Memphis Commercial-Appeal publishes Permit holders database

[SomeGuy]

[Mousegun]

They are getting hammered on many other gun related web sites and the names and addresses of the staff are all over the internet.

I have to give them "left handed credit" for holding the line and not pulling it by now.
I personally spoke to the editor early on and before the hammering really started. He said it was published as an information sharing tool to allow any business that may feel people with handguns could use their services like insurance companies and or alarm companies. I was very nice during my conversation to try to set a civil stage and convince him they are off base by doing this. I spoke of all the common problems it could cause but he held his ground. I could see I was getting nowhere so I told him to honker down because this is just the beginning of what is to come. I think by now he knows what I meant.

The excuse he gave me for posting the list is just one of many that he has used on his callers. It probably was one of the weakest. There are a lot of calls going out, some of which are not exactly made at prime working or waking hours from what I have read.

The actual reason, I feel, is because of the recent shooting in the mall parking lot and his paper just has to do a fine public service.

[Tim Nunan]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... un-owners/

NASHVILLE -- Tennessee legislators have filed a rash of new bills to allow guns in state and local parks, restaurants serving alcohol and even schools and also limiting public access to lists of gun-carry permit holders.

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, who is sponsoring two of the gun bills, said Thursday he believes the measures stand a much better chance of passing this year as a result of the new GOP majority in the legislature.

Supported by the Tennessee Firearms Association and the National Rifle Association, lawmakers have tried for years to pass bills allowing gun-carry permit holders to take their guns into places serving alcohol as long as they are not drinking themselves, but the legislation was killed in House subcommittees controlled by Democrats.

This year, with the state House reorganized under a nominal GOP majority, the volume of bills loosening restrictions on where permit-holders may take guns has sharply increased. So has the scope of places the bills propose to allow the guns, including state and local public parks, colleges and universities and potentially into high schools.

There is also a renewed push this year on bills to make confidential the identities of gun-carry permit holders at the state Department of Safety, the licensing agency, and to make it a crime for anyone, including media organizations, to publish identities of anyone with the permits. Currently, applications bear a disclaimer that information submitted is subject to the state public records law.

As of Thursday afternoon, 18 bills were filed to loosen restrictions on where guns may be taken, four were filed to make the information confidential and two others were filed to exempt from criminal prosecution people who shoot others in the protection of their property.

The confidentiality bills are sparked in part by a campaign by gun organizations and permit-holders against The Commercial Appeal's publication on its Web site of a searchable database of Tennessee gun-carry permit holders and by news reports that identified the Cordova man charged this week with the shooting death of another man as a gun-carry permit holder.

Norris said the newspaper's publication of the database "has added to the concern by a number of people who fear for their safety -- either those who have permits and may be identified as having weapons in their homes, and those who by exclusion are not identified and now feel susceptible to those who may look to see who are not permitted."

"And I share those concerns."

The newspaper and lawmakers have been flooded with calls and e-mails demanding the database be removed on the grounds that it is an invasion of privacy, opens the possibility of identity theft and lets criminals see who has guns and who doesn't.

Gun owner David Waldrip of Germantown, an information technology specialist, said it comes down to personal privacy and safety.

"All manner of things are public information, but people find it very disconcerting that they have gone through stringent requirements set forth by the state in order to get a carry permit, and their decision to do so is made public," Waldrip said. "Along with that, the matter of personal safety is entered into the equation."

The database had been posted online for two months without controversy prior to the Cordova shooting.

Chris Peck, editor of The Commercial Appeal, said Thursday the newspaper continues "to see value in posting the concealed weapon permit list -- and here's why: The news event involving a shooting at Trinity Commons over a dispute over parking has made the matter of who in our community is carrying concealed weapons of interest."

He said the newspaper has removed birth dates and street names of permit holders and the database now includes only names, year of birth, city, state, ZIP code and permit issue and expiration dates.

"The level of uninformed response has been disappointing," Peck said. "It really defies logic that people say this makes their homes vulnerable to targeting by gun thieves, because first of all, most houses in our community have guns in them that don't require any registration and thus are not on a public database, and most people in our community don't have gun-carry permits.

"You have to ask whether somebody who wants a gun would target someone who has a gun and is trained to use it.''

The intersection of First and Second Amendment rights is an emerging issue, with databases and the movement of news organizations to Web sites.

"I think databases and aggregation of information have raised new issues for free speech advocates to consider," said Gene Policinski, executive director of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Nashville. "The ability to tie names, personal information, locations of homes is something that wasn't so easily accomplished in the past."

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute in Florida, a media studies organization, said the fact that the database was not controversial until last week's shooting "suggests there are people who found value in it and didn't object.

"Lets say I'm a parent and I want to know if my kid is going to be riding in a car with somebody who has a concealed gun carry permit. That would be important for me. "

[Seminole]

Alright, it is time to contact the businesses that advertise with the Commercial Appeal and tell them we are unhappy with the decision of the CA and will not buy from businesses that furnish them advertising dollars with which this database is maintained. From a perusal of the Sunday paper, the biggest advertisers seem to be car dealerships, furniture stores, and department stores.

Let's start with these:

Bartlett Home Furnishings
2755 Bartlett Blvd.
Bartlett , TN
38134
Bus: 901-388-6030
Fax: 901-388-6552

Royal Furniture
800-294-8450
customerservice@royalfurniture.com

Haverty's Furniture
6870 Winchester Road
Memphis, TN 38115
901-795-5577

Haverty's Furniture
2825 Wolfcreek Parkway
Memphis, TN 38133
901-380-4150

Samuels Furniture & Interiors--There are two stores:

Poplar Store
5508 Poplar Ave
Memphis,TN 38119
(901) 761-4998

Cordova/Thomasville Store
1615 N. Germantown Pkwy
Memphis,TN 38016
(901) 624-7738

Hobby Lobby: there are three HL stores in Memphis, as follows:

Hobby Lobby
7986 Highway 64
Bartlett, TN 38133
(901) 266-4346

Hobby Lobby
950 W. Poplar St.
Collierville, TN 38017
(901) 861-7575

Hobby Lobby
1991 Exeter Road
Germantown, TN 38138
901) 757-4419

Department stores are also big advertisers, but I'm not sure how advertising decisions are made in this case.

Dillard's Wolfchase
2700 N Germantown Pkwy
Memphis, TN 38133
(901) 383-1029

Dillard's Oak Court
4433 Poplar Ave
Memphis, TN 38117
(901) 685-0382‎
(901) 374-7479‎ - Fax

Macy's Oak Court
4545 Poplar Ave.
Memphis, TN 38117
901-766-4199

It's hard to find the car dealership information, primarily because just a few companies own numerous and varied dealerships. Presumably a single entity places advertising for all of each company's dealerships. Can you help find the appropriate contact for the following?

Gossett Motors

Sunrise Motors

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Edited to remove duplicate entry.

[SomeGuy]