HB-4310, which would have removed permit info from “public access”, passed the WV House with a 92 - 4 margin (3 not voting, 1 excused) 2/26/2014 and was sent to the WV Senate, where it died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
That SAME day, I saw a newsprint “editorial” about how the bill “conceals our right to know”, trampling upon the “public right to know” what it’s government was doing. First the editorial said it’s not about how widespread gun ownership is, how many applications are rejected, or EVEN WHO’S GOT SUCH A PERMIT (my bold, you’ll see why later). Was it a coincidence that this editorial was published the same day the bill passed the House, and the day before it reached the Senate, where it died in committee?
The editorial said the ISSUE is “government secrecy vs. the need for transparency”, “secrets about concealed-carry permits is wrongheaded”. The editor opined that access to such “inherently public” info is “fundamental to our society”. Chillingly, the editorial went on: “It’s the freedom of the press to study, probe AND PUBLISH such information that keeps government and everyone honest” (I wonder if they meant to include criminals and newspaper editors in “everyone”).
They continued on about “checks and balances”, “limits of rightful authority”, etc. . . . That a license is required “speaks volumes about the public’s interest in KNOWING WHO HAS THESE PERMITS” (wait a minute, didn’t they just say that wasn’t why they objected to HB-4310 earlier in their “editorial”).
Public interest. Public right to know. Freedom of the Press. Government transparency. Didn’t see mom and apple pie (maybe I missed it).
Conspicuously absent was personal privacy, security of personally identifying information, targeting by stalkers/domestic abusers, targeting for harassment, targeting for theft of property.
