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Data access in gun bill becoming an issue Date published: 2/9/2008
By CHELYEN DAVIS RICHMOND --Information on who gets concealed weapons permits would be withheld from the public under an amended bill passed in the House of Delegates yesterday.Del. Dave Nutter's bill originally sought to prevent public access to the state police database of permit holders. But an amendment to the bill, passed on the House floor, now has the bill going further, taking almost all information on permit holders out of the public domain. The amendment says that personal information on permit holders, such as their addresses, is not to be made public, although court clerks may at their own discretion release the permit holders' names. The issue arose last year when The Roanoke Times published the entire data-base of permit holders online, infuriating gun owners. Opponents of the paper's action said the publication put at risk people who had concealed weapons permits to protect them from stalking or domestic abuse. The Free Lance-Star also publishes information on new permit-holders, obtained from court clerks. The Freedom of Information Advisory Council spent the summer studying the issue, and decided to support a compromise; remove the database from public view, but leave the information in courthouses open to the public. There were no real challenges to that as Nutter's bill went through a House committee. But on the Senate side, Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, has an identical bill. In committee, his drew fire from gun groups, who argued that the private information on gun owners shouldn't be open to the public anywhere--in the database or in courthouses. Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, tried to amend Houck's bill in committee, and again on the Senate floor earlier this week, to make those documents private. His amendments failed, but others have been proposed, and Houck keeps passing the bill by each day, trying to work out a compromise behind the scenes. "I'm trying to see if there's a way to maintain the balance that existed with this bill prior to these floor amendments," Houck said yesterday. That balance is between the public's right to know, and the right to privacy for permit-holders. Houck and the FOIA council thought the original bill kept that balance, but closing off access to the documents at the courthouse level does not. "This is an aspect that had not been discussed by the FOIA council," Houck said. His bill will have to come up Monday or Tuesday, as Tuesday is the deadline to act on bills. If the Senate agrees to new amendments further restricting access, Houck said, he may consider striking his bill entirely. Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
PII is information about yourself that can describe you. Outside of your name, what other Personal information does the public need to know that you have conducted business with the Gov? None. So why permit it to be public? Close the Personal Information Loopholes!
why anyone needs to know who has a concealed weapon permit. The only people that would benefit would be criminals that will know which home to burglarize so they can steal guns and kill peple. The anti-gunners will tell you that if all guns where outlawed the criminals would not have guns. Hmm, pot is outlawed so I guess no Americans are smoking pot....
Personal permit information should only be accessed by appropriate government personnel or by court order.End of story...
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