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January 22, 2008
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At times there are disadvantages of having a CCP. The liberal newspaper the Roanoke Times where I live decided it was a good idea to publish all the CCP in the area. So to me this was like giving the bad guys a shopping list of house that had guns! However maybe they realized that those who have a CCP might actually be willing to use them if necessary!
After a couple of days they removed the database. If I'm not mistaken one person listed had moved to escape an abusive spouse, she had a restraining order against him and they even printed her name and address. So apparently she had to move again to get away from him.
As a side note I think the Roanoke Times must be under some finical strain because they're always setup in the grocery stores trying to get new subscribers! Not me!
Shedding light on concealed handguns
By Christian Trejbal
Christian Trejbal
Today is the start of Sunshine Week, the annual week in which we reflect on the importance of open government and public records. To mark the occasion, I want to take you on an excursion into freedom of information land. We're going to find out who in the New River Valley has a concealed handgun permit.
I can hear the shocked indignation of gun-toters already: It's nobody's business but mine if I want to pack heat.
Au contraire. Because the government handles the permitting, it is everyone's business.
There are good reasons the records are open to public scrutiny. People might like to know if their neighbors carry. Parents might like to know if a member of the car pool has a pistol in the glove box. Employers might like to know if employees are bringing weapons to the office.
And all Virginians have a stake in checking that their government is not making mistakes, for example, by issuing permits to convicted felons. Open records allow the media or any private citizen to check.
This is not about being for or against guns. There are plenty of reasons people choose to carry weapons: fear of a violent ex-lover, concern about criminals or worry that the king of England might try to get into your house. There are plenty of reasons to question the wisdom of widespread gun ownership, too.
But that's a debate for another time.
To illustrate the open government process, I set out to acquire permit lists for the New River Valley.
I first called the local circuit court clerks charged with overseeing permitting. They were helpful, as far as they could be.
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Only Radford and Floyd County said they could produce a list. Giles County maintains an unofficial list but could not produce an official one. Montgomery and Pulaski counties had squat. The best they could do is determine if a specific individual had a permit.
None of that conflicts with the law. The records must be available but not necessarily in the format citizens want.
Fortunately, one of the clerks tipped me off to another avenue. The state police, she thought, maintained a master list.
I called Richmond and found out that yes, they did have a statewide list. Bingo!
Then another lesson of open government hit. A copy would cost more than $100.
Any Virginian can show up at a government office and request a public document. If it is something simple such as a council agenda, officials usually gladly duplicate it, maybe charging a few cents for the photocopy.
If it is something more complicated, government agencies may charge for the time and effort to prepare the records. In the case of concealed handgun permits, state police need to weed through them to cut out some personal data, which takes staff time.
A state that eagerly puts sex offender data online complete with an interactive map could easily do the same with gun permits, but it does not.
I bit the bullet and placed my order, saving the paper a few bucks by taking a Jan. 18 list officials had recently prepared for someone else.
The compact disc arrived last week. Names, addresses, issue and expiration dates.
About 2 percent of Virginians, 135,789 of us, have concealed handgun permits. In the New River Valley, 3,826 people have them, a slightly higher rate than in the rest of the state.
I immediately started checking some names. Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, no permit. Pulaski County Supervisor Dean Pratt, packing. Radford University President Penelope Kyle, no permit. Giles County Supervisor Paul "Chappy" Baker, packing.
Some of the names proved tricky. Dana Dwayne Munsey of Pembroke has a permit. Is that Mayor Munsey? Standoffish town officials wouldn't provide a middle name or address for confirmation, and the listed phone number is disconnected.
The list sports a dismayingly large number of typos for an official registry -- four different spellings of "Christiansburg," for example.
Local celebrities generally don't carry, but at least a half dozen elected officials do. I'll leave it to readers to figure out which ones so you can avoid annoying them at meetings.
As a Sunshine Week gift, The Roanoke Times has placed the entire database, mistakes and all, online at http://www.roanoke.com/gunpermits
and the list is at:
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January 24, 2009
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You've gotta be kidding me!! What kind of a stupid, lowdown thing for some stupid reporter to do! I like the comparison of the CCP list to the sex offender list...just a SLIGHT difference here, pal.
If that lady who is running from her abusive spouse ends up dead, I hope they prosecute this Christian Trejbal jerk as an accessory.
What a weasel.
December 17, 2008
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These are the kind of people that need to take a gun handling / shooting course and learn what responsible gun ownership is all about. Seriously.
They are ignorant and frequently DO change their opinions when they learn what responsible gun ownership is about.
But they don't need to learn about irresponsible journalism…they've already got that pegged!
January 4, 2009
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JODY... the arrogance and ignorance of the LEFT just continues to astonish me..
This writer claims , in the name of " public service" to be the un-masker of armed evil-doers and Never... NEVER considers the possibility that his actions may be endangering someone that is living a nightmare.
I have a buddy down here that married a fine gentle lady that for years put up with verbal and then physical abuse from a huge brute of a man, ( man only in gender), and she lives in constant fear of this man finding her . He has threatened her more then once with death.. and we read all the time about this happening. So when I used the word "nightmare" in the last paragraph.. I mean living nightmare .. never knowing if your going to turn around and have him standing there.. his mind finally pushing him over the edge...
And so now.. they have taken the list down .. never apolizing for the error... and making it sound like they were going to"correct" the list and repost it... incredible the degee of blindness that is rampant in our free press today.. just incredible.
Like I said ,and seriously meant , in another post today.. Liberalism is a form of a mental disease.. it really really is..
Wayno
Dans Club
March 2, 2008
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As part of my local PD's CHL licensing process, they state that they may conduct interviews with my neighbors as a part of determining my stability and suitability for a CHL, along with me submitting three letters of reference from local residents attesting to my character. None of those actions are mandated by law, but are allowed under a pretty broad interpretation of the CLEO determining character and suitability.
Steve
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman "Were is the Self Help Section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
George Carlin
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