Reply #33: Missouri to Keep Gun Permit List Secret [View All]

[MrBenchley]

"The new state law authorizing concealed guns, enacted when the Legislature overrode Gov. Bob Holden's veto last month, also bars identification of concealed weapons permit holders — even though separate applications to sheriffs to purchase guns have been open records for years, and remain so.
U.S. National - AP
Missouri to Keep Gun Permit List Secret
Fri Oct 10, 8:22 AM ET

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By SCOTT CHARTON, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBIA, Mo. - If Missouri sheriffs begin issuing permits this month to pack hidden handguns, they will also be concealing the names on the projected 60,000 people who hold them.

 

The new state law authorizing concealed guns, enacted when the Legislature overrode Gov. Bob Holden's veto last month, also bars identification of concealed weapons permit holders — even though separate applications to sheriffs to purchase guns have been open records for years, and remain so.
An Associated Press review of the four concealed gun laws enacted this year — in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri and New Mexico — showed that each bars public identification by name of permit holders.
Legislation was filed but not approved this year in at least two other states — Tennessee and Texas — to close currently accessible listings by name of concealed gun permit holders.
"This is bad public policy on so many levels that it boggles the mind. What the legislators have essentially done is allow government only to have that data, so therefore the public has no way to answer any questions about the holders of these permits," Davis said. "This essentially says there is no public interest in knowing who has concealed weapons permits, and I would disagree fundamentally with that." "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031010/ap_on_re_us/concealed_guns_secrecy_2

Face it, folks, they wouldn't be hiding it unless there was something to hide.