or people with whom they car-pooled were armed.

Do tell.

In California—at least in my area—we have to sign an acknowledgment that our permits are public record and could be disclosed upon request by a third party.

Providing advanced intelligence of this nature to thugs, needlessly places armed individuals in harms way by provoking attacks on them for the sole purpose of stealing their weapon.

Wouldn't the gun-haters love to bolster their fictitious case about people being shot with their own guns, or that it's legitimate gun owners responsible for providing the guns on the street?

And that, my friends, is exactly the ploy of the anti-gun media and America-haters (i.e. those who gleefully want us to lose in Iraq). Look for more of it in the future.

Most street attacks on individuals begin with seemingly innocent encounters. It's the one or two unseen guys who will create your problem while their buddy or girlfriend is schmoozing you.

Many years ago, I stopped an armed robbery that was just such a scenario as two guys tried to rob a guy in a well-lit apartment parking lot around 11:30 PM. As the intended-victim described it to me, one guy had approached and engaged him in a friendly manner, while the other who had been hiding nearby grabbed him from behind. The guy in front then produced a pistol, struck the victim in the forehead with it and demanded money.

Experienced carry-permit holders train to recognize potential threats from unseen forces, learning how to position themselves to avoid being disarmed. However, being expressly targeted by thugs who are after our weapons adds a whole new level of danger, thanks to left-wing lunacy.

Since I'm not the one robbing convenience-stores or doing drive-by shootings, the public has been made potentially less safe through the irresponsibility of the lunicrats who publish these names and addresses.

By incrementally invalidating the Second Amendment, gun-haters would only systematically create a whole nation of angry armed citizens whose tolerance will have been pushed too far.

Those who create law-enforcement and military weapons technology are part of that group. Does the left really want to anger this group?

© Nonin Stone 2007 — All rights reserved